THE LAST OF US
SHROOM DOOM
THE SECOND SEASON OF THE LAST OF US IS ABOUT TO BE UNLEASHED ACROSS THE GLOBE! PEDRO PASCAL (WHO PLAYS JOEL), BELLA RAMSEY (ELLIE), GABRIEL LUNA (TOMMY), KAITLYN DEVER (ABBY), ISABELA MERCED (DINA) AND YOUNG MAZINO (JESSE) JOIN FORCES WITH CO-SHOWRUNNERS CRAIG MAZIN AND NEIL DRUCKMANN FOR A NO-HOLDS-BARRED DISCUSSION AT SXSW IN AUSTIN, TEXAS ON EVERYTHING FROM SPORES AND STUNTS TO SHROOMS AND SERAPHITE SCARS
WORDS: ADAM TANSWELL
How would you describe season two?
Craig Mazin: Thematically, the second season is about evolution and change. Ellie is growing up and she is changing. The town of Jackson is also growing up. It’s expanding. It’s taking in refugees. It’s changing. The outside is changing, too.
How does the second season compare to the first?
Neil Druckmann: In the first season, we followed Joel and Ellie as they went up against these other communities – whether it was David’s group or Kansas City. Now, they’ve settled in Jackson. It’s become their home and there’s a love there for a community. We start getting into tribalism in season two and we start to see some other factions. What happens when you’re going against another group and you don’t see the humanity in them? How far will that take you, especially when they hurt someone you love?
The Seraphites and the Wolves are two new factions that have been spotted in the trailers. What can you tell us about them?
CM
: Anyone who’s played the game knows about these two factions. The Wolves is just a way of pronouncing WLF, which is the Washington Liberation Front. This is a militarised group in Seattle. What we know about the Seraphites from the trailer is they appear to be somewhat agrarian. They all have these interesting scars on their cheeks that are clearly deliberately there, including on a kid. Then the question is, “Who is the bad guy?” We see a Seraphite in chains, who’s being beaten. We also see Seraphites running through the woods chasing somebody. That is part of what we dig into in season two.