‘THE LAST OF US’ Season 3 gains more familiar faces…

The third season of HBO’s The Last of Us is still likely to be at least a year away from broadcast, but there have been a series of casting updates regarding who will be playing key characters.

The third season looks to continue aspects of Naughty Dog’s top-selling The Last of Us: Part Two game for the Playstation. The game itself pivots between the viewpoints of established heroine Ellie (played in the show by Bella Ramsey) and Abby, the woman who murdered Joel (played by Pedro Pascal in the show).  The controversial story draws uncomfortable parallels between the two female characters – establishing that from each of their points of view they are the wronged party, seekign justice. Abby may have killed Joel, but it’s also true that Joel murdered her father in the process of rescuing Ellie in the first game/season.

Though it’s likely that Ramsey will still have much to do, the third season is expected to pivot – as in the game – to following more of Abby’s pursuit of Ellie and the people she encounters along the way.

Last week several veteran actors were announced. Insidious/Aquaman’s Patrick Wilson will play Abby’s father Jerry in flashbacks. Clea Duvall will play an as-yet unnamed Seraphite.  Jason Ritter – currently a regular in Matlock – will play a character called Hanley, a Washington Liberation Front soldier, likely from the same unit as Abby. (Ritter previously ‘appeared’ in the show as an infected ‘clicker’ in the same episode that starred his real wife Melanie Lynskey).   Jorge Lendeborg Jr will take over the role of Abby’s military partner Manny because of a scheduling conflict with original actor Danny Ramirez.

We now know that Michelle Mao will play Yara, once a member of the Seraphites cult, but now a fugitive alongside Lev (to be played by Kyriana Kratter). In the game, Lev is a younger, female-born character who lives as a boy. (In the game Lev was played by *********, a trans-actor likely best known for their role in Star Trek: Discovery).

Returning characters also include Gabriel Luna (as Tommy), Isabella Merced (as Dina) and Jeffrey Wright as *********. Ariela Barer, Tati Gabrielle, and Spencer Lord – who appeared briefly as Abby’s team-mates in the second season – are being upped to regulars given the change of story focus.

It is still not clear if the remaining story – which will reportedly only go as far as the ending of the second game’s narrative – will be filmed/broadcast as one longer season or two shorter seasons. (The first season of the HBO show had **** episodes, the second only eight).

While rumours persist that game-creator Naughty Dog will eventually release a third Last of Us game at some point, their current schedule is far more concerned with a new sf-themed release called Heretic: ***************. A teaser was released last year, featuring Tati Gabrielle as the main character, but little else is known, including more specific info on what is presumed to be its 2027 release window. There has been some controversy as the company – at the leading edge of event gaming – was reported to have made over-time mandatory for its programmers in late 2025 in order to meet progress requirements on the game. Each game can take years to conceive and program, but expectations remain high on its eventual success. This is not the first time that the company has pivoted away from a successful franchise – they originally had success with the Unchartered games before moving to The Last of Us titles.