The chills come just seconds into the first teaser trailer for Season 2 of The Last of Us. And they come courtesy of Catherine O’Hara.
The Schitt’s Creek comedy star proves her range with just flashes of screen time in the two minute preview, which juxtaposes her chillingly calm dialogue against the unsettling footage of what’s in store for the hit HBO show’s next season.
Specific details of O’Hara’s role, like most aspects of Season 2, are being kept under wraps. (Though beware: This season is based on Part II of the video game. Googling anything about The Last of Us is a precarious activity for spoilerphobes; I once did a search to confirm the spelling of a character’s name during Season 1, and, before I even knew what I was reading, found out the entire plot of the finale, based on what happens in the video game.)
She appears to be playing some sort of therapist for Pedro Pascal’s Joel. “You can’t heal something unless you’re brave enough to say it out loud,” she says. “Say the thing that you’re afraid to say. Say it out loud, no matter what it is. No matter how bad. What did you do?” Cue the aforementioned chills.
O’Hara is one of several new cast members, including Jeffrey Wright as militia leader Isaac, Isabela Merced as fan-favorite Dina, and Kaitlyn Dever as controversial vengeance-seeker Abby. (It was reported that extra security had to be hired for Dever during filming because of threats from fans who hate the character from the video game.) The teaser, which after introducing a session between O’Hara and Pascal, is a montage of scenes featuring the first glimpses of these new additions, as well as several exciting Easter eggs from the game.
Season 2 picks up five years after the events of the Season 1 finale, with Joel and Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) pasts coming back to haunt them. The teaser’s release on Sept. 26 is significant. It’s what’s known as “Outbreak Day” in The Last of Us lore, the day the cordyceps virus started the zombie pandemic that kicks off the franchise.
Fans of the game are raving about the trailer on social media.
“This looks so perfect,” wrote one user on X. “I see so many things from the game.”
“This looks cool actually but you can almost tell that they were more excited to adapt the second game more than the first lol,” wrote another.
In fact, there seemed to be the general sentiment that, based on the content of the second video game and the first look at HBO’s adaptation, Season 2 of The Last of Us may be even better than the first.
There’s no official Season 2 release date, beyond that the show’s return to HBO is expected in the first half of 2025.
