The first Last of Us Season 2 trailer is here, and Joel goes to therapy with Catherine O’Hara

It’s The Last of Us Day, and Naughty Dog celebrated by releasing the first big trailer for The Last of Us Season 2 on Max

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It’s The Last of Us Day, and Naughty Dog celebrated by releasing the first big trailer for The Last of Us Season 2 on Max, and it crams a lot into just under two minutes. It’s framed rather cleverly as well.

The central idea is that Joel is in therapy, or as close to therapy as you can get when society only just re-learned how to build towns. He’s speaking with Catherine O’Hara’s as-yet-unnamed character – or, more to the point, he isn’t. She encourages him to speak about the things he’s done, and he does the most Joel thing possible: He says nothing.

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While he says nothing, the trailer cuts to a dozen or more different scenes, to Abby fleeing the infected across a snowy plain, to Seraphites in the woods of Seattle, to Ellie and Dina, to a horde of infected pursuing Ellie through a subway system. More than one of these events is a direct result of Joel’s silence and refusal to acknowledge his emotions and the consequences of his actions, which is a lovely little structural touch.

The Last of Us Season 2 trailer makes it clear the stakes are much higher this time around, which comes as no surprise if you’ve played the games. The first game, which season one adapted, is mostly a zombie version of a road trip story, but the heart of The Last of Us Part 2 is much darker and more dangerous.

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There’s still no Last of Us Season 2 release date, but you can expect it to air sometime in 2025.