When the first season of The Last of Us arrived on HBO in 2023, fans of the game waited with baited breath to see how this adaptation would go down. And for the most part, it largely triumphed. But for the second season of The Last of Us, showrunners Neil Druckmann (who created the game) and Craig Mazin had their work cut out for them. How to adapt a sequel that polarized many players?
Notably, they made the decision to break the second game into three seasons. So The Last of Us season 2 adapts roughly a third of the second game, focusing more on Ellie than Joel in her journey to Seattle to seek revenge for a wrong done to her. Much like the choice to split the game into three seasons, the second season of the show makes choices for the better and some for the worse. Like a pack of infected, its seven episodes hurtle along quickly with occasional bloaters.
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