The Last of Us season two has been given an update for when filming will begin.
Adapted from the iconic PlayStation video game, HBO's biggest release of 2023 saw Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey roaming a post-apocalypse teeming with fungal monsters.
Just yesterday (November 2), the US network's boss Casey Bloys confirmed that shooting is expected to start in early 2024 following a lengthy delay as a result of the writers' and actors' strikes (via Variety).
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This welcome update comes after The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin told Entertainment Weekly that its writers were able to "map out all of season 2" prior to the WGA strike, which came to a close last month.
"I also wrote and submitted the script for the first episode and sent it in [to HBO] around 10:30 or 10:40pm right before the midnight the [WGA] strike began. [Co-creator Neil Druckmann] and I are both mappers and outliners and planners. We believe in endings, we believe in knowing where you're going. We know where we're going [with the season 2 storyline].
"We also give ourselves space inside of the basic route to wander and discover and invent. As that happens, we then can go and reincorporate and fiddle with and go back in the writing. What we don't do is write narrative cheques that we cannot cash later."
Related: The Last of Us is so much more than just The Walking Dead meets The Mandalorian
Mazin, who made his name on the harrowing Chernobyl series, compared such a move to that of a magician.
"There is this thing that happens sometimes where people will create mysteries that are tantalising, infuriating — which we love — and then later just never pay them off, which is cheating. Because it's exciting. So, when we have any kind of confusing, mysterious, or shocking story element, it's purposeful and it will be understood."
The Last of Us airs on HBO in the US, and on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW in the UK.
Reporter, Digital Spy
Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment.
In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.
