The Final Of Us Season Two: All the pieces We Know

It’s prefer it’s 2013 yet again. After the conclusion of The Final of Us’ first season, we’re all caught, but once more, debating the morality of Joel’s powerful determination on the finish of each the unique online game and the latest TV adaptation. And we’re additionally left with anticipation over season two and what components of the sport’s sequel, The Final of Us Half II, will make the reduce on HBO. So let’s dig into what’s been mentioned by the TV creatives who’re answerable for what’s being lauded as the best online game adaptation of all time to get a way of what to anticipate sooner or later.

Ending with unresolved have an effect on, the bloody and morally unsure finish of The Final of Us is known for sparking hypothesis over its many doable implications. And with a second season confirmed to comply with sooner or later sooner or later, each newcomers to this world and veterans of its equally violent and emotional (if not moreso) sequel, The Final of Us Half II, will harbor many questions.

Given how intently the TV present tailored and preserved important components from the primary sport, many seemingly count on the second season to dive into its sequel with the identical vigorous method. Not an unreasonable assumption. Let’s dig into what the present’s creators have already shared in regards to the anticipated sophomore season and talk about what’s seemingly in retailer because the present continues. I shall endeavor to take action with out spoiling a drop of what occurs in Half II, so in the event you’re averse to spoilers, learn on fear free (however do train warning across the numerous hyperlinks).

When was season two of The Final of Us confirmed?

After the early success of the primary season, Ellie’s actor, Bella Ramsey, teased {that a} season two was doable if spirits remained favorable over the remainder of the present. But it surely wasn’t till January 27 that HBO made season two official in a tweet.

And with out skipping a beat, the video games’ and present’s co-creator, Neil Druckmann, contributed to hypothesis over what materials season two would cowl with simply over a dozen characters, tweeting: “Part II —> HBO.”

So if there was any doubt, sure, there very a lot is a season two on the best way, and, sure, it’s going to give attention to Half II. However given the dimensions of Half II, what can we count on from this subsequent season? Are they going to do the entire thing?

Season two will kick off the variation of The Final of Us Half II, however count on modifications and a number of seasons

Given Druckmann’s tweet, and the way intently the primary season caught to the unique sport, it virtually looks as if a provided that season two will simply bounce headfirst into the harrowing occasions of the second sport. And given the occasions of the primary season, which cowl the entire occasions of the primary sport and its enlargement DLC in 9 episodes, you’d be forgiven for assuming the present will purpose to cowl as a lot, if not all, of the second sport in its second season. However in the event you’ve performed Half II,, you realize {that a} direct adaptation goes to be a little bit of a artistic problem.

Debuting on PlayStation 4 in 2020, The Final of Us Half II launched numerous new characters, heightened ranges of emotional stakes, and really thorough explorations of every character’s historical past. It gave a lot context for what occurred and to whom that the sport was mainly two full video games in a single. (Which you shouldn’t attempt to cram in a weekend. Ask me how I do know.)

Craig Mazin, the present’s co-writer and creator, is effectively conscious of this truth. To deal with the much-larger Half II, Mazin has mentioned that followers must count on “a number of seasons” shifting ahead. Talking with GQ, Mazin described adapting the sequel as “a frightening process,” and one which received’t come with out some modifications:

I believe we all know what we’re doing on this one. I’m not saying that in [a] snarky means, I’m saying that in a hopeful means. There are going to be issues which can be completely different, and there are issues which can be going to be an identical. There are issues which can be going to be added and enriched. There are some issues which can be going to be flipped.

If the “completely different” sentiment has you nervous, Mazin and Druckmann additionally shared a few of their collaborative course of, which meditates on intentional decisions and “subtleties,” not change for change’s sake. About engaged on the present, Mazin mentioned:

I wouldn’t say that there have been any foremost disagreements [over changes]. It wasn’t like for 3 weeks I used to be like “Ellie must be a boy.” This stuff are at all times tiny. “Ought to she say this phrase or this phrase?” All of the subtleties are the place Neil [Druckmann] and I make investments a whole lot of our effort and a spotlight, as a result of that’s the place we discover magnificence.

Mazin on season two: ‘I’ve a lot nervousness myself about doing a great job on this.’

Talking with Gizmodo, it’s clear that Mazin isn’t taking modifications to the story of Half II calmly. “There’s this fixed drumbeat of tension,” Mazin mentioned. “When you’re anxious about one thing, I’m in all probability anxious about it. Which implies we’re speaking about it and desirous about it.” He described the potential modifications as being harking back to the sorts of adaptive decisions we’ve seen within the first season:

It is going to be completely different. Simply as this season was completely different, generally it is going to be completely different radically, and generally it is going to be barely completely different in any respect. But it surely’s going to be completely different and it is going to be it’s personal factor. It received’t be precisely like the sport. It is going to be the present that Neil [Druckmann] and I wish to make.

It looks as if the artistic aspirations of season two are in the best place: There shall be a number of seasons to accommodate Half II’s size, with deliberate, respectful modifications to match the wants of tv drama.

The Final of Us received’t be an ‘open-ended, ongoing drama’

Whereas the information of a number of seasons appears to make sense when you think about the huge scale of Half II, it additionally runs the danger of reminding us of different, once-great, however now well-past-their-welcome zombie dramas that simply…received’t…die. To that finish, Mazin has been clear that whereas there shall be extra seasons, he and Druckmann are aiming for significant doses of storytelling, not marathons of infinite anguish and struggling.

Talking to TheWrap again in early February, Mazin mentioned that the present’s manufacturing is “dedicated to not making The Final of Us an open-ended, ongoing drama.” He continued:

We’re right here to inform the story and we’re right here to achieve an finish. The top helps us perceive why we’re doing something and the truth that there’s an finish that’s baked in and particular signifies that the belongings you watch and expertise as a viewer matter […] We are going to take up as a lot time as we have to end telling the story the best way we wish to inform it greatest.

That is seemingly music to many followers’ ears. One of many key strengths of The Final of Us is that, whereas we’re prone to have divergent opinions in regards to the morality portrayed on-screen, deliberate, targeted storytelling with a transparent starting and finish is what makes the video games so impactful.

However in the event you have been hoping for extra specifics, like who’s prone to be forged and who may return, we solely know a number of concrete specifics on that entrance, and have a number of open-ended speculations.

Bella Ramsey will return as Ellie

Ellie is about 14 years outdated within the first sport. The second sport exhibits her a number of years later as a younger grownup. It’s not unusual for exhibits and movies to make use of completely different actors to cowl age gaps, so naturally some may marvel if Bella Ramsey will return as Ellie.

This one’s simple. Talking at a press convention just lately, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin mentioned, in regard to the second season, that they “are making it with Bella [Ramsey].” Druckmann added:

We’re extraordinarily fortunate to have Bella within the stuff you noticed all through this complete season. The one means we’d ever rethink recasting Bella is that if she mentioned, “I don’t wish to work with you guys anymore.” Even then, we’re unsure we’d grant her that, we’d nonetheless pressure her to come back again. [Laughs]

So there you’ve got it: concrete affirmation that Bella Ramsey will play Ellie in season two.

Season two may have extra contaminated, and possibly some extra correct geography

HBO’s adaptation of The Final of Us scaled again a bit on the motion. A minimum of one iconic scene from the sport (which sees Joel suspended, the wrong way up, and firing desperately at charging contaminated) wasn’t included.

On that entrance, Mazin has mentioned that whereas the present aimed to focus on “the ability of relationships” and sought “to seek out significance inside moments of motion,” the following season will function extra contaminated. However in the event you’re like me, a weirdo who minored in geography, effectively, you may be hoping that season two will attempt to choose places which can be a bit extra correct to the place the story goes.

Again in January, horror author Stephen King expressed skepticism at was allegedly a river financial institution not too removed from an east-coast American metropolis:

Craig Mazin didn’t disagree, saying that through the present’s first season, there was a way that “every so often you get a bit little bit of an ‘Oh, it’s Canada,’ after we don’t need it to be Canada.” Whereas he didn’t share any specifics about how that little, innocent snag may get remedied, it’s secure to say that the manufacturing is effectively conscious of the problem in precisely portraying locales on-screen.

With the smoke from Joel’s gunshots barely having cleared following Sunday’s season finale, it would seemingly be some time earlier than the present’s creators share additional particulars about season two of The Final of Us. Proper now, nevertheless, season two appears to be like to be the beginning of a multi-season method that goals to benefit from Half II’s heavy emotional beats and heightened motion, and can proceed with the identical actors who introduced these characters so memorably to life.