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John Goodman, Laura Bailey, and Ian Alexander Join 'The Last of Us' Season 3
Confirmed
In Short: HBO announced that John Goodman, Laura Bailey, and Ian Alexander will star in the third and final season of 'The Last of Us'.
HBO announced on Saturday that John Goodman, Laura Bailey, and Ian Alexander will join the cast of 'The Last of Us' for its third and final season. The network celebrated the news by declaring September 26 as 'The Last of Us Day'.
Goodman, known for his roles in 'Roseanne' and 'The Big Lebowski', will take on the character of Joey, described as a 'Hero of the Highway' alongside Paco, played by Ian Alexander. Both characters are new to the franchise, not appearing in the original video games.
Laura Bailey, who voiced Abby in 'The Last of Us: Part II', will play Elizabeth, a leader of the Seraphite cult. The Seraphites, a new group in the TV series, will play a significant role in the upcoming season.
The third season will also feature returning cast members such as Kaitlyn Dever as Abby and Bella Ramsey as Ellie. However, the show's star, Pedro Pascal, will not physically appear as his character Joel was killed off in the second season finale.
The cast of the third season includes several new additions, including Li Jun Li as Miriam, a Seraphite, and Peter Sarsgaard as Amon, another leader of the cult. Jason Ritter will play Hanley, a WLF soldier, while Patrick Wilson will portray Jerry, Abby's father.
The show's second season concluded with a cliffhanger, leaving fans eager for the final season. Despite rumors of cancellation, production on the third season is now back on track, with an expected premiere in 2027 on HBO Max.
The third season will focus on Abby's arc and the rise of the Seraphites, a group not featured in the original video games. The show's adaptation of the games has seen significant changes, including the casting of Abby and the portrayal of Joel's death.
With the third season set to be the series' finale, fans are excited to see how the story will conclude. The cast additions, including John Goodman, are expected to bring new depth and drama to the post-apocalyptic world of 'The Last of Us'.
Background
The Last of Us is an action-adventure video game series and media franchise created by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic United States ravaged by cannibalistic humans infected by a mutated fungus in the genus Cordyceps.
What's confirmed
- John Goodman is set to star in the third season of HBO's series The Last of Us, alongside two stars of the video game on which it is based: Laura Bailey and Ian Alexander.
- Officially joining the cast are John Goodman, Laura Bailey, and Ian Alexander.
What's still developing
- The network announced on Saturday morning that Goodman has just signed on for a guest-starring role in its multiple Emmy-winner The Last Of Us, where he’ll apparently be riding out the fungus-afflicted apocalypse in style.
- John Goodman may have wrapped things up on The Righteous Gemstones, but that doesn’t mean he’s done in the world of HBO high-profile TV.
- Further, Elle voice actor Ashley Johnson from the game played Elle's (Bella Ramsey) mother in the first season of the series.
- The second season is set five years following the events in the inaugural season, and Joel Miller dies in it.
- Three new faces are entering the picture for the finale season of The Last of Us, and you’d recognize these names anywhere.
- “John Goodman joining The Last of Us is inspired casting—he can make a character feel warm and threatening at the same time,” said one user on X.
- While one subset of the fandom sustained itself on the idea of a pipe-dream fourth season, it was never really in the cards, especially since there isn’t much source material to adapt (for show-only fans, the series comes from just two video games).
- And if Laura Bailey sounds particularly familiar (and not from her founding position on Dungeons & Dragons Actual Play Critical Role ), it’s because she’s the original voice actor for Abby, the antagonist of Season 2.
- With everything from Roseanne to The Big Lebowski to King Kong under his belt, Goodman is a powerhouse, and fans are already chattering about what he’ll bring to the series.
- Season 2 left off on an insane cliffhanger, and fans’ questions only grew when rumors began swirling that the series had been canceled after a steep drop in viewership (thanks, in seemingly large part, to the changes made from the game to the second season—namely the casting of Abby, as well as how Joel’s death played out on screen).
- And while it wasn’t canceled, production on the third season was suspended for the entire month of June, which sent the rumor mill into overdrive.
- Season 2 picked up five years after the events of the first season.