The Last of Us Season 2 Officially Casts Catherine O’Hara

HBO’s The Last of Us TV series has officially cast Catherine O’Hara (Beetlejuice 2, Home Alone, Argylle) in Season 2 of the show. This follows previous reports from Internet scoopers this week that O’Hara was being cast in The Last of Us Season 2. 

The official casting confirmation from Variety claims that O’Hara’s role is “being kept under wraps’; the scoop report from Daniel Richtman claimed that O’Hara is playing a character named “Gail” who is being added to The Last of Us TV series, and didn’t appear in the game. Looking over The Last of Us: Part II game, there are several interesting possibilities for O’Hara’s role – from the mother of new character Abby, to another figure whose presence is only reference and/or implied in the second game. 

The Last of Us TV series is written, directed and executive produced by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and game writer and creative director, Neil Druckmann. Carolyn Strauss and Evan Wells, president of Naughty Dog, executive produce along with PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan as well as Rose Lam. HBO and Sony Pictures Television co-produce The Last of Us TV series, while PlayStation Productions, Word Games, The Mighty Mint, and Naughty Dog all produce. Season 2 directors will include Marvel’s Loki director Kate Herron, Stephen Williams (HBO’s Watchmen), Mark Mylod (HBO’s Succession) and Nina Lopez (HBO’s Perry Mason). Season 1 directors Druckmann, Mazin, and Peter Hoar are also all returning to direct Season 2 episodes. 

The cast for Season 1 included Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett, Nick Offerman, Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid, Merle Dandridge, Jeffrey Pierce, Lamar Johnson, Keivonn Woodard, Graham Greene, Elaine Miles, Ashley Johnson, and Troy Baker. New additions for Season 2 include Isabela Merced (Hunger Games Prequel) as Dina, Young Mazino (Beef) as Jesse, and Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart) as Abby.

What Is HBO’s The Last Of Us Season 2 About? 

The Last of Us follows apocalypse survivors Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), as they try to navigate across an America that’s been annihilated by an intelligent fungus that turns living beings into zombie-like monsters – or worse. (SPOILERS) Season 1 of The Last Of Us ended with Joel making the damning decision not to let Ellie (the only known person to be immune to the fungus infection) not sacrifice her life in the name of scientific breakthrough and possible salvation for humanity. Joel ended up telling Ellie the lie that she wasn’t a viable candidate for a vaccine, covering up the brutal and bloody murder spree he inflicted upon the Firely rebel group, to liberate her. Ellie clearly didn’t trust Joel’s explanation completely, setting up Season 2 for a deeper (darker?) story of what happens with all that mistrust and secrecy between them – not to mention repercussions from the fate that Joel chose for the world that day. 

 The Last of Us season 2 begins filming February 12 ahead of an expected 2025 release on HBO and the streaming service Max.