A new report from Deadline claims that Danny Ramirez will not be returning for the third season of HBO’s The Last of Us. Introduced in The Last of Us Season 2, Danny Ramirez played Manny Alvarez, a fellow former member of the Fireflies who joined Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) in her hunt for Pedro Pascal’s Joel Miller.
While season 1 and 2 of HBO’s The Last of Us revolved around Joel and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), season 3 of the PlayStation first-party live-action adaptation will put Abby front and center. Season 3 is expected to follow a similar structure to The Last of Us Part 2‘s second-third, where players were shown Abby’s perspective of the events leading up to the climactic Pinnacle Theater showdown in Seattle.
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Danny Ramirez Is Not Returning for The Last of Us Season 3
On December 29, Deadline reported that Danny Ramirez would not be reprising his role as Manny Alvarez in The Last of Us Season 3, apparently due to scheduling conflicts. HBO is yet to officially confirm this or any other casting changes that could potentially affect The Last of Us Season 3. Though the exact details of Ramirez’s alleged scheduling conflicts also haven’t been officially confirmed, it could potentially have something to do with the actor’s current role as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Falcon.
Following on from his appearance in The Falcon and Winter Soldier and 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World, Danny Ramirez’s Falcon is confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, where he’ll likely be part of Sam Wilson’s team of Avengers. Although Avengers: Doomsday wrapped principal photography back in September, reshoots are rumored to be taking place in January 2026. Avengers: Secret Wars is also set to begin filming in Summer 2026, though Ramirez has not officially been confirmed to appear in the movie.
With The Last of Us Season 3 set to begin filming in April 2026, it seems likely that the scheduling conflicts that have reportedly resulted in Danny Ramirez being unable to reprise his role are due to something related to Marvel, though again, that’s only speculation at this point. The role of Manny Alvarez will be recast ahead of filming for The Last of Us Season 3, though there’s no official word or even a leak currently pointing to who could take the role.
Despite some controversy surrounding an early decision in The Last of Us Season 2 – the same controversy that plagued The Last of Us Part 2 upon its 2020 release – both seasons of the HBO adaptation have been met with positive reviews from critics. The first season of HBO’s The Last of Us is currently sitting at an 84 on Metacritic while season 2 is at an 81, granting both seasons the “Universal Acclaim” badge on the aggregate site.
Though The Last of Us Season 1 and 2 were praised by critics, franchise co-creator Neil Druckmann announced in July of this year (about a month after the airing of season 2’s finale) that he would be stepping away from “creative involvement” in the show ahead of its third season, instead shifting focus to writing and directing Naughty Dog’s upcoming Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
Executive producer and writer Halley Gross also confirmed her departure from the show soon after Druckmann’s social media announcement. It’s unclear who (if anyone) will be replacing Druckmann and Gross in their respective creative positions. HBO hasn’t officially confirmed an exact release date for The Last of Us Season 3, but CEO Casey Bloys did tell Variety back in July of this year that the third season is “definitely planned” for 2027.
- Release Date
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January 15, 2023
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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Craig Mazin
- Directors
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Craig Mazin, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Ali Abbasi, Mark Mylod, Stephen Williams, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, Nina Lopez-Corrado
- Writers
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Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
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Bella Ramsey
Ellie Williams
Source: Deadline
