“It’s really a story about revenge and a continuation from the first season about the dangers of unconditional love.”

Following the news that production would be delayed on Season 2 of The Last of Us on account of AMPTP’s refusals to pay writers fair wages and the ensuing Writers Guild of America strike, the show’s breakout star Bella Ramsey has confirmed that the production will indeed begin by the end of the year, teasing that the show’s sophomore season would be even “darker.”

Despite a largely positive reception to its debut season, there were certain fans who felt The Last of Us never properly utilized its horror elements to the fullest; despite the post-zombie-apocalypse premise, the show’s undead antagonists, the Infected, rarely made an appearance. This could be about to change in the upcoming season, however — in an interview with Vanity Fair, Ramsey shared that the second season would be “darker” in tone.

They reiterated that despite delays, plans for Season 2 were indeed underway, revealing that “it’s really a story about revenge and a continuation from the first season about the dangers of unconditional love.” Whether a darker tone means an increased presence of the Infected, however, remains to be seen, given that arguably a large part of what makes The Last of Us work so well is a focus on character drama rather than horror and violence. With Ramsey emphasizing that the next season would see a continuation of its themes, audiences will have to wait until the show returns (likely in 2025, according to Francesca Orci, the Head of HBO Drama) to see the ways in which The Last of Us takes on a darker tone.

While the Show May Be Dark, Ramsey Feels Light on Set

While film adaptions of popular video game titles had become little more than a punchline, having often spelled nothing but lackluster results and disappointment for fans, HBO’s hit TV series The Last of Us may have managed to usher in a new era for video game adaptions. (The Last of Us walked so The Super Mario Bros. Movie could run!) With the show becoming a hit with audiences and critics alike, Ramsey is acutely aware of the millions of eyes that are now on them, calling it “absolutely terrifying.” However, despite this, the actor never let that impact their time on set, saying, “I felt immediately at home on set. It’s the first time I ever felt I properly belonged somewhere. It wasn’t even like, ‘I want to do it forever’—I was like, ‘I have to.’ There’s no other option.”

Ramsey does, however, feel conscious that they now share their costar with the world, as the internet unanimously anointed Pedro Pascal as its “daddy”, sharing that, “I very much played into it at the beginning, but now I’m worried it’s gone too far. I don’t know whether he’s still loving it; I need to ask him. He’s a global phenomenon as he should be because he’s pretty spectacular.”