First look at Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in The Last of Us season 2 teases Joel and Ellie's emotional confrontation at the barn dance – and we're already crying

We officially have our first look at The Last of Us season 2 which shows the return of Pedro Pascal's Joel and Bella Ramsey's Ellie.

As part of their Upfronts 2024 presentation, the Max Twitter account shared two pictures which is our first proper glimpse at the upcoming second season of HBO's hit video game adaptation. In the first image a grizzled Pascal looks on sternly with a furrowed brow whilst the second photo shows Ellie with a big old gun. We're guessing now that this is their emotional barn dance confrontation – game fans, you know the one...

The tweet also reconfirmed that the season is currently in production and will be releasing on streaming service Max next year. You can see it below:

Filming on the follow-up season began earlier this year, which will see several new actors join the cast. Starring alongside the returning Pascal and Ramsey will be Kaitlyn Denver as Abby, Young Mazino as Jesse, Danny Ramirez as Manny, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, as well as Spencer Lord as Owen.

Should it follow the same trajectory as season 1, you can expect this second season to largely follow the storyline The Last of Us Part 2 video game. We won't dive into specifics here so not to spoil it for new fans, but let's just say that you should already be preparing yourself emotionally for a dark, emotional tale.

It looks like though that not all of Part 2 of the game will be adapted with season 2, as showrunner Craig Mazin revealed in conversation with GQ that there is "no way" it will be completely covered there. Co-creator of the game Neil Druckmann then added there will definitely be "more than one season" to tell that story - although he wouldn't be pushed on a further number of how many we can expect.

For now though, The Last of Us season 2 has a 2025 release window. For more, check out our list of the best new TV shows coming your way in 2024 and beyond.