Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 1.
The Last of Us season 2 adapts all the major characters from the game, and the live-action versions have both differences and similarities to their video game counterparts. Picking up five years after the events of season 1, The Last of Us season 2 sees Joel and Ellie fully settled into their new lives in Jackson, Wyoming. Joel has reconnected with his younger brother Tommy and become the town’s construction foreman, while Ellie has joined the patrol squad and made some new friends. Joel and Ellie’s relationship has mysteriously soured in the years since Joel told Ellie the big lie.
The first Last of Us game revolves entirely around Joel and Ellie. Supporting characters come and go, like Tess, Bill, and Sam and Henry, but Joel and Ellie are really the only main characters in the game (and, by extension, the TV adaptation). The Last of Us Part II is a much bigger story with a much bigger cast, so the TV show has had to expand its ensemble and introduce a bunch of new characters. But how do those characters compare to the originals from the game? What did the adaptation keep the same, and what did it change?
7
Ellie
Bella Ramsey reprises their role as Ellie in The Last of Us season 2. Ramsey’s portrayal of Ellie is completely different from Ashley Johnson’s performance in the games, but they both capture the essence of the character: Ellie is scrappy, fiercely loyal to the people she cares about, and has a mouth like a sailor. Ramsey’s Ellie is even more cutting and acid-tongued than Johnson’s; she always has a biting insult up her sleeve.
In the first game, Ellie is an innocent kid who gets corrupted by the violence she witnesses and later has to commit. In the second game, in her ruthless pursuit of vengeance, she goes down a dark path to becoming a cold-blooded killer and loses her humanity along the way. In its first season, the TV show changed Ellie’s relationship with violence and made her less traumatized and more enlivened by Joel’s violent actions. Season 2 is continuing this altered arc with an Ellie who’s scarily aggressive from the offset.
6
Joel
Pedro Pascal returns as Joel Miller in The Last of Us season 2. Pascal’s Joel is the same character as Troy Baker’s Joel from the game at his core — they’re both gruff, grizzled curmudgeons who lost their humanity when their daughter Sarah died and eventually clawed that humanity back when Ellie came into their lives — but the two versions of the story approach the character in totally different ways. Whereas Baker’s Joel is stoic and emotionless, Pascal’s Joel is much more sensitive and vulnerable. He suffers from regular panic attacks.
In the games, Joel is completely closed off from his emotions. He doesn’t even have a visible response when Tommy shows him a picture of Sarah; he bottles it all up inside. In the TV show, Joel is more in touch with his feelings. When he asks Tommy to take Ellie to the Fireflies in the game, he dresses it up as a sales pitch. But in the TV show, he presents it upfront as the desperate plea that it is. In season 2, Joel is in therapy; the game version of Joel wouldn’t go near a therapist.
5
Tommy
Gabriel Luna reprises his role as Joel’s ex-Firefly brother Tommy in The Last of Us season 2. In season 1, Joel found Tommy living in Jackson with his wife, Maria. In the five years since then, Tommy and Maria have invited Joel and Ellie to live in Jackson permanently and set them up in a new home. When Joel and Tommy reunited in season 1, they were estranged. But now that they’ve been living together for five years, they’re closer than ever, which mirrors the arc of their relationship in the games.
Like the video game voice actor Jeffrey Pierce, Luna plays Tommy as every bit the capable badass that Joel is, but with a much kinder heart. Season 1 established that this version of Tommy is a veteran of the Gulf War who served in Operation Desert Storm, which explains his signature sharpshooting skills (the sniping lesson he gives Ellie is ripped straight from the game). The TV show’s biggest change to Tommy is that he’s a father now, which isn’t the case in the game.
4
Maria
Rutina Wesley returns in The Last of Us season 2 as the leader of Jackson (and Tommy’s wife), Maria. Just like in the games, where she’s played by Ashley Scott, the TV show’s Maria is a fair and compassionate leader who puts family first; she loves Joel and Ellie like they’re her own. During the five-year time jump, she’s embraced Joel as her brother-in-law (despite being skeptical about trusting him in season 1) and she’s embraced Ellie as her surrogate niece. Much like Tommy, the TV show’s biggest change to Maria is making her a parent with a five-year-old son.
3
Dina
Isabela Merced joins The Last of Us cast in season 2 as Ellie’s best friend and love interest, Dina. Not only is Merced a pretty good physical match for the character of Dina; her performance is also a spot-on recreation of Shannon Woodward’s work in the game. Merced puts her own stamp on the role — she gives Dina a bubbly personality and a breezy, devil-may-care attitude — but she embodies all the character’s defining traits spectacularly, from her dorky sense of humor (“Bear-beque!”) to her sizzling romantic chemistry with Ellie, which Merced and Ramsey nail.
The Last of Us season 2 makes a few key changes to Dina. Most notably, it establishes a friendship between Dina and Joel. In the game, Dina and Joel don’t even interact, but in the TV show, Joel acts as a sort of mentor to Dina.
2
Jesse
Young Mazino also joins the cast in season 2, playing Dina’s ex-boyfriend and the leader of the patrols, Jesse. Mazino is a dead ringer for the video game character, and he perfectly captures his personality, too. Jesse is one of The Last of Us’ most lovable characters. He’s a great friend who would do anything for the people closest to him — his catchphrase is, “My friends’ problems are my problems” — and he’s also the chillest guy in the apocalypse. Mazino nails Jesse’s laid-back approach to life; he takes Ellie and Dina’s insults in stride.
1
Abby
The most important new character joining The Last of Us in season 2 is Abby Anderson, played by Kaitlyn Dever. Abby’s most striking physical trait in the game is her muscular build, which Dever doesn’t have. In the game, Abby’s physique is a visual indication that she’s spent the four years since Joel’s massacre so singularly focused on revenge that she turned her body into a killing machine. There was a minor controversy over the casting of a non-muscular actor to play Abby, but Dever has instantly proven to be the perfect choice for the role.
Dever might not have Abby’s build, but she’s captured everything else that the character requires: her rage, her grief, her well-guarded vulnerability, her chemistry with Owen, her violent impulses, and the look of vengeful determination as she sets her sights on Jackson. As with any adaptation, The Last of Us season 2 has made a few changes to the game’s main characters. But those changes have enriched the story without losing sight of the dramatic core of the characters.
Custom Image By Yailin Chacon
Custom Image By Yailin Chacon
The Last Of Us
8/10
Release Date
January 15, 2023
Network
HBO
Showrunner
Craig Mazin
Directors
Craig Mazin, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Ali Abbasi, Mark Mylod, Stephen Williams, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, Nina Lopez-Corrado
Writers
Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin