HBO’s The Last of Us quickly became one of the most talked about television shows. From its emotional depth to strong storytelling, the show starring actor Pedro Pascal was praised for its loyalty to the original video game. Now, as it has been renewed for a third season, fans are excited and also relieved that it’s not following the footsteps of other shows such as AMC’s The Walking Dead.

With The Last of Us, HBO is not trying to stretch the story beyond what makes sense. Unlike Walking Dead, which was pushed for many seasons, causing many fans to slowly lose interest.

Pedro Pascal in a still from The Last of Us | Credits: HBO

With Season 2 of the show releasing today, this is good news for the fans. Let’s dive deeper to understand why The Last of Us won’t repeat the mistakes of The Walking Dead.

The Last of Us will avoid the mistakes that ruined The Walking Dead

The Last of Us can easily be one of HBO’s biggest hits, and with Season 2 premiering today, fans already have something else to be excited about. Season 3 of the show is officially happening as showrunner Craig Mazin revealed in an interview via Collider that work on the third season is getting started soon.

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in a still from The Last of Us | Credits: HBO

The show also has a clear plan of where they want to take the story without making it unnecessarily long. The same ultimately doomed AMC’s The Walking Dead. This used to be a fan-favorite series and started strong with an exciting premise and great characters. But it ended up running for too many seasons and episodes that made fans feel it was dragged out with repeated storylines.

In contrast to this, The Last of Us is sticking close to the video game source material by Naughty Dog. So, the first season followed the first video game, Left Behind, and Season 2 will be telling the story of The Last of Us Part II. The game has a lot of content (46 chapters to be exact), which means that the show has plenty of story to explore throughout a few well-paced seasons.

This means that there’s no need for the show to stretch things to keep it going. Fans appreciate that the makers respect the source material and understand the importance of quality over quantity.

A user on Reddit also detailed the very reasons why The Walking Dead lost its shine, and it’s safe to say that many agreed with this post.

Now, with Season 3 of The Last of Us in the works, if HBO continues to handle the series with this level of care, then this show might just go down in history as one of the few game-to-screen adaptations that did everything right.

What should fans remember before watching Season 2 of The Last of Us?

After almost two years, The Last of Us is all set to take over the HBO screens once again, and it’s safe to say that fans have missed Joel and Ellie. But before watching Season 2, the viewers might need a quick refresher on how things unfolded in Season 1.

The show is set in a post-apocalyptic world that centers around Pedro Pascal’s Joel, who’s tasked with smuggling a young girl named Ellie. The major twist that takes place here is that she is immune to the dangerous mind-controlling fungi, Cordyceps, that have wiped out most of humanity. The final hope is that her immunity can help create a cure.

Bella Ramsey in a still from The Last of Us | Credits: HBO

Throughout their journey, the duo faces several challenges, in the midst of which their relationship also changes drastically. Season 1 ends with a major turning point when they reach Salt Lake City and meet Marlene and the Fireflies to make a cure using Ellie’s immunity. However, later, Marlene tells Joel that to get the cure, Ellie will have to die.

So, Joel decides to save her, killing everyone present in the hospital. Interestingly, Season 2 of the show will pick up 5 years after those events, with Joel and Ellie now living in Wyoming. But the consequences of Joel’s choice still hang in the air.

The Last of Us Season 2 airs today (April 13) at 9 PM ET on HBO Max.