HBO’s The Last of Us is adding six to their supporting cast for season two, including Joe Pantoliano (The Goonies, The Matrix), Robert John Burke (Robocop 3), Alanna Ubach (Euphoria), Hettienne Park (Hannibal), Ben Ahlers (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Noah Lamanna (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds), fleshing out certain characters only briefly mentioned in the season’s source material, The Last of Us Part II.
As reported by Variety, Pantoliano will play Eugene, a character never seen in the game apart from a photograph, whose hidden cannabis lab gets discovered by Ellie and Dina on their travels. According to an interview with series creators and executive producers Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, the show was an opportunity to spotlight lesser-known characters and finding “notes that have their own little story to them”, with Druckmann even admitting that the character was “somewhat superficial” in the game, making the opportunity to explore his backstory exciting.
Along a similar vein, Burke will play Seth, owner of a bar in the Jackson community where Ellie and Joel live at the start of the game, and Lamanna plays Kat, who dated Ellie prior to its events. The remaining three supporting cast members are playing original roles, with Ubach, Park and Ahlers playing the characters Hanrahan, Elise Park and Burton respectively.
With these new faces along with an expanded storyline owing to the show’s expected four-season run, this presents the perfect opportunity to enrich the game’s lore, humanising the game’s various non-playable characters (NPC) with their own backstories that can supplement its overarching narrative. For now, it remains to be seen just how integral to the plot these supporting characters will be, but their additions will no doubt appeal to returning fans from the games who wish to experience a fresh take on its established storyline.
The Last of Us season 2 will air on 14 April 2025 on Max.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Natalie
