The second season of HBO's The Last of Us is scheduled to premiere on HBO in April 2025. The new season will include several newcomers including Tales of the Walking Dead and Top Gun: Maverick actor Danny Ramirez.
In March 2024, Variety reported that Ramirez had been cast in the role of a solider named Manny, with additional newcomers to the series Ariela Barer, Tati Gabrielle, and Spencer Lord, who join previously announced Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Young Mazino, and Catherine O'Hara. Dever has been cast as Abby, who will be the center of the story this season. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey will return as Joel and Ellie.
Below is a first look image at Ramirez, Gabrielle, Barer, Dever, and Lord.
The Last of Us series is based on the same-titled video game from Naughty Dog and was created by Craig Mazin, known for Chernobyl, and Neil Druckmann, who co-created the game. The storyline is set 20 years after a society-collapsing global pandemic. Season 1 focused on Joel and Ellie on a journey to relocate the girl to the other side of the United States, which is an apocolyptic wasteland.
Series creators told Entertainment Weekly that while the first season remained faithful to the source material, the second season will see significant shifts away from the game storyline.
"We certainly are going to mess around with time the way it was in the source material, but as Neil said, we messed around in ways that we felt were appropriate for the show. When I say ‘messed around,’ I mean scientifically determined in a narrative way what we thought would be most impactful."Craig Mazin
The Last of Us season 2 cast
In addition to the return of Pascal and Ramsey, Gabriel Luna will return as Joel's younger brother, Tommy. Rutina Wesley returns as his wife, Maria, and Jeffrey Wright joins the series as Isacc, whom he voiced in the game.
The most exciting addition is the introduction of Abby, played by Dever who is well known for No One Will Save You and Last Man Standing. According to the character description: “Abby is a skilled soldier whose black-and-white view of the world is challenged as she seeks vengeance for those she loved.” Fans of the game longed for Dever to be involved in the series, but in an other role. The actress resembles Ellie in the game but creators wanted a younger actor for that role.
HBO will premiere the second season of The Last of Us in April 2025, and the season will be available to stream via Max.
Danny Ramirez
Ramirez is best known for his role in Top Gun: Maverick, where he portrayed Lt. Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia. In 2022, he starred in the Netflix rom-com Look Both Ways with Lili Reinhart, and in that same year, he starred with Daniella Pineda in the season finale episode of Tales of the Walking Dead.
On Valentine's Day 2025, Ramirez will star in Captian America: Brave New World. He will play the role of Joaquín Torres/Falcon, which he also portrayed in Captain America: Winter Soldier.
Check out these stories and more on Undead Walking:
Follow Undead Walking on Twitter (X) and Facebook and sign up for the once-daily Undead Walking newsletter to avoid missing out on everything in The Walking Dead universe.