‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Footage Hints at Major Timeline Shift from Game

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II.

The big picture

• Season 2 of
  The Last of Us
  It will be shorter and may follow a more linear timeline than the game.
• Some scenes from the game may appear earlier in the series, resulting in a different adaptation.
• The showrunners have speculated about the possibility of three or four total seasons to fully capture the game’s story.

New video for The Last of Us Season 2 is out and viewers are already sitting on edge. The teaser, which was released as part of Max’s sizzle reel for new and upcoming shows, offered the first official look at Abby (actress) as well as Joel (Peter Pascal) defending his actions in season one, brief glimpses at other characters and Ellie (Beautiful Ramsay) is tougher than ever. Some longtime fans may not be ready to relive what happened to a certain character in the upcoming second season, but this heartbreaking scene may come later than fans expect.

While season 2 of The Last of Us is currently planned to be shorter than the first, there is still a lot of the game that needs to be adapted. With its time jumps and shifting point of view structure, it would be a bit jarring to see the entire story of the game condensed. However, that may not be the case, as the teaser footage for season two has revealed a certain scene that appears much later in the game. Instead of a back and forth between Ellie and Abby’s points of view, the chronology of the series could be more linear.

The Last of Us Part II’s timeline is more confusing

The events taking place in The Last of Us – Part II do not happen in a linear order. The sequel begins with Joel and Ellie settling in Jackson following Joel’s violent rescue attempt, which resulted in him killing several Fireflies to save Ellie’s life. After Ellie is given a guitar, the story jumps forward five years. Ellie is nineteen at this point, and the current timeline picks up the morning after a dance held at Jackson’s church hall. Players are not given much context other than the fact that Ellie and Dana (Isabella Merced) they shared a kiss there, but as the story continues, the game reveals that Ellie and Joel’s relationship is strained for some reason. At this point, The Last of Us – Part II jumps between Ellie and Abby’s points of view as their stories progress. The game spends a significant amount of time with Ellie before switching to Abby’s POV, leading to a traumatic event for both characters.

Not only does the game skip POV, but The game reveals how Abby is connected to Joel and why her relationship with Ellie is so difficult through various flashbacks. As she and Joel live their lives in Jackson over the course of those five years, Ellie feels like he lied to her about his immunity. Joel finally confesses at one point before Jackson’s dance, and as a result, their father-daughter bond has never been the same since. For Abby, players learn that she was a member of the Fireflies and was there in the hospital when Joel began his killing spree to save Ellie. Even more heartbreakingly, one of the doctors preparing to operate on Ellie, before Joel killed him, was Abby’s father. Since then, she has been on a path of revenge to track down Joel and kill him. This becomes the biggest turning point in the game. Abby manages to kill Joel right in front of Ellie, forcing players to understand both characters’ pain and literally walk in their shoes as their points of view change and Ellie goes down the same path of revenge that Abby did.

‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Could Bring Big Changes

This new teaser trailer only hints at that much The Last of Us Season 2, although it is great to see Pascal and Ramsey reprise their roles as Joel and Ellie, respectively. What parts of the game will be adapted and how is still a matter of speculation. One of the first scenes shown briefly at the beginning of the footage is the back of Ellie’s head as she examines Jackson’s dance. Interestingly, this specific scene has already been teased in advance for fans, considering it occurs later in the game as a flashback. This could mean that Jackson’s dance scene is happening first in the second season. Also, as the teaser suggests, other characters like Isaac (Dr. Jeffrey Wright) appear to be introduced in the show much earlier than they are in the game. This could mean that season 2 will show more of Abby’s life with her father as Fireflies and even how they first became part of the group. Abby’s relationship with her ex, Owen, could also be developed more as time passes before his new girlfriend Mel enters the picture.

If Jackson’s dance unfolds in a more linear fashion in season 2, then there may not be any time jumps from the past to the present for Ellie and Abby. The story told in the game it could happen chronologically in the show, allowing viewers to see the fallout of Joel and Ellie’s relationship leading up to Abby’s introduction and how it ties into the rest of the story. Either way, the show will need to revisit that part of Abby’s past and how she came to terms with the aftermath of Joel saving Ellie. If that’s the case, and Isaac is also revealed early, then viewers could see other story elements early as well. The show could introduce the characters of Yara and Lev, as well as the group they belong to known as the Seraphites, before Abby even meets them in the game. As for Jackson, Jesse (Young Mazino) and Dana’s on-and-off relationship could be further explored before Ellie falls for Dana.

How might these timeline changes affect the second season of “The Last of Us”?

If the timeline for The Last of UsSeason 2 is more chronological than random, which would mean a major disruption to the game’s structure in translating the story into live-action. Viewers might not follow Ellie and Abby’s POVs simultaneously if Season 2 focuses only on events that happen before they first meet. If that’s the case, How much of the second game will actually be covered in the new season?With seven episodes planned, it’s definitely not enough to cover the entire series. Part II — but it seems that the creators of the show have already considered this possibility.

In an interview with Deadline, however, showrunners and directors Neil Druckmann AND Craig Mazin he teased the possibility of three or four seasons in total for The Last of Us. If there is a third season, then it would be “significantly bigger” than the second. “One thing is absolutely certain, I don’t see how we could tell the story that remains after the second season is completed in another season,” Mazin said. If The Last of Us – Part 2The story unfolds over multiple seasons, as Mazin is teasing, so this would be a great opportunity for the creators to flesh out a proper backstory for the Seraphites. Extending the second game into multiple seasons would be the best way to include the most elements of its story, while also introducing some original ideas or expanding on the limited perspective offered by the game.

None of this confirms or denies other seasons outside The Last of Us Season 2, nor does it confirm a linear seven-episode timeline. However, this direction would make more sense for the show. How else could Druckmann and Mazin fit in The Last of Us – Part IIthe story in one season as seamlessly as they did with the first? There’s so much going on that it would be impossible to tell the entire second game in seven hour-long episodes. A chronological adaptation of the game would make more sense given the amount of storytelling to tackle, but in any case, in 2025, fans will need a box of luxury tissues on hand.

You can stream the first season of The Last of Us about Max in the United States

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