The Last of Us: Sony TV Exec Hypes Season 2 Renewal

HBO just released the first three episodes of their live action adaptation of the hit video game franchise The Last of Us, with fans and critics loving the series. The latest episode of the series was one of the most critically acclaimed episodes yet and it told a very interesting story about love and life during the apocalypse. The Last of Us has been doing some massive numbers for the series with the first episode being viewed over 22M times and it was quickly the second best premiere on the network after House of the Dragon. It was also announced that the series would be renewed for a second season and now a Sony TV executive is hyping up the announcement. In a new interview with Deadline, Katherine Pope discussed the season two renewal.

"IP and expanding universes continue to be a big part of our business for sure, and I think a big part of everyone's business. I agree with you the PlayStation IP has become more and more important — The Last of Us was just renewed for season two — and we have a really close relationship with PlayStation and their creatives," Pope said. "The way I view all of the IP here, whether it's Sony Music, PlayStation, legacy IP from either TV or film, it's all making Sony as a whole stronger. So there's a real focus, from Tokyo, through Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony [Vinciquerra], through [Sony Pictures' Chairman of Global TV Studios] Ravi [Ahuja]. It's all about working on the internal levers that we have here to increase our standing in the entertainment community overall. There's been great cooperation that I've been really impressed with I'm happy to take advantage of and be a part of."

Craig Mazin, the Emmy-winning creator of HBO's Chernobyl, produced The Last of Us alongside Druckmann, the creator behind the hit video game series. In an interview earlier this year, the writer said The Last of Us is the "greatest" video game story ever told. "It's an open-and-shut case: this is the greatest story that has ever been told in video games," Mazin said in an interview with Empire Magazine. "[Joel and Ellie] didn't shoot anything out of their eyeballs. They were just people. And that, in and of itself, is remarkably rare in games. The fact that they kept it so grounded, and really made you feel – I had never experienced anything like it, and I've been playing video games since 1977."

Joining Pascal (Joel) and Ramsey (Ellie) include Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Storm Reid as Riley, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, and Elaine Miles as Florence. Original game stars Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, having played the part of Ellie and Joel in both video games, are also set to appear.

The first two episodes of The Last of Us are now streaming on HBO Max. The show's first season is set to last nine episodes in total with new episodes rolling out on a weekly basis.

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