Marketing for The Last of Us Season 2 is beginning to ramp up as the series approaches its 2025 release window. The second season of HBO's video game-to-series adaptation will tackle Naughty Dog's blockbuster sequel The Last of Us Part 2.
The first teaser trailer for The Last of Us Season 2 has previewed a faithful adaptation of the beloved Naughty Dog game, with the story picking up five years after the Season 1 finale. In the second game, Joel and Ellie are tested by the events of their pasts, which leads Ellie to go on a vengeance-fueled quest to Seattle, Washington. Kaitlyn Dever also joins the cast of The Last of Us Season 2 as Abby, a major character from the video game who becomes entwined in Joel and Ellie's paths.
To promote the upcoming season of The Last of Us, HBO has released a series of abstract character posters featuring Ellie, Abby, and Joel. Apart from the striking design of the poster, they also contain plenty of hidden clues and references to the game that may hint at what's to come in the new season.
This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part 2.
All the Easter Eggs & References Hidden in The Last of Us S2 Posters
Ellie's Character Poster
Ellie takes much more of the spotlight in The Last of Us Part 2, and the character poster featuring Bella Ramsey appears to pay homage to the cover of Naughty Dog's game. The box art for The Last of Us Part 2 features a close-up shot of Ellie's angry and blood-spattered face, which is mirrored in the poster design with Ramsey as Ellie.
Hidden in the white space of the image are the outlines of a few pivotal objects that will play a part in The Last of Us Season 2. One is the outline for the cordyceps fungus, which is responsible for turning humanity into the infected creatures that have ravaged society. In Season 1, it was established that Ellie is immune to the cordyceps virus, allowing her to be bitten or scratched by infected subjects or breathe in the toxic spores without any risk of infection. Cordyceps continues to be a big part of Ellie's journey in The Last of Us Part 2, both in terms of the infected she encounters and how her immune status impacts her relationships.
Also spotted in Ellie's character poster is the outline of her switchblade, a weapon that once belonged to her mother and was passed on by Marlene. The switchblade is a core part of Ellie's arsenal in both The Last of Us video games and, particularly in the sequel, it is responsible for a lot of damage. The final element of note in the poster is the outline of a large moth. This is a shout-out to the tattoo that Ellie gets between the events of the first and second games, which she uses to cover up the infected bite mark and hide her immunity. Game director Neil Druckmann has expanded on the meaning of Ellie's tattoo and revealed the moth is a symbol of death and compulsion, and that they wanted to play with the motif of moths constantly being drawn toward the light.
Joel's Character Poster
Pedro Pascal's Joel features heavily in one of The Last of Us Season 2 character posters. Similar to Ellie's poster, Joel's artwork features the outline of cordyceps, a unifying element across the series of posters, which identifies the artwork as belonging to the world of The Last of Us.
Joel's character poster also features two important images. One is the black-and-white outline of Joel's watch, which is identifiable by the cracks in its face. Despite it being broken, Joel continues to wear the watch throughout the series as it was a birthday gift from his daughter, Sarah, who was tragically killed during the outbreak. Surrounding the watch face in the poster is the outline of a guitar, another important element in The Last of Us Part 2. Joel and Ellie both share a love of playing guitar, which is something that Joel teaches Ellie soon after they move to Jackson. Throughout the second game, their story is bonded by the motif of the guitar, particularly Joel's rendition of Pearl Jam's 'Future Days'.
Abby's Character Poster
Abby is a new character to The Last of Us Season 2, but an integral one. Her character poster hints at the events to come in Season 2, particularly how her fate becomes connected to that of Ellie and Joel. Abby's poster somewhat mirrors Ellie's, showing a side profile of her face with plenty of blood splatter. This is symbolic, as both Ellie and Abby go on a journey of violence and vengeance.
Abby's poster also includes an outline of a wolf in the white space of the image. In The Last of Us Part 2, wolves are the symbol of the Washington Liberation Front, aka WLF, one of the factions introduced in Seattle. Throughout the game, members of the WLF are colloquially referred to as wolves. As Abby is a member of the WLF, so the inclusion of a wolf in her poster is a hint at her identity.
The lower half of Abby's poster shows an inverted image of Joel carrying Ellie out of the hospital in the Season 1 finale. This event is pivotal to Abby's journey as Joel is responsible for killing her father during his raid on the hospital to save Ellie, and this leads her to seek him out and enact revenge. Including this image in the poster is a hint at how Joel and Ellie became a core part of Abby's foundation as a character.
