Today is “Outbreak Day.” September 26th is the day in the fictional world of The Last of Us Created by Naughty Dog when the Cordyceps virus brought the world to its knees. For eleven years the day was celebrated by gamers and later television audiences, and today it’s being celebrated with a very special treat.

HBO has released the first trailer for the second season of its hit post-apocalyptic series The Last of Us. The series, based on the video game series of the same name, stars Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie. Kaitlyn Dever joins the cast as Abby, although she looks more like the video game version of Ellie than Ramsey.

We get many brief glimpses of both moments of tenderness and joy as well as terrible violence. Here is the trailer:

It appears that Catherine O’Hara’s character is some sort of therapist or community leader. She sits with Joel at the start of the trailer and offers some sage advice. “You can’t heal something if you’re not brave enough to say it out loud,” she says, almost serving as a narrative as we observe other events. “Say what you’re afraid to say. Say it out loud, no matter what it is. No matter how bad. What did you do?”

Well, Catherine, I killed a lot of people, including doctors, and then lied about it to my surrogate daughter to save her life.

This is how the first season ended – and the first game. If the second season follows in the footsteps of the second game, it will be about reckoning with this lie and the butterfly effect that Joel’s actions have on his and Ellie’s fate. Personally, I didn’t like how the game developed with this story. On the other hand, I am in the camp that vehemently argues that Joel did the right and moral thing. I have argued this many times. I don’t believe it is morally acceptable to sacrifice the one to save the many. Equally important, I do not believe that the Fireflies were capable of developing a vaccine and that Ellie’s death would have been in vain. Many disagree and believe that Joel’s actions are completely selfish and may condemn all of humanity.

I say if we start killing innocent girls in their sleep to find a cure, humanity doesn’t deserve to be saved.

This trailer is excellent. It doesn’t give too much away – the bane of so many trailers these days – but it promises a lot. Action, suspense, horror, betrayal, love. We see Isabela Merced as Dina, Ellie’s love interest in season two, as well as other recurring faces.

In my review I called The Last of Us Part II a “beautiful, terrible” sequel. I wonder if season two will follow suit. I have concerns, including Bella Ramsey’s ability to portray a more mature and physically intimidating Ellie. She’s a good actress, but she doesn’t look it. I’m also worried about Joel for reasons I won’t go into. How they will present Abby and her storyline also remains a mystery. Maybe it works better on TV than in the game.

At the end there is a release date in 2025, but nothing to narrow it down. Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann said this season will be shorter than the first, with just seven episodes. That’s a red flag considering how long the second game was compared to the first – and HBO’s other big show. The Dragon’s House, which had a shortened second season that did far more harm than good. Then again, it sounds like the second game will be split into multiple seasons, so that might be okay. Of course, it also means waiting years between seasons, which I think audiences are a bit tired of lately (and that may come with various other risks, although cancellation of this series seems unlikely).

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