How can The Last of Us season 2 build on the first season?

With the second season of HBO's hit show The Last of Us just around the corner, it is time to start talking about what to expect as anticipations for this critically acclaimed show continue to grow.

Co-creator Neil Druckmann has said that the story will continue to echo the game's events. He reiterated that they will continue to stay true to the themes of the game while adapting the story for television the best he can. I assume that it will be adapted similarly to season 1, where characters and events change, but the story is overall unaffected.

The first season was loved by TV fans, and as a fan of the video game, I was pleased with the show. The characters were great, and so were the performances, especially by Pedro Pascal (Joel) and Bella Ramsey (Ellie). The relationship between the two worked perfectly for the show. We see Joel go from this closed-off man who had been shaped by the loss of his daughter and the cruel world that grew from that day and beyond to a caring father figure to Ellie, whom he could not care less about at the beginning of the show. Ellie's story begins as an orphan in this post-apocalyptic world, she is considerably rash and foul-mouthed at the beginning, something that Ramsey does well considering the innocent face she puts on as Ellie. I first noticed the two characters coming together when Ellie relied on him to protect her from infection in the early episodes. As their journey grows on, Joel teaches her to hunt, shoot, and defend herself. Their development is a huge bright spot in the first season and creates a huge emotional attachment to these characters.

The supporting cast only deepened that. Bill (Nick Offerman) was presented in a new way and yet remained similar to his video game counterpart through his paranoia and relationship with Frank, which was emphasized much more in the show. Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard) show hope that there can still be good in this new world. Everyone else nailed their role as well, whether it was a character adapted from the game or someone only in the TV show.

However, upon rewatching, this season wasn't without flaws.

There was a lack of infected. The show shied away from constantly having Joel and Ellie encounter infected on their journey to put more weight on every interaction they have with the infected. In my opinion, this caused the world to feel less dangerous than a post-apocalyptic world should and got rid of the weight that was riding on Joel to protect and keep Ellie alive. Remember, the purpose of his mission was to deliver her to the Fireflies because they believed she was going to be a cure. But, in a death-defying cross-country journey from Boston to Salt Lake City, we rarely see the two encounter the infected that are so feared by people inside the safe zones bringing me to wonder how dangerous the outer world has become in post-apocalyptic USA.

So, as a fan of both the game and the show, how would I approach season 2 to appease longtime fans while maintaining the strong character development and dynamics that made season 1 a stand-out show?

New characters

Something that the show's creators have already announced. Season 2 will see some new faces, although familiar to those who played the game.

Many characters are making their TV appearance, including Abby, Nora, Jesse, Dina, Mel and more entering the world alongside the already beloved characters present in the first season.

Aside from Abby, these characters should have more screen time and plot importance than they did in the game seeing how Druckmann has said that the events from the second game will span multiple seasons. I would love to see the new characters get more development outside of Abby. The game showed Owen distance himself from Abby after seeing her dark side come out and Mel was simply just pregnant. Even beyond those two characters, the rest of Abby's team was quite forgettable.

Druckmann has confirmed that the show will give a deeper exploration of an ‘unknown character’.

Drawing inspiration from Long, Long Time, a standalone episode will develop the relationship between Abby, Mel and Owen in Abby's lust for revenge. Not only would this give more depth to Owen and Mel, but it would isolate Abby as the season's villain and give the audience one sole character to root against, seeing her manipulative traits in play against people who were supposedly her friends. This ‘unknown character’ could be either Owen or Mel, who in the game had a slight feud with Abby that could be explored further to add so much more to this upcoming season.

Abby needs to have one purpose in this show. Either start as the villain and stay that way, or have her work her way to becoming a villain. I like the latter of the two options. Her innocence and calm demeanour should be shown at the beginning as she slowly starts to pull her friends on a longing journey to find Joel who killed her father at the end of season 1. The show should show her lying to her friends, convincing them Joel is worse than they believe, and that he poses a threat. This would lead to a better conclusion in Jackson and pit Abby's group against itself as she proposes unnecessary violence.

I would love to see Owen, Mel or anyone else from Abby's group betray her and potentially work with Ellie, assuming the revenge plot is brought over from the game.

More infected

The game was loaded with infected. Almost every action sequence was fighting off infected that would tear you apart if they got close enough. The show should not adopt this idea to this extent, as that would be a little ridiculous, and the sense of fear would be lost if Joel and Ellie were slicing through herds of infected every episode like a hot knife through butter.

They tease major characterization of the infected in season 1 with them being connected through the web of cordyceps fungi that runs through the ground and sends signals to the infected of where to go. Emphasizing this idea in season 2 gives another layer to these already creepy characters and gives fans something different than the infected that are present in the game. I would further explore this idea and use it to weave some uneasiness into the plot

Season 2 can be a huge hit with the game fanbase if they make the infected a character. They need to be something that is feared and constantly brought up while characters are outside of a ‘safe zone’. The nostalgia fans will feel hearing the distant calls of Clickers and wondering if the characters will have to deal with them or sneak around to avoid conflict which was often a tense moment in both games. There was the one sequence with a Clicker stalking Joel, Ellie, and Tessa and it made for an intense scene that brought me right back to the video game.

The second season needs to dive into this further. The dangers of this grave world need to be shown and fear needs to be a main characteristic. The season should start with Joel and Ellie fighting off walkers as they return from a mission to show that the dangers of this world have persisted through the time jump between seasons. This quickly sets the tone and is a reminder that the world has become a dreadful place.

Using the infected as a character that drives fear into the living while purposefully hunting them through their connection with the cordyceps fungus would bring much-needed horror to a post-apocalyptic world.

Joel and Ellie

Lastly, the most important part of this franchise is Joel and Ellie. The two characters that embody The Last of Us and deserve the most screentime. Their relationship needs to be developed in a new way for fans to care about the show while also giving them something new to watch. Druckmann could stay true to the game by driving a wedge between them and slowly showing their fallout and whether Joel told Ellie the truth about the Fireflies.

These characters are a staple to this franchise and the talking point for what went right when considering the first season. If season 2 fails in any way it likely stems from these two characters not being utilized properly.

Conclusion

Everything stated above could be deemed ‘risky’. Heck, following the plot of the game would be risky with how it divided the fanbase over the controversy of Joel's quick death, a poorly paced plot that heavily relies on revenge and characters that failed to resonate with fans.

The story needs to be bold and drift far enough away from the source material to not stir up more controversy. The show will have a larger audience and with plans for a third season, the production team cannot afford to alienate part of the audience.