Season 2 Preview

The second season of HBO's The Last of Us is just a month away, and the hype cycle has kicked into full gear. A full trailer finally arrived on Saturday during a panel at SXSW with the show's creators and cast, and both that trailer and the panel discussion reinforced at least one major change coming this season: more action.

The new trailer shows off the town of Jackson, where Joel and Ellie settled at the end of season one, under a massive siege of Infected. Show creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann hinted that Infected would play a bigger role this season, not just in numbers.

Mazin said, "It was important to us to always move the ball forward with the infected. It's not a question of just more, but something else that is meaningful to what is going on so they don't just become NPCs. So definitely an escalation, we're careful about it because we know we have space yet to go [in future seasons]."

New Characters and Storylines

The panel also focused on how new cast members Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, and Young Mazino would fit in with returning stars Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal, and Gabriel Luna. Pascal praised the new cast, saying they "came in like badasses," and Ramsey spoke to how well they integrated themselves during season two's filming.

The show's creators discussed the themes of community and tribalism, with Druckmann explaining that the first season followed Joel and Ellie and was a lot about them against other communities. "Now, we get to see them settled in Jackson, that's their home, and there's a love there for a community," he said.

Mazin noted that the show has tried to investigate "the cost of love" and is now trying to create a sense of a larger, communal love and how a smaller, tighter group can fit into it.