The following contains major spoilers for The Last of Us Part II and potential spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2.
The Last of Us is coming back to the screen after a stellar first season in 2023. It will only be two years in real time when Season 2 premieres in 2025, but it'll be five years for Joel and Ellie. From what The Last of Us' first teaser trailer shows, those five years of relative peace are turned upside down when the past finally catches up to both of them.
Last fans saw Joel and Ellie in the Season 1 finale, the two were heading to the community of Jackson in Wyoming after a massacre at the Firefly hospital in Salt Lake City. Joel lied to Ellie about the importance of her immunity, claiming that there was nothing the Fireflies could do for her. In reality, Joel wanted to prevent the past from repeating itself by stopping a cure from being made to save Ellie. Ellie accepted his lie, but her face says it all: she didn't believe him. Things are looking good for Joel and Ellie in the Season 2 teaser, sharing a happy moment as Joel teaches her how to play guitar while Ellie also makes new relationships. But the weight of the lie is becoming too heavy for Joel to carry, and there may be others out there waiting to make it heavier.
What Catherine O'Hara's Character Means for Tommy
There has been a lot of speculation about the identity of Catherine O'Hara's character in The Last of Us Season 2. The biggest one so far is that she's the Seraphite Prophet, if the show is telling the second part of the story with more flashbacks or a different timeline. But that doesn't seem to be the case at all. O'Hara's character seems to be a therapist in Jackson, helping Joel through his guilt that he can't quite find the words for.
O'Hara's character is a big step for Joel to admit his faults and build a better relationship with Ellie. However, it's also a massive diversion from The Last of Us Part II, where Joel tells Tommy the truth about what happened at the hospital shortly after. Tommy's wife Maria also seemingly knows the truth because she was aware of Ellie's immunity. The shared secret ties the brothers closer because, no matter what Joel did that Tommy might disapprove of, he accepts it and loves his brother.
There's a chance that Joel never even tells Tommy the truth in the show because of their previous falling out, and the fear that Tommy would cut off Joel for what he did. Since Tommy will already have a four or five-year-old child by the events of Season 2, leaving for Seattle won't be as easy a decision for him as it was in the game, but there's a good chance he'll still go. Yet, when he eventually learns the truth about Joel causing the Firefly slaughter at a later time, it could be the very thing that causes a shift between Tommy and Ellie. Tommy left his wife and child for Ellie in Seattle, and he may feel some regret about that.
The First Look at Abby Foreshadows Her Mission
Another character fans have been wanting to see is Abby Anderson, played by Kaitlyn Dever in the show. Abby is a member of the Washington Liberation Front (WLF) in Seattle, led by a man named Isaac, who helped the organization overthrow FEDRA in that area. Abby isn't seen as frequently as Joel and Ellie, but her role is as big as theirs in Season 2 -- that is, if the second season is following the events of the game pretty closely. Abby only appears a couple of times in the trailer: One, kneeling next to a grave with teary eyes looking back at someone.
The second time is in snow-capped Jackson getting attacked by a herd of infected and being saved by Joel, judging by the revolver being used to kill an infected being. If Abby's storyline is the same as the game's, she is probably crying at her father's grave in Salt Lake City. Her father, Jerry, was the surgeon operating on Ellie and was brutally killed by Joel. This means that The Last of Us Season 2 will feature more scenes with Abby in flashback sequences following the hospital incident and leading up to her recruitment into the WLF. The five years spent with the WLF is used to train for her eventual run-in with Joel, whom she's obsessed with killing.
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Jackson, the WLF and the Seraphites Have Big Roles to Play
There will be three major groups featured in The Last of Us Season 2: Jackson, the WLF and the Seraphites. The Seraphites are a primitivist religious cult created by the Prophet, who are at war with the WLF over occupying Seattle. Since Isaac killed the Prophet, she's become a martyr for the Seraphites who pray and kill in her name. Their saying is "Feel Her Love," which Ellie sees written in blood on a wall in Seattle. An unknown Seraphite is seen in the trailer with the traditional scars on his face, which is how they earned their nickname "Scars" from the WLF.
Two important Seraphites that aren't in the teaser, nor have there been casting announcements for, are Lev and Yara. The brother and sister duo are crucial for Abby's journey in the game, and it's strange there hasn't been any news about their inclusion in the show. All of Ellie's Jackson friends and Abby's WLF friends have been cast. For some reason, the show is either choosing to withhold news about Lev and Yara, or they're not in this season. This could mean a change in the timeline, since the creators of the show have claimed the second game's story will span multiple seasons.
Another Seraphite in the trailer is, unfortunately, in worse shape than the others. The Seraphite is stripped naked and being questioned by Isaac, with Jeffrey Wright reprising his role from the game. Clickers and bloaters can be the most terrifying creatures to encounter in this world, but the idea of a human being torturing and degrading another person because of a territorial war is more horrifying. At least in Jackson, life appears to be more serene. Scenes with Jackson show a relatively normal life in the apocalypse, and the only enemies they have to face are the cold and infected.
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Ellie and Dina's Musical Journey in Seattle
Finally, the trailer is full of first looks at Ellie and Dina's journey throughout Seattle, where they encounter many enemies they didn't expect to find. One dangerous location includes a subway station full of clickers, a sequence pulled straight from the game. Another one appears to be the hospital in Seattle where Ellie is forced to defeat several WLF soldiers by herself, but she looks more than capable with an assault rifle.
Seattle isn't always a life-or-death situation, however. One of the most beautiful moments from the game is in the teaser, where Ellie plays the guitar and sings for Isabela Merced's Dina in an abandoned music shop that's been destroyed and overgrown with greenery. It's a parallel to another shot in the trailer where Ellie is playing the guitar with Joel in his kitchen, a pleasant moment between the two before their relationship falls apart.
You can't heal something unless you're brave enough to say it out loud. -- Catherine O'Hara's unnamed character
Music will play a big part in the season as the only thing connecting Joel and Ellie in their strained relationship. Many fans from the first season were disappointed that the song "Future Days" by Pearl Jam, which Joel sings to Ellie, couldn't be used in the show because it was released 10 years after the outbreak. But The Last of Us did find a way to incorporate "Future Days" by using it as the backing track to the trailer.
The trailer gives just enough to tease what's ahead for Joel and Ellie. Video game fans can put the pieces together based on key locations and characters, but the show is obviously making changes to keep the story fresh. Considering the biggest change in the first season earned the show multiple Emmy nominations, The Last of Us has more than enough earned faith from viewers to do the second game justice.
