I Love Tһe Lаst Of Us Pаrt II, And Tһese 6 Sсenes Are Tһe Ones HBO's Seаson 2 Must Get Rіgһt

I can’t wait to see HBO’s The Last of Us adapt the initial chapters of The Last of Us Part II in its second season, but there are a lot of crucial scenes that will be tricky for the TV show to get right. Although season 1 covered the whole first game, The Last of Us season 2 will only cover part of the second game. HBO has an ambitious four-season plan for The Last of Us, meaning it could take three seasons to fully adapt the massive nonlinear narrative of Part II for television.

HBO Exec Shares Good News for 'The Last Of Us' Season 2

HBO recently confirmed that The Last of Us season 2 will premiere on April 13, 2025. Based on the trailers, the season seems to be focusing mostly on Ellie’s story. It’s unclear exactly when The Last of Us season 2 will end, but if it follows the structure of the game faithfully, it could get through the prologue in Jackson and Ellie’s three days in Seattle before leaving on the bombshell twist of the shift into Abby’s perspective of the same three days. If that’s the case, there are a lot of important scenes that season 2 needs to nail.

6The Jackson Dance

TLOU2: Dance Scene Essentials

Collage of the Jackson dance scene in The Last of Us Part II and The Last of Us season 2.

The fateful Jackson dance is discussed at length throughout The Last of Us Part II, but it’s not actually shown until the epilogue. However, according to the game’s commentary track, it was originally supposed to be shown in chronological order at the beginning of the story, and since there are plenty of clips from this scene in The Last of Us season 2’s trailers, it seems as though the TV show will bump it up in the timeline, too. This scene is the key to understanding Ellie’s relationship with Dina and her falling-out with Joel.

Joel steps in to defend Ellie, but Ellie gets mad at him for doing so.

Ellie has her first kiss with Dina on the dancefloor, then the euphoria of that romantic moment is interrupted by a homophobic remark from Seth. Joel steps in to defend Ellie, but Ellie gets mad at him for doing so. When the TV show adapts this sequence, it’s important to show the electric chemistry between Ellie and Dina, as well as the bitterness and hostility that Ellie holds toward Joel. It’ll be tough to pull off both effectively within the same scene.

5Joel's Death

HBO's Crucial Scene

Ellie is forced to watch Joel's death in The Last of Us Part II

Arguably the most important scene in The Last of Us Part II — and the trickiest one for the TV show to get right — is Joel’s death. This is the inciting incident of the whole story, and it needs to achieve a very specific emotional response from the audience. It needs to surprise viewers with the rug-pull that damsel-in-distress Abby is actually a vengeful killing machine who’s been hunting Joel for years. It needs to shock them with the graphic brutality of the murder. Bella Ramsey’s cries of horror need to feel just as heartbreakingly authentic as Ashley Johnson’s.

In order for the ensuing revenge narrative to land, this sequence needs to make the audience hate Abby just as much as Ellie does, and make them want vengeance just as much as Ellie does. The audience will go along with Ellie’s dark journey, just as they did in the game, if they want Abby dead just as much as she does. This all paves the way for the midpoint twist, that Abby is actually sympathetic, to land as powerfully as it does.

4Ellie Reveals Her Immunity & Dina Reveals Her Pregnancy

Immunity & Pregnancy: HBO's Key

Dina tells Ellie she's pregnant in The Last of Us Part II

It’s difficult to pull off any scene that contains a bombshell revelation about one of the main characters, but it’s nearly impossible to pull off a scene that contains two. Toward the end of Ellie’s first day in Seattle, her gas mask breaks and, much to Dina’s shock and confusion, Ellie breathes in spores without getting infected. As they seek refuge in an abandoned theater, Ellie reveals that she’s immune to Cordyceps. She had previously tried to tell Dina about her immunity, but Dina didn’t believe her until she saw it with her own eyes.

Off the back of Ellie’s immunity confession, Dina reveals that she’s pregnant.

Dina’s pregnancy is a huge shock to an audience that’s been watching her narrowly avoid death all day. It drastically complicates Ellie’s quest for revenge, because now there are sky-high stakes and a clear reason to turn back and abandon the mission. Ellie’s immunity isn’t a surprise to the audience, but it is a surprise to Dina. There are a lot of emotions going around in this scene, so it’s a tricky tightrope to walk.

3Ellie Tortures Nora

Nora Scene: HBO's Raw Emotion

A red-hued Ellie (Bella Ramsey) points a gun in The Last of Us Season 2

The most recent trailer for The Last of Us season 2 teased a faithful translation of one of the grimmest scenes in the game: when Ellie tortures Nora for Abby’s location. The shot of Ramsey bathed in ominous red light in a hospital hallway is taken directly from the game. This is when Ellie’s relentless road to revenge starts to chip away at her humanity. She’s so desperate to find Abby and avenge Joel that she’s willing to throw all morality out the window and beat a helpless woman to death to coerce her into betraying her friend.

The game had the benefit of being able to force the player to actually press the button to beat Nora with the pipe, making them an active participant in Ellie’s transition to the dark side. The TV show won’t be able to actively involve the audience in the torture scene, so it might have to make it even more violent to have the same effect. Based on the violence in season 1 (and HBO’s other shows), this surely won’t be a problem.

2Ellie Learns The Truth

TLOU2: Truth, HBO's Impact

Joel tells Ellie the truth in The Last of Us Part II

Ellie’s three days in Seattle are peppered with flashbacks that provide context about the past couple of years of her relationship with Joel. These flashbacks range from heartwarming, like their trip to a dinosaur and aerospace museum, to horrifying, like their gruesome encounter with a bloater in a dilapidated hotel. But the toughest one for the TV show to get right will be when Ellie goes back to St. Mary’s Hospital in Salt Lake City and finally learns the truth about what happened after they reached the Fireflies.

After finding a recording by a Firefly medic confirming that the story Joel told her was a total fabrication, Ellie forces him to tell her what really happened. Joel confesses that they could’ve turned her immunity into a cure, but the operation would’ve killed her, so he stopped them. Pedro Pascal needs to deliver Joel’s grizzled, reluctant confession as effectively as Troy Baker, and Ramsey needs to capture Ellie’s devastation and anger as effectively as Johnson.

1Joel & Ellie's Heart-To-Heart On The Porch

Porch Moment: HBO's Connection

Joel (Pedro Pascal) playing the guitar in The Last of Us Season 2 Teaser

In the game, the conversation between Joel and Ellie on Joel’s porch doesn’t appear until the very end, when Ellie returns to an empty house with two missing fingers, and it recolors everything that came before it. But since Joel is seen playing his guitar on the porch and Ellie is seen approaching the house in the season 2 trailer, it seems as though the TV show will be moving this scene up to the beginning. This scene lays out the conflict between Joel and Ellie and the possible reconciliation that would ultimately never come to pass.

Ellie tells Joel that she’s not sure if she can forgive him for making the biggest decision of her life for her, but she would like to try. This bittersweet heart-to-heart shows that they were about to get their relationship back on track, but that rekindling was cut short when Abby picked up a golf club. This is the scene that ties the whole story together, and The Last of Us season 2 needs to get it right.