‘The Last Of Us’ Season 2 Casting, Scripts, Likely Release Date Delayed By Writers Strike

Sep 29, 2023

The Last of Us Part 2

Another giant show is getting delays on all fronts due to the Writers Strike, and this time it's HBO's The Last of Us, a stark contrast to House of the Dragon on the same channel, which is going ahead with season 2 despite the strike, claiming its scripts are already written.

It's not a huge shock to learn that The Last of Us season 2 is shutting down on all fronts, given that Craig Mazin himself has been picketing for the strike. His co-creator/writer Neil Druckmann has also ceased working on the show in any capacity, including producing, not even just writing duties.

One major thing that's been interrupted is casting. The original plan was to have actors read lines to audition that were taken directly from the existing game sequel, PlayStation's The Last of Us Part II, since there were not actual HBO show scripts to be read. But now that idea appears to have been scrapped as well as everything is shutting down due to the strike.

It remains unclear if The Last of Us has casted the biggest role of season 2 yet, that of Abby, who will essentially be a co-lead for the series for next season. Given that they saw hundreds of actresses to find Bella Ramsey for Ellie, it stands to reason they may be going through a similar amount for Abby, who is not likely to be a big star like Pedro Pascal was for Joel.

Last of Us

As for what this will do to the release date, it's probably going to be pretty grim. Already this was likely the kind of show that was going to push, 1.5, 2 years in between seasons, given its scale, so that would have put it anywhere from early fall 2024 to winter 2025 with its season 1 release this past January. We don't know how long the Writers Strike will continue, but it could easily force another 6+ month delay or so if things are not resolved.

To be clear, this is not a call for the strike to end faster so we can get season 2 of The Last of Us faster. The writers working on these streaming series absolutely deserve everything they’re asking for, from residuals to protection from AI, but it's definitely going to do some very significant things to production schedules, and while it can really on be felt a tiny bit for things like Late Night TV now, it's going to massively impact a huge slate of television in the mid to long term future, The Last of Us included.

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