Warning: Spoilers for The Last of Us Part 2 follow
HBO has just given us a brand new look at The Last of Us Season 2, which will be arriving on our television screens in April of this year. It’s only a short teaser, clocking in at just under a minute, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any shots, scenes, and characters that are worth taking a closer look at. From a grief-ridden hospital corridor to an anger-harbouring, red-drenched hospital corridor, we’ve got you covered (as well as some other non-corridor-related details).
In case you missed it, we already did a full in-depth breakdown of the first Season Two trailer back in 2024, so you can read more about some of our theories about how the show might deviate from The Last of Us Part 2 game there. And we even had a go at predicting how this upcoming HBO season will play out if you’re in the mood for pure (educated) guesswork. But stay here if you want to check out the five new details, as well as comparisons between the show and Naughty Dog’s original game that we’ve picked out from the brand-new trailer.
1. Abby’s Hospital Corridor
As the teaser opens we get our first glimpse at the aftermath of The Last of Us’ most pivotal scene. An abandoned hallway, bathed by a flashing red light, is soundtracked by an alarm sound that will no doubt send shivers down the spine of anyone who has played the game. Chronologically, this takes place moments after Joel’s fateful decision to rescue Ellie from the Fireflies at the end of season one. We see a panicked Abby – portrayed here by Kaitlyn Dever – walk down the corridor leading to the operating theater of St Louis’ fictional St Mary’s Hospital. In that room, she’ll find the body of her dad, the surgeon whom Joel murdered to save Ellie. It’s the action that sets the wheel in motion for Part 2’s and (we assume) Season 2’s story of spiraling revenge and violence.
2. Ellie’s Hospital Corridor
Speaking of revenge and violence, that is exactly what is taking place in this scene just before the trailer ends, which shows Bella Ramsey’s Ellie bathed in red light in a corridor at Lakehill Seattle Hospital. This is almost certainly a replication of the moment in The Last of Us Part 2 when, having cornered one of Abby’s accomplices, Nora, Ellie proceeds to unleash what can only be described as a ferocious assault on her pleading victim. It’s a real turning point for Ellie in the game’s story as we really see for the first time how unstable she has become, and the uncomfortable lengths she’ll go in search of vengeance.
3. Sickle Sneak Peek
The Last of Us Part 2 is consistently incredibly violent, even by its predecessor’s standards, and 20 seconds into the teaser we get our first look at a bladed sickle weapon, which presumably belongs to one of the Seraphites. Also known as Scars, this cult-like faction from the game favors more workman-like weaponry such as hammers, machetes, bows, and, in this case, sickles. This may seem like a really tenuous detail, but this specific tool of destruction (or harvesting if that’s more your speed) plays a key role late in The Last of Us Part 2’s story. In a brutal showdown with a pickaxe-wielding Seraphite heavy, Abby achieves bloody victory with a Sickle, tearing apart the Seraphite’s face in a sequence that’s frequently harrowing.
4. A Better Look at Isaac
At the 21 second mark we get a lovely close-up of Jeffrey Wright, who plays Isaac Dixon, the leader of the Washington Liberation Front; a paramilitary organisation that Abby works with. Following in the footsteps of Season 1 actor Merle Dandridge (who played Marlene), Wright actually reprises his role from the game, where he provided voice and motion-capture for Dixon in The Last of Us Part 2.
A complicated character consumed by conflict (as many in this story are), Dixon doesn’t get a ton of screen time in the game. Here’s hoping we get a bit more of him in the show, as well as more of that fetching beard and knitwear combo.
5. The Last Dance
And finally, at 24 seconds in, we get a look at one of the most memorable scenes from across both The Last of Us games – the Jackson dance. Dina, played in the HBO show by Alien Romulus’ Isabela Merced, can be seen embracing Ellie in a scene that will spark their romance. It’s a real warm moment of tenderness amongst the cold hopelessness that the rest of the story projects, which is likely why it endures as such a memorable moment.
It will be interesting to see if the chronology of events is being played around with here. In The Last of Us Part Two, the dance occurs right at the end of the story in flashback form, but we already know that Season 2 of the show is not going to reach that far into the timeline. The fact that we’re seeing it here in the trailer suggests that Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin might be tweaking the order we see these scenes, perhaps to help cement the emotional stakes of Ellie’s journey.
We won’t have to wait long to see what changes, if any, have been made to The Last of Us Part Two’s story, though, with Season 2 of the show only a few months away now. What are you most excited to see in the upcoming episodes? Let us know in the comments below.
