HBO's The Last Of Us Season 2 Filming Start Date Is Sooner Than You Likely Think

HBO's video game adaptation "The Last of Us" was one of the standout shows of 2023, which likely explains why the production for Season 2 plans to start filming very soon. Starring Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, the series follows two people bound together by a need for survival in a post-apocalyptic world decimated by a fungal infection that turns the sick into portabella zombies. The premiere, which aired early this year, was the most viewed HBO premiere in over a decade, and the Season 1 finale of "The Last of Us" soared to over eight million viewers. The season was also nominated for 24 Emmy Awards. In other words, Season 2 is bound to be a priority for parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.

Sure enough, production documentation from tracking service Productionlist.com shows that the cameras will start rolling on "The Last of Us" Season 2 on January 7 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Scripts for the new season were started in April, but writing was halted due to the WGA writers' strike, which ended in late September.

The timeline for production on "The Last of Us" Season 2 has, like many other shows, been stymied by Hollywood's hot labor summer. While writing began on the new batch of episodes in April, with the full season mapped out, co-creator and writer Craig Mazin had only the premiere episode fully scripted. As he told Entertainment Weekly, he submitted that script on the night before the WGA strike began and all writing work in Hollywood was put on hold. 

Of course, neither Mazin nor co-creator Neil Druckmann was able to continue writing while the strike continued. But even without being able to write, Mazin almost certainly had time to let ideas for Season 2 keep brewing. Since the WGA strike ended in late September, the bulk of the new episodes will have been written in October and beyond. The SAG-AFTRA actors' strike, which began in July, is now also at a close, allowing the production to fully resume.

Season 1 of "The Last of Us" ends with a shocking betrayal — shocking, at least, for anyone who hasn't played the video game the series is based on. After a rampage through the Firefly hospital that he and Ellie spent the whole season trying to reach, Joel lies about what took place there. That brings the story to the end of the first game. If things continue to unfold in Season 2 as they do in the game's sequel, "The Last of Us Part II," that spells a world of pain for our two leads.