I had high hopes for "The Last of Us" Season 2, or HBO's "The Last of Us Part II," for quite some time. Not only was it a success early on, but from the moment I watched the first four episodes that HBO sent to critics, it felt like the next big HBO show.

HBO issued a press release (opens in new tab) today (January 27) confirming this second season and touting the show's early success. According to the pay cable channel, "The Last of Us" premiered to "more than 22 million domestic viewers, up nearly fivefold from its premiere night audience," and the 5.7 million viewers for the second episode of HBO Max and HBO combined was a "22% jump" and "HBO 's largest second-week audience growth for an original drama series in the network's history." [To quote Neil Drachman, co-creator of The Game and executive producer of the series, "We are humbled, honored and frankly overwhelmed that so many people have tuned in and empathized with the retelling of Joel and Ellie's journey. The collaboration with Craig Mazin, the amazing cast & crew, and HBO has exceeded my already high expectations. And now we are absolutely delighted to do it again with Season 2! On behalf of Naughty Dog and everyone at PlayStation, thank you!!!

As for Mazin, who previously impressed us with HBO's Chernobyl, "I am so grateful for the partnership between Neil Drachman and HBO. And as a fan of the characters and the world Neil and Naughty Dog have created, I couldn't be more ready to dive back into it."

Just don't expect HBO to only announce a release date for "The Last of Us" Season 2." Part II" because the naming will probably be borrowed from the game. Speaking of which, there are rumors of a game adaptation of "The Last of Us Part III," but Drachman told Buzzfeed (opens in new tab) that it is "not a sure thing."

Production on The Last of Us Season 2 will probably take longer. The first season took longer to shoot and ran from July 12, 2021 to June 11, 2022. After that, they waited another six months for post-production and other processes to be completed.

Right now we are betting on a release date for The Last of Us season 2 as early as the summer of 2024.

The Last of Us is currently starring Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, both of whom survived in pandemic-stricken America. The following contains notes on the story of The Last of Us Part II, so this space is strictly spoiler-free.

If "The Last of Us" Season 2 were to follow the game, both Joel and Ellie would appear, as well as Joel's brother, Tommy. Therefore, at least the following three cast members are expected to remain:

A new major character is Abby Anderson, who is something of a nemesis in the game. She is a former member of Fireflies.