The Last of Us Season 2 Debut Trailer Shows Joel and Ellie 5 Years After the Events of Season 1

HBO has finally unveiled an official trailer for The Last of Us Season 2, showing environments and characters those familiar with Naughty Dog's video game series will certainly recognize.

The trailer dropped on Thursday, September 26, a fitting day in The Last of Us community. In the games, September 26 is known as "Outbreak Day," or the day in which the cordyceps virus catalyzed the downfall of society as we know it. As such, it's known as The Last of Us Day in our world, now in its 11th year.

HBO also finally released an official logline for Season 2: "After five years of peace following the events of the first season, Joel and Ellie’s collective past catches up to them, drawing them into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind."

That logline is fairly vague, but we already know the series will start to adapt the events of The Last of Us Part 2, which is in-line with the time jump mentioned. Showrunner Craig Mazin, however, has said in the past that it'll likely take more than one season to adapt the events of the 2020 sequel.

The Last of Us Season 2 will see returning stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, and Rutina Wesley as Maria. Previously announced new cast members include Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, Danny Ramirez as Manny, and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac, with Catherine O’Hara guest starring.

The identity of O’Hara's character remains unknown, but the trailer does give fans their first official look at Kaitlyn Dever as Abby in Season 2. It's also worth noting that the trailer features Pearl Jam's Future Days, which Joel plays for Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2.

We also have three new pieces of The Last of Us Season 2 art by Greg Ruth, showing main characters Joel, Ellie, and Abby. Check them out in the slideshow of images below:

The Last of Us Season 2 will debut on HBO and stream on Max sometime in 2025. Check out IGN's article, The Last of Us: Predicting Season 2, to find out what we think fans should expect from the show — but be warned: the article contains full spoilers for Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part 2.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.