The Last of Us HBO’s Multi-Season Plan is Good News For The Franchise’s Most Lackluster Faction

The Last of Us Part 2 is next in line to get the live-action treatment with season 2 of HBO’s adaptation. After a successful first season, The Last of Us Part 2 will bring forth the most harrowing chapter in Ellie and Joel’s journey, but with a catch. Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann and showrunner Craig Mazin are planning on stretching Part 2 into multiple seasons.

A recent interview with Druckmann and Mazin confirmed that The Last of Us Part 2 may get 3 seasons based on its story. There are various pros and cons to this approach, but one big upside is that HBO’s series will hopefully get the chance to further explore one of the game’s most underdeveloped factions: the Rattlers.

The Last of Us Part 2 Barely Touched Upon the Rattlers Faction

The Last of Us Part 2’s Santa Barbara Chapter

Near the end of The Last of Us Part 2, Ellie’s quest for revenge takes her to Santa Barbara. Based on intel from Tommy, Ellie is led to believe that Abby has made her way to the city, but as she arrives in Santa Barbara, she is completely unaware that Abby has already been captured. After Abby and Lev find evidence of Fireflies living off the coast of Santa Barbara, they are abruptly kidnapped and enslaved by the Rattlers, a slave-keeping faction that seems to have become completely void of morals.

Despite the terrifying nature of this faction, the Rattlers are unfortunately undercooked compared to the other factions featured in the game. Yes, The Last of Us Part 2 only scratched the surface when it comes to the WLF and Seraphites, but the Rattlers barely got any substantial backstory. Once Ellie escapes from a Rattler trap, she finds the group’s compound where they keep slaves and torture them, eventually running into a tortured Abby and Lev. It’s a harrowing moment in a game that’s already filled with plenty of bleakness, but the story only offers a small glimpse of the faction responsible for these horrors.

HBO’s multi-season plan can really dive deeper into the group. The placement of the Rattlers in the story felt like mere plot devices to get Ellie and Abby from point A to point B when the morally bankrupt faction is filled with potential for a compelling backstory. The Last of Us series has a lot to live up to, but multiple seasons also offer plenty of room to expand on moments that deserved more time in the game. The Rattlers are a tiny blip in a much bigger journey, and it’s impossible to give every story aspect ample time, but it would be fascinating to see how this group devolved into such a corrupt state.

The Last of Us Part 2 Being Multiple Seasons Could Be For the Best

Since The Last of Us Part 2 has some very divisive moments, HBO will have to tread carefully if it wants to pull off the story correctly. However, the multi-season approach also gives audiences the chance to get more in-depth information about the world, as one season would simply not be enough time to tell such a nuanced story. There are a lot of gray areas in The Last of Us Part 2, and that can’t be accomplished in just one season, especially since season 2 of the show is only seven episodes long.

There’s no telling how much deeper HBO will go with The Last of Us Part 2‘s lore, but it’s probably safe to assume that the show will elaborate on aspects the game wasn’t able to. The Last of Us show has made some big changes that have proven to be better than the game, so it’s intriguing to think about how season 2 will change from the source material.

The Last of Us Part 2

Franchise

The Last of Us

Released

June 19, 2020

Engine

Proprietary

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs

How Long To Beat

24 Hours

Metascore

93

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