With season 1 of HBO Max’s The Last of Us garnering praise both from new viewers and fans of the apocalyptic video game franchise in January 2023, fans were eagerly awaiting the second season, based on the events from The Last of Us Part II. Season 2, in line with its video game counterpart, pans the narrative focus on Ellie, the upstart rebellious teenage girl who was Joel’s daughter figure in Season 1, as they grow farther apart and she begins to mature and discover her identity, alongside close friend Dina.
Herein lies most viewers’ first complaint: Ellie’s character is annoying. Her overconfidence and brashness often get her put in precarious situations, where she needs to be saved by someone more level-headed than her. Most of the show deals with her trying to settle a violent grudge against Abby, the local leader of a team of militants called “The Wolves” based in Seattle, amidst their wars with a mysterious cult called The Seraphites.
This grudge consumes her, as she continually endangers those she is closest to. While this is more or less accurate to her character in the games, many fans argue that Bella Ramsey’s portrayal of Ellie fails to capture her nuance, and there isn’t enough physical resemblance to justify the casting.
Viewer Luke Ondrey ’25 encapsulated these complaints: “I thought Ramsey’s portrayal of Ellie was quite frustrating to watch. She also doesn’t look anything like the original character.”
Another common, yet minor complaint is that there is a significant decreased focus on worldbuilding in season 2, with more screen time being devoted instead to complex depictions of side characters and antagonists. I would argue, however, that these complaints are ultimately invalid, as most of the worldbuilding for the sci-fi apocalyptic world was touched on in season 1, allowing more time to be devoted to the core cast in the second season.
Despite a few minor kinks, it seems for the most part that season 2 of The Last of Us was able to successfully capture the tension and grim feel of the first season, which was universally praised for being one of the most accurate video game-to-television adaptations of all time. The set design, production and cinematography are all just as high-quality as the first season.
Lucas Garcia ’25 remarked, “The series does a good job of depicting the entire world, which feels just as hostile and unforgiving as it did in the game.”
Personally, as a fan of both the source material and Season 1, I am thoroughly enjoying Season 2 as a way to better connect Ellie and Joel to the gritty, dramatic world they live in. While Ellie’s character gets on my nerves at times, I recognize that this is the same way she made me feel when I played through the games. So, if anything, it is an indication of how well the showrunners at HBO Max were able to capture her slightly grating character.
I look forward to the end of the season and the doors it opens for future high-quality video game-to-television projects to come.
