Though a worldwide apocalypse and the spread of deadly mutated threats couldn’t take down the likes of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey’s respective TV survivors Joel and Ellie, HBO’s horror drama The Last of Us’ Season 2 filming plans were unfortunately thwarted by strike-related delays in 2023. Everything’s now…clicking…into place for the British Columbia-based production, which sated my dreams by casting Kaitlin Dever as quasi-antagonist Abby, as well as a bunch of other new characters from the game series. But will we see returns from the small handful of other Season 1 characters who didn’t face gory on-screen deaths? Such as, for example, Josh Brener’s talk show host Murray?
It’s hard to imagine that being the case, considering Murray appeared in the cold open of the series premiere (available with a Max subscription) that introduced the idea of fungi as mankind’s greatest foe, meaning any current-day Murray moments would require him surviving into his 80s or 90s. Brener is still keeping his fingers crossed, though, and told Deadline the hilarious way his wife Meghan Falcone seemingly tried to will “Murray” back into existence with a clever comment. As he put it:
This is the mind of Craig Mazin! My wife tells him (recently), ‘Josh’s parents are excited about how he comes back in the second season.’ And Craig goes ‘……Nope!'
It's just not fair! C'mon, Craig! Don't disappoint an actor's wife and, by fictional proxy, his parents with the same single-syllable comment!
Seriously, though, Falcone deserves some kind of applause break for that smooth-as-butter approach to getting a rise and a potential second cameo for Brener out of The Last of Us' showrunner. It's like the reverse version of gotcha questions phrased like "Are you truly sorry about [insert terrible crime]?" since answering with either "yes" or "no" implies guilt.
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But Mazin just straight up denied her comment even though it wasn't a question. Though I guess it's not clear if he waved away the idea of Murray coming back, or if he was refusing to voice such an idea before he was able to make a formal offer. Again, it doesn't seem likely that Murray will rejoin The Last of Us' cast, but it's technically possible that he was still a TV host in this universe in 2003 when things went to shit. Or perhaps he had another interesting crossover experience with fungi scientists in the years leading up to it.
The way Josh Brener sees it, Murray's death isn't even necessarily a sticking point when it comes to popping back up on the small screen. He continued:
If everyone can become re-animated, it doesn’t matter how dead his body is!
Just because it appeared as if Murray might be the least impactful character in this universe doesn't me he actually is. Maybe we'll all get bamboozled whenever game writer/director Neil Druckmann introduces Murray into The Last of Us 3 as someone who figures out the secret to eternal youth, and then that storyline makes it into the TV show, and that's how Josh Brener could continue playing the character without any funky-looking age makeup or CGI. Is it likely? No. Is it a good idea? No. Sorry, Murray. Maybe Mazin will do you one better.
The Last of Us likely won't arrive on HBO until early 2025, but there are plenty of new and returning hits in the 2024 TV schedule to keep viewers entertained.
