All The Last Of Us Season 2 Clues Suggest A Part II Game Character Is Getting A Much Bigger Role

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part II.

There are plenty of clues that The Last of Us season 2 will expand on the backstory of Jeffrey Wright’s character Isaac — and that could be a great thing for the show. Isaac is the ruthless leader of the Washington Liberation Front who overthrew FEDRA and took over the Seattle quarantine zone. Although his journey began by liberating the people from their oppressive overlords, Isaac eventually became a corrupt warmonger in his own right. The Last of Us Part II only had time to hint at that fascinating story, but the TV show has the freedom to really explore it.

Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have already made one right move with Isaac by bringing back his original video game voice actor to play him in the HBO series. Wright gave a captivating performance in his couple of scenes in The Last of Us Part II, but the TV show has a chance to really expand on this character. It could even dedicate a whole episode to Isaac’s backstory — not just how he took over the Seattle Q.Z., but why he was driven to rise up. There have been plenty of hints that that’s the plan.

All Hints Suggest The Last Of Us Season 2 Will Expand On Isaac's Backstory

Jeffrey Wright Was Seen Filming Non-Game Scenes (& He's Teased An Isaac Origin Story)

There have been plenty of hints that The Last of Us season 2 will explore Isaac’s origin story. The first photo of Wright on The Last of Us setshowed him filming a scene that isn’t in the game. He’s wearing tactical gear and standing on the street alongside his troops. It’s just one photo taken by an onlooker, but it seems to confirm that the show’s depiction of Isaac will go beyond what’s seen in the game. The series could go back and show how Isaac managed to topple FEDRA and invade Seattle.

In a recent interview with TVLine, Wright acknowledged that he’d been getting asked a lot about whether or not The Last of Us season 2 will dig into Isaac’s backstory. He teased, “We might,” which isn’t a confirmation by any means, but isn’t a denial, either. The writer notes that after this answer, Wright gave a look that suggested, “I know something you’d really like to know.” All signs are pointing to Isaac getting a much larger role in the second season of the TV show than he got in The Last of Us Part II.

The Last Of Us Part II Didn't Have Time To Explore Isaac's Character In Depth

The Game Could Only Show Isaac From Abby's Perspective

Although Isaac is one of The Last of Us Part II’s most compelling characters, the game didn’t have enough time to really explore the character in depth. Video games are confined to the perspective of the character that the player is controlling. When they’re playing as Ellie, Isaac is a mysterious background character confined to notes and letters. When they’re playing as Abby, they finally meet Isaac face-to-face, but Abby quickly leaves the base to go looking for Owen, and Isaac isn’t seen again until a deadly encounter three days later.

TV shows aren’t confined by the same limitations. They can jump between a bunch of different characters’ perspectives and flash back and forth all over the narrative timeline. The Last of Us season 1 had cold opens ranging from a scientist in Indonesia witnessing the Cordyceps outbreak to Ellie’s mother giving birth to her after getting infected. Season 2 could take advantage of this format to develop Isaac a bit more and show things from his point of view. He might turn out to be more sympathetic than he seems in Part II.

The Last Of Us Season 2 Has Plenty Of Isaac History To Draw From

Ellie Finds A Lot Of Evidence Of Isaac's Ruthless Takeover Of Seattle

In The Last of Us Part II, the player doesn’t get to meet Isaac until they get to the end of Ellie’s third day in Seattle and go back to the first day to play as Abby. But Isaac is a looming presence in the game long before then. When Ellie and Dina first arrive in Seattle, they find that a vast downtown section of the quarantine zone is unoccupied. As they start exploring, they find evidence of a violent uprising against FEDRA by the mysterious group they’re chasing: the Washington Liberation Front.

Playing as Ellie, wandering around downtown Seattle, there are plenty of notes, letters, and official documents to be found mentioning Isaac. He recruited a bunch of people who were similarly fed up with FEDRA’s oppression and they rose up and took over the Q.Z. by brute force. Ellie and Dina stumble across a W.L.F. hideout where they planned an attack on a FEDRA convoy, and it’s possible to find the remains of the convoy itself after the attack. There are also a handful of skeletons of FEDRA soldiers that Isaac executed dotted around the city.

The Last of Us Part II might not have shown any of Isaac’s backstory, but there’s still plenty of established backstory for the second season of the HBO series to draw from. Season 1 expanded on the game’s hints that Ellie’s mother was friends with Marlene by showing her giving a baby Ellie to Marlene to look after. Season 2 can do the same with all the suggestions about Isaac’s backstory from the letters, battle plans, and bodies to be found around Seattle in Part II.

How Isaac's Origin Story Would Complement Ellie & Abby's Story In The Last Of Us Season 2

It's A More Macro Exploration Of The Endless Cycle Of Violence

Mazin and Druckmann have made it clear that they won’t just expand on video game characters for the sake of it. It has to expand on the themes of the story at hand. Bill and Frank’s romance made for a beautiful standalone episode of season 1, but it also served a thematic purpose; it tied into the central theme of Joel and Ellie’s story: the sacrifices that people make for their loved ones. Isaac’s origin story would similarly complement the core theme of Ellie and Abby’s story in The Last of Us season 2.

Ellie and Abby’s story in The Last of Us Part II is all about the endless cycle of violence and revenge. Joel kills Abby’s father, so Abby kills Joel, so Ellie sets out to kill Abby — and slaughters all her friends along the way. The message is that revenge won’t solve anything; it’ll just lead to more violence. Isaac’s war with FEDRA, and later the Seraphites, is a much more macro version of that. The Last of Us season 2 has a great opportunity to contrast that with Ellie and Abby’s tale of vengeance.