The highly anticipated series “The Last Us” has announced that they have extended the date for the release of its new season from the beginning of the year 2024 to the end of 2024 or the start of the year 2025. The busy schedule of its lead actor, Pedro Pascal, has caused a continuous delay in the shoot of the season.
After Pascal’s appearance in The Game of Thrones, he gained a tremendous rise in fame and demand to be cast in other movies or series, which has kept him engaged in keeping up with all his projects.
The release of the highly anticipated next season of HBO’s The Last of Us was decided earlier, but it had to pull the release of its live-action video game-adapted series just a couple months before its scheduled release as Pascal seems to be involved in packing up his shooting schedule of other projects, including Gladiator 2, Fantastic Four, and a few others.
Why has the shooting of “The Last of Us” been delayed?
The Last of Us, season 2 by HBO, was about to be released in January 2024, an adaptation of a video game franchise, but had to be delayed because of the unavailability of its high-demand cast from Hollywood today, “Pedro Pascal.”
After Pascal’s role in Game of Thrones, his name became a part of some high-profile projects like Mandalorian and The Last of Us, but now this popularity has brought him so many opportunities that it has become an obstacle to the completion of The Last of Us Season 2.
Season 1 of The Last of Us, which was released on January 15, 2023, gained over 40 million views worldwide, and the final episode of it achieved 8.2 million views. The commencement of the shooting of season 2 was decided to be in action on January 7, 2024, but the unavoidable engagement of Pascal makes this date unviable now.
HBO had seen an impressive response to the release of season 1, which led them to make the decision to continue the narrative journey of Joel (Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) by announcing a new season. Neil Druckman, the co-creator of the franchise, was overwhelmed by the response the series had received during the first season and was highly anticipating the next season, just like the fans.
Pascal is having a boost in his career as he’s a part of many other projects at the moment, such as Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2, which is declared to be released in November 2024, The Mandalorian, and rumors also say that he’s going to appear as Reed Richards in a sequel to Marvel Cinematic Universe. All these lined-up projects have kept the actor too busy to shoot for the next season of The Last of Us.
When will “The Last of Us” season 2 be released?
The fans are disappointed due to the delay, but HBO has no choice but to delay the shoot due to its actors’ engagement. Francesca Ori, HBO’s Head of Drama, has indicated that the second season will potentially be released in 2025.
However HBO can still undergo this delay because of the popularity of The Last of Us season 1 and also because the audience will continue to stay enthusiastic for the upcoming seasons.
Despite being an adaptation, they introduced new characters and made changes to the storyline with omissions from the game. This creativity maintained its essence by drawing a line to distinguish between the series and the game.
Based on the note, the first season had ended. The second season has the probability of demising Pascal’s character “Joel Miller,” which allows HBO to still receive the same high demand as a new season from the audience.
It is clear that HBO’s work regarding The Last of Us completely relies on Pascal’s shooting schedule, which is too tight nowadays due to the actor’s other projects. Still, HBO’s commitment to delivering an impactful and highly energetic second season when it airs can be expected based on its evident past records.
Though a new season is not going to be released before 2025, the video game franchise is launching a remastered version of The Last of Us Part III for PlayStation 5, scheduled to be released on 19 January 2024.
