Filming is now underway on the third (and likely final) season of HBO's The Last of Us, and the first set photos have been shared online (via GameFragger.com).
Following the recent news that Bridgerton star Michelle Mao and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew breakout Kyriana Kratter have joined the cast as Seraphite warriors Yara and Lev, respectively, these photos give us a first glimpse of the latter alongside Kaitlyn Dever as the returning Abby Anderson.
In the game, Yara and Lev become a major part of Abby's story when she saves the former from a brutal punishment inflicted by her fellow Seraphites (a fanatical cult that wages war against the WLF). Lev, a teenage transgender boy ostracised by his own people, goes on to serve as Abby's ally and moral compass.
Not too surprisingly, Kratter's casting has resulted in some backlash online, though nobody could deny that she looks just like Lev in these photos.
Based on what we see here, we'd guess that Dever and Kratter are shooting the sequence from the game that sees Lev lead Abby across Seattle's rooftops in an attempt to find medical supplies to treat Yara.
Mao and Kratter join fellow new cast members Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (taking over from Danny Ramirez as Manny), Clea DuVall as an unnamed Seraphite, and Patrick Wilson in an undisclosed role (there's speculation that he'll play Abby's father).
A recent report indicated that the acclaimed video game adaptation is expected to finish up after season 3, despite initial plans for at least 4 seasons. Season 2 did cover about half of the second Naughty Dog video game, but showrunners Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin have always been adamant that two more seasons would be required to adapt the rest of the story in a satisfying manner.
Of course, this was before Druckmann decided to step away from the series.
Whether Druckmann's departure was a direct factor in the show's run being cut short is not clear, but HBO boss Casey Bloys said the following when asked if season 3 would be the last during an interview with Deadline.
"It certainly seems that way, but on decisions like that, we will defer to the showrunners. So you can ask them."
In the closing moments of the season 2 finale, Abby catches up with Ellie and her crew in the theater they've been holed up in. Jesse is killed almost immediately (mirroring his shocking death in the game), and Abby holds her gun on Tommy while demanding that Ellie tosses her weapon and face her.
Ellie admits that she was the one who killed Abby's friends, pleading for Tommy's life. Furious that Ellie "wasted" the mercy she was shown when Joel was murdered, Abby turns her gun on the teen, and we hear a shot ring out as the screen cuts to black. We then flash back to "Seattle, Day One," with Abby waking up in her WLF barracks. Just like the game, most of season 3 will play out from Abby's perspective.
Season 3 will follow the game's narrative, but that doesn't mean there won't be any surprises for those who already know the story.
“We’re telling you that next season, one, there’s an epic nature to everything that’s about to happen,” Druckmann said during a 2025 interview. “But this other story is going to be really important coming backing to Joel and Ellie and everything we’ve seen so far.”
Added Mazin: “All I can say is we haven’t seen the last of Kaitlyn Dever, and we haven’t seen the last of Bella Ramsey, and we haven’t seen the last of Isabela Merced, and we haven’t even seen the last of a lot of people who are currently dead in the story.”
With a few tweaks, the rest of the story could quite easily be told in one more season, so we can't imagine many fans being too up in arms about this.