After becoming one of Max’s most-streamed shows of all time and earning 24 nominations at 2023’s Emmys, HBO and PlayStation Productions’ The Last of Us series won’t be back until 2025.
That was the logical assumption because of all the lost development time caused by the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes this year, but it’s now been confirmed by Max via its 2024 preview trailer, which also includes a look further into the streaming service’s future.
This delay isn’t actually that huge, as pre-strike plans already had TLOU aiming for a late 2024 or early 2025 premiere. According to co-star Bella Ramsey, this was due to Pedro Pascal’s many commitments elsewhere, as well as all the pre-production work needed to ready a much more complex second volume of episodes when it comes to things like locations and sets.
It seems like a fair amount of work has been done over the last few months, with the focus being put back on the scripts and casting once the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes ended. With an early 2024 production window on the horizon, we should be hearing about the new additions to the cast any second now. It also looks like The Last of Us head honchos Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann had already cast their Abby Anderson before the SAG-AFTRA strike was underway, but the name has been kept under wraps for now.
The latest rumours point to Kaitlyn Dever, who most people may know from Booksmart and Dopesick. She recently starred in the notable Hulu sci-fi flick No One Will Save You, which is a really tense and action-packed ride that highlights she has the needed chops for the Abby role, if indeed she ends up being the chosen one.
Stay tuned for updates on this key part and more soon.