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The Last of Us: What you can expect from Season 2

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Well, we endured and survived, baby girl.

The Last of Us ended its first season almost two years ago in March 2023, leaving us nothing less than emotional husks, nothing more than hungry for more deep character-based trauma in Season 2. But after that cold hard finale, I'm sure you've got as many questions as we have.

Unless you've played the game's sequel, that is.

For those who haven't experienced Naughty Dog's lauded sequel The Last of Us Part II, the future is uncertain for Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal). The series, like the game, ended with Joel's polarising decision to save Ellie, sacrificing a potential cure for the Cordyceps infection and executing the entire Fireflies' medical team, including their leader, Marlene (Merle Dandridge). And now? Ellie and Joel have made it back to Jackson, where the future is uncertain.

If you're dying to know what's in store for Season 2, we're about to get spoilery with first-hand game knowledge, trailer hints, and first looks to consider some of the major plot points and characters you can expect director Craig Mazin and creator Neil Druckmann to get stuck into. We won't ruin the ending, but we will set you up with some monumental moments to uh…look forward to?

If you haven't played the The Last of Us Part II, however, you might want to turn back and consider our burning questions article instead, which is free of game (though not show) spoilers.

For everyone else, let's delve into the biggest storyline moments we can expect to see in Season 2 — including the one that HBO had better expect a riot over.

The Last of Us Season 2 means terrifying new Infected

Bella Ramsey as Ellie in "The Last of Us."

Don't breathe.
Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

While The Last of Us Part II didn't completely reinvent the wheel when it comes to new Infected, there's a few additions we can't wait to see. The latest HBO trailer indicates airborne Cordyceps spores will be added as a hurdle for our protagonists, something Season 1 eliminated for on-screen practicality/Pedro Pascal visibility.

One of the most terrifying new types of Infected will be the Stalkers, who are briefly shown in the trailer scurrying about in the darkness. These stealthy trackers peep out from their hiding places and use echolocation like Clickers. But they have the ability to see who they're charging at — and boy, do they charge. Honestly, I hate them so much.

We're also keen to see if there's the possibility of a Rat King this season, the game's horrific amalgamation of Infected in one hulking mass — think The Witcher.

We're going back to Jackson

Gabriel Luna and Bella Ramsey In "The Last of Us."

Four years later…
Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

It's time to head back to Jackson, Wyoming, folks. The fortified settlement where Joel and Ellie finally find his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and wife Maria (Rutina Wesley) is first seen in The Last of Us Season 1, episode 6. And it's where Season 2 will likely begin.

Jackson is a key location in the second game. We don't actually visit the town in the first game at all; we just see it in the distance. But Jackson is where Season 1 of the show ends, as Joel and Ellie have a confrontation on a ridge above the town after everything that went down in Salt Lake City. And Joel lies.

It's likely Season 2 will pick up where The Last of Us Part II does, four years later. As the trailer shows, Tommy and Maria now have a young son, who doesn't exist in the game. Joel and Ellie are living in their own places in Jackson, with a major strain on their relationship. By now, Ellie is 19 and doing Infected patrols with her horse Shimmer, who made a sweet cameo in Season 1, episode 6 as a foal. And she's about to fall head over heels.

The Last of Us Season 2 will introduce Ellie's next big love

Isabela Merced and Bella Ramsey as Dina and Ellie in "The Last of Us."

Dina + Ellie 4eva 💘
Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

Ellie's tragically short romance with her best friend Riley (Storm Reid) was her first love, but certainly not her last. And in Season 1, an Easter egg had gamers abuzz, with the fleeting appearance of a character integral to Ellie's life in The Last of Us Part II.

In episode 6, when Joel and Ellie are in the Jackson food hall, there's a moment when Ellie's manners fail her and she throws a barb at a staring girl. Fans of the game surmised that this was Dina, Ellie's future love interest — and in HBO's podcast for the show, neither Mazin or Druckmann confirmed nor denied it.

Played by Madame Web's Isabela Merced in Season 2, Dina is a complex, kickass character who will play a hugely important role. In The Last of Us Part II, the game begins with one of the franchise's best scenes: a Jackson barn dance where Dina and Ellie share their first kiss. Their relationship grows with every patrol, every tragedy, every secret they share together — including Dina's major reveal. In the game, Dina's deep love for Ellie means she joins her quest for revenge: "You go, I go. End of story."

Young Mazino and Bella Ramsey as Jesse and Ellie in "The Last of Us."

Jesse has a significant part to play.
Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

Another Season 2 newbie will be Ellie's best friend Jesse, Dina's ex-boyfriend from Jackson, who is played by Beef's Young Mazino. Jesse tracks Ellie and Dina on their travels in order to help them on their quest to find the people responsible for the most shocking moment of the series.

Yep, it's gonna hurt.

The Last of Us Season 2 will do it: Joel's death

Pedro Pascal as Joel in "The Last of Us."

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

For fans of the game, we know what's coming in Season 2. And we also know this will break fans of the show, as it did us while playing The Last of Us Part II.

I'm talking about Joel's death. It's one of the most unexpected, traumatising events I've ever encountered in a video game — the brutal murder of a protagonist you've spent literally hundreds of hours playing, understanding, and becoming attached to. You've survived so much with Joel, as has Ellie, and Naughty Dog made us watch as her beloved father figure is killed in front of her — the game mechanics literally pin Ellie (that's you) to the ground in this scene.

A teen girl tends a wounded man in an abandoned house.

It will be worse than this moment in Season 1.
Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

Yes, Joel's death allowed Naughty Dog to differentiate the games and introduce new character dynamics, namely moving Ellie into young adulthood. But I have a feeling this episode will be one of the most talked about, most hands-in-the-air, Red Wedding-level, how-could-they-do-this-to-us episode of Season 2. Considering the skyrocketing fame and internet worship of Pedro Pascal, this devastating moment in the narrative will be all over your feed. Prepare for several solid weeks of grieving online.

Joel's brutal death at the hands of new character Abby Anderson (more on her below) will likely be in an early episode of Season 2, rattling viewers to the core. But don't despair entirely, Pascal fans. The Last of Us Part II features many flashback scenes with the pair, including an all-important, dinosaur-related memory, scenes in involving Joel's guitar, and a major reveal about why exactly there's tension between Joel and Ellie at the beginning of the sequel. Season 2 won't be completely Pascal-free, even after his character's death.

Bella Ramsey will have room to shine in Season 2

Bella Ramsey as Ellie in "The Last of Us."

It's only going to get harder, Ellie.
Credit: HBO

Season 2 is all about Ellie. Our protagonist's grief and rage in The Last of Us Part II will give Ramsey the challenge they deserve to take an already incredible performance even further. Pascal and Ramsey have built the same level of chemistry and bond voice actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson's Joel and Ellie did in the games, and it's going to break hearts to see Bellie and Pedge destroyed like this. But Ramsey will also have plenty of action scenes ahead of them too, as Ellie's fight scenes really level up this season.

The Last of Us Season 2 will focus on a shellshocked Ellie wanting only vengeance, tracking Joel's killers to their base in Seattle. Tommy goes after them himself, thinking Ellie will just sit tight in Jackson, but of course that doesn't happen. So, the events of The Last of Us Season 2 will mirror those of the first season — we're always looking for Tommy in TLOU it seems. But with the addition of Tommy and Maria's son as seen in the trailer, Tommy's decision takes on a very different light.

Rutina Wesley and Gabriel Luna as Maria and Tommy in "The Last of Us."

Oh no. They have a son…
Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

So, Season 2 is another road trip, and will focus on Ellie's journey from from Wyoming to Washington. As Ellie gets more and more brutal in her hunting tactics, fuelled by grief and rage, Ramsey will have one hell of a journey on their hands. That scene from episode 8 in which Joel gets real cold and torture-y with the map trick? It rubbed off, people.

Season 2 is also all about Abby

Kaitlyn Dever as Abby in "The Last of Us."

There's always another perspective.
Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

The Last of Us Season 2 will introduce the game character of Abby Anderson, Joel's aforementioned killer. Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart, Apple Cider Vinegar, Unbelievable) takes on the polarising role, who will fuel one of the most upsetting moments in the story — but remember, she is a character. And she's a character you actually play as for half the game in The Last of Us Part II, and all the uncomfortable attachment that goes with it.

The word "villain" is subjective as always for humans in this franchise, depending on your perspective. (Except David. David is a villain.) Abby's journey in Season 2 will cause viewers to reconsider what makes someone a monster in this post-apocalyptic hell. As devastating as her actions are, Abby's character expands the world of The Last of Us beyond Ellie's experience. There'll be plenty of world-building to look forward to with where Abby calls home: the WLF.

Season 2 introduces two new factions: WLF and the Seraphites

Danny Ramirez, Tati Gabrielle, Ariela Barer, Kaitlyn Dever, Spencer Lord in "The Last of Us."

WTF is the WLF?
Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

Ultimately, saving Abby's life from Infected beyond the safety of the Jackson settlement will be Joel's undoing, as she's part of a Seattle militia group known as the Washington Liberation Front (WLF), aka the Wolves. Led by Isaac Dixon (brilliant casting with American Fiction's Jeffrey Wright), the Wolves are comprised of former Fireflies and recruits, and their base in Seattle is sure to be impressive set design. There's a whole cast of new characters here with their own connections and backstories, with actors Danny Ramirez, Tati Gabrielle, Ariela Barer, and Spencer Lord joining Dever.

In Season 2, we'll also meet the faction behind strange symbols and preachy graffiti, the Seraphites, also referred to as the Scars — you'll know them by their self-inflicted facial scarring. They're a cult-like group and direct rivals to the Wolves for control of Seattle. In the trailer, you'll spy them with their bows, arrows, and tendency to hang people in the forest. And within this faction, we'll meet two beloved characters, siblings Lev and Yara, who will have a major impact on Abby's life.

It's not clear whether the Rattlers, another horrific faction in The Last of Us Part II, will feature this season. Hope not? Hope so? I can't tell what I want.

Will we hear Pedro Pascal sing Pearl Jam in episode 1?

Pedro Pascal in "The Last of Us."

*tunes guitar*
Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

At the very beginning of The Last of Us Part II, Joel gifts Ellie a guitar and the promise of lessons, but not before he plays a little something on it. He picks Pearl Jam's "Future Days," a somber ballad that begins with the fitting lyric "If I ever were to lose you / I'd surely lose myself." This begs the question: Will we hear Pedro Pascal himself sing a little Pearl Jam in Season 2, episode 1?

The Last of Us Season 1 is now streaming on Max. Season 2 premieres on HBO and Max in 2025.

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Hurdle hints and answers for September 24, 2025

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If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

Hurdle Word 1 hint

To creep around.

Hurdle Word 1 answer

SNEAK

Hurdle Word 2 hint

A long-legged bird.

Hurdle Word 2 Answer

STORK

Hurdle Word 3 hint

To throw.

Hurdle Word 3 answer

CHUCK

Hurdle Word 4 hint

More accurate.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

TRUER

Final Hurdle hint

They show when one smiles.

Hurdle Word 5 answer

TEETH

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

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Five burning questions we have for Alien: Earth Season 2

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This summer, FX's Alien: Earth latched onto my brain like a Facehugger latches onto a new host.

Now, with the release of the show's Season 1 finale, you'd think that Facehugger would drop off and leave me be. You'd be wrong! Instead, the Season 1 finale leaves viewers with some major questions we'll be puzzling over until the show's potential return.

Here are the five biggest questions we have for Alien: Earth Season 2.

What does a Neverland run by hybrids look like?

Season 1 of Alien: Earth ends with the group of hybrids known as the Lost Boys in total control over the Neverland research facility. They've imprisoned Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), Morrow (Babou Ceesay), Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis), and Atom Eins (Adrian Edmondson). Now, with the adults out of the way, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) declares it's time for the hybrids to "rule."

But what will their rule entail? Will they stay on Neverland, or will they try to extend their authority to the rest of the world? Will they remain fast allies, or will they turn against one another and go full Lord of the Flies on their new island kingdom?

How will Weyland-Yutani and Alien: Earth's other corporations react to Boy Kavalier's plight?

Sandra Yi Sencindiver in "Alien: Earth."

Sandra Yi Sencindiver in "Alien: Earth."
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX

By the end of Alien: Earth Season 1, Weyland-Yutani is closing in on Neverland in order to take back the specimens Boy Kavalier stole. But will Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) change tack when she realizes her rival is being held captive? Will she leave the island alone or try to stage a hostile takeover? Perhaps her priorities will change entirely, shifting from trying to capture the alien specimens to trying to perfect Boy Kavalier's revolutionary hybrid tech. Either way, her looming presence does not bode well for the newly independent hybrids.

Weyland-Yutani isn't the only other major corporation on the board in Alien: Earth, though. There are three other corporations we haven't truly met yet: Dynamic, Lynch, and Threshold. Could they be joining the party in Alien: Earth's future?

Don’t miss out on our latest stories: Add Mashable as a trusted news source in Google.

What's next for the loose orchid and eyeball aliens?

While the Xenomorph may be under Wendy's control, there are still several alien threats running wild on the island. In the Season 1 finale, the orchid alien (aka D. Plumbicare) revealed that it could turn into a floating, octopus-like creature and got loose in Neverland. I would not want to be walking around the island with that out there, that's for sure.

But that's not all: Alien: Earth's breakout star, the eyeball alien T. Ocellus, found a new host in the corpse of Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl). We've seen T. Ocellus take over a cat corpse and a human body, but now we get to see it go full zombie mode in what might be Alien: Earth's coolest development yet. But what's T. Ocellus's plan while in Arthur's body? Will it try to find a new, stronger host in, say, a hybrid? (And what would that look like?) Will it finally have a conversation with its biggest fan, Boy Kavalier? And how in the world will Dame react when she sees her beloved husband with a massive new eyeball and a burst-open chest? Bring on the zombie shenanigans!

Will the Xenomorph continue serving Wendy, or will it rebel?

Sydney Chandler in "Alien: Earth."

Sydney Chandler in "Alien: Earth."
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX

For now, Wendy and her Xenomorph seem pretty tight. But what happens if the Xenomorph goes through a rebellious teenage phase and decides it doesn't want to serve its human mother figure anymore? Could the hybrids lose their grip on Neverland if the apex predator at their disposal decides to turn on them?

Wendy's Xenomorph also isn't the only Xenomorph on the island. There's also the specimen that burst out of Arthur's chest. As it grows, will it become territorial with Wendy's Xenomorph, or will it join the hybrid-Xeno family and view Wendy as its queen? If so, what are the odds Wendy tries to build a whole Xenomorph army?

How will Alien: Earth tie back to Alien?

The question hanging over any prequel is "how will this tie back to the original?" and with Alien: Earth, that question is especially pressing, given that it takes place two years before the events of Alien. By that point, there are no mentions of hybrid technology, nor are there any mentions of them in the sequels. So what will happen to the hybrids between then and now to render them obsolete? It's a daunting question, but it's one that Alien: Earth will certainly have to contend with as it closes in on the original films.

Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu.

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Alien: Earths game-changing ending, explained

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After eight episodes of terrifying new creatures, Alien homages, and existential questions about the future of humanity, Alien: Earth Season 1 has come to a close. And what a close it was.

The finale, titled "The Real Monsters," flips the power dynamic that's been in place for the entire season. By the end of the episode, the hybrid Lost Boys, led by Wendy (Sydney Chandler), have gained total control over their keepers, including Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis). This power shift has been in the cards since Alien: Earth's first episode, but how do we get here? Let's break it down.

Alien: Earth's hybrids finally realize how strong they are.

Alex Lawther, Sydney Chandler, and Lily Newmark in "Alien: Earth."

Alex Lawther, Sydney Chandler, and Lily Newmark in "Alien: Earth."
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX

From the first moment Alien: Earth introduces Wendy in her super-strong, super-fast, super-durable hybrid body, it's clear that she and her fellow Lost Boys could absolutely wreck Prodigy's Neverland security team if they wanted to. That idea doesn't cross their minds, though. Instead, the Lost Boys are still children in consciousness, and they believe Neverland to be a safe paradise for them.

However, this idea erodes over the course of Alien: Earth's first season, as the Lost Boys lose confidence in the people they've been told to trust. They're endangered and experimented on. Nibs' (Lily Newmark) traumatic memories were manipulated. Isaac (Kit Young) died while tending to the alien specimens. Morrow (Babou Ceesay) threatened to kill Slightly's (Adarsh Gourav) family. Each horrifying incident wears away at the Lost Boys' childlike innocence, turning the idyllic Neverland into a hell on Earth.

Ironically, these incidents only increase the Lost Boys' feelings of powerlessness, even though they're the most powerful beings on Prodigy's remote island. But it's also in one of those scenes of powerlessness — when Prodigy forces corner Nibs, Wendy, and her brother Joe aka Hermit (Alex Lawther) on their escape boat in episode 7 — that the Lost Boys begin to realize their power. Nibs fully rips a soldier's jaw off, leaving Hermit to shoot (but not kill) her. Here, a horrified Wendy learns two things. First: Humans, including her brother, are terrified of the hybrids. Second: They have good reason to be. The hybrids are extremely dangerous. So why not embrace that?

That's the realization Wendy comes to in Alien: Earth's Season 1 finale. "All this time, we've been afraid of them," she tells the Lost Boys as they sit trapped in a Neverland cage. "But I think they should be afraid of us."

The Peter Pan allegories come to a head in the Alien: Earth Season 1 finale.

Sydney Chandler and Alex Lawther in "Alien: Earth."

Sydney Chandler and Alex Lawther in "Alien: Earth."
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX

Embracing the Neverland staffers' fear of them is the final stage in the Lost Boys' loss of their childish innocence. Or, in terms of Boy Kavalier's relentless Peter Pan references, this is them finally "growing up." However, that's exactly what the Prodigy founder and the rest of Neverland don't want to happen. As Wendy puts it, "We're all in this cell because we can't be kids anymore, but they won't let us be adults."

Nibs has another suggestion for what they are, one that's especially fitting after seeing the graves of their dead human bodies. "We're all ghosts," she says.

So what do these ghosts do? They turn Neverland into a haunted house, with Wendy using her in-built connection to the facility to manipulate video feeds, elevators, and doors to terrify every last soldier and scientist. Of course, having a Xenomorph at your beck and call helps too.

The entire episode serves as both a liberation for the Lost Boys and an identity crisis for Wendy, otherwise known by her human name, Marcy. She tells her brother, "I don't know what I am. I'm not a child. I'm not a grown-up. I'm not Marcy. I'm not Wendy. And I can't be what everyone wants me to be."

(Earlier in the season, Joe even questions whether Wendy truly holds his sister's consciousness, yet another blow to one of the pillars of Wendy's identity.)

Wendy's statement reflects the binaries in the world of Alien: Earth. Child and adult. Human and synthetic. Hybrids exist somewhere in between, blurring boundaries and creating a new kind of personhood. Wendy and the Lost Boys have spent the entire series having not just new names but entirely new identities imposed on them by exterior forces. Now, they get to make their own. Fellow hybrid Curly (Erana James) embraces her former name, Jane, as Wendy reminds each of the Lost Boys of theirs — a move the late Isaac, formerly Tootles, only enjoyed for an afternoon.

Wendy's identity crisis also explains her affinity for the Maginot aliens, whom she considers "honest." These creatures are wholly themselves, unlike liars such as Boy Kavalier. As Wendy points out, he considers himself Peter Pan, but he was never truly a boy. He was always a "mean, angry little man," just like his abusive father. Ouch. I'm not sure he'll be picking up a copy of Peter Pan any time soon after that.

"Now we rule."

Sydney Chandler in "Alien: Earth."

Sydney Chandler in "Alien: Earth."
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX

"The Real Monsters" ends with Wendy and the Lost Boys holding all of the authority figures in their lives hostage in the same cage they were formerly incarcerated in, prompting Wendy's declaration that, "now, we rule." Even Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), their Prodigy synth senior, and Morrow, their cyborg antagonist, now answer to them.

The hybrids finally taking control is undoubtedly worthy of Alien: Earth's last hard-rocking needle drop. But it's certainly not the end of the Lost Boys' story. After all, the Weyland-Yutani forces are still encroaching on the island with numerous Prodigy forces still left, hinting at more conflict ahead. Plus, the alien orchid is loose, and T. Ocellus has found a new host in the chestburst corpse of Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl). That's a lot of threats for these still-young hybrids to deal with. How will they be able to fight off their enemies and learn how to rule their island?

That question of what it will look like for hybrids to "rule" hints at an intriguing new literary reference point for a possible Alien: Earth Season 2. If Season 1 was the Lost Boys growing up in the style of Peter Pan, then Season 2 might just see them learning to survive on an island in the vein of Lord of the Flies. With that in mind, who's Piggy, who's Ralph, and will the Xenomorph's head somehow wind up on the end of a pointy stick?

Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu.

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