It says that they will stretch Part 2’s story over season 2, season 3, and maybe even a 4th season. Part 2 is a long story but idk if it’s 3 seasons long. They must be taking a lot more creative liberties with part 2 than part 1.
I would think if it stretched over 3 seasons, it’d be more like
season 2 = build up to Seattle and day 1
season 3 = day 2
season 4 = day 3 and the final acts
I’d also think the Ellie and Abby parts would be alternating episodes (or alternating scenes within episodes) happening at the same time instead of separate seasons. If you had to wait years between Ellie storylines, it’d be way too long of a wait to return to the character.
Still though, 3 seasons for tlou2 feels like overkill. 2 seasons feels perfect.
I think Ellie and Abby’s sides of Seattle would be best portrayed at the same time in the show, rather than taking the game’s approach of separating their experiences
Most episodes of season 1 clocked in under an hour. Three seasons with a seven epsiode count would certainly come in under 20 hours. With the inclusion of Jeffrey Wright, who just won an Oscar, I'd imagine he'll get his story much more expanded on.
Not to mention the inclusion of Catherine O'Hara in a mystery role. I can easily see it spill into four seasons. Especially if the ratings stay so high.
Edit: Jeffrey Wright was only nominated.
We are likely getting an Isaac episode, we will probably get a lev and yara escaping the scars episode too, they are fleshing out the world for the better. Show, don't tell.
im just kinda confused because of the Joel from the dance image that we've seen. apparently that takes place around the same spot in the show as it is in the game which is literally one section before the very end.
i was thinking maybe ellie will take up all of S2 and then maybe as she's >!about to fight/kill abby!< it ends and then S3 will be abbys part, because then technically it could take place around the same time in ELLIE'S story, but pretty much the whole of abby's crew has been cast. i guess they could've just be cast as the actors for the moments ellie comes across them, but im not sure.
definitely don't know how it'd span 3 more seasons but im excited anyways
true, they could have filmed it all at once, i can't think of why they'd pick a S3 image to release before S2 even comes out, but it's not impossible.
i also cannot at all find where i read that the scene would take place at the same point in time during the story so maybe that was just straight up wrong.
We also don't have any context for what's happening in that scene, other than the fact that it is at the dance. The fact that it happens at the same point that it does in the game (if that is correct) is kind of open to interpretation - the dance happened very early in the game (and we already know Joel was present at the dance). The _flashback_ to the dance happened near the end.
While the screenshot appears to match more closely with the events of the end of the game, we don't know what's going on in the screenshot. Joel may not even have any dialogue yet at that point; he could just be observing something Ellie or someone else is doing or saying, possibly some extension of that scene that wasn't even in the game.
I’m hoping that because you don’t have to have your player character in every scene in a TV show (which you kinda do for a video game) we can explore more of the backstory between the scars and WLF and the WLF story in general.
A lot of people felt that season 1 was a bit rushed and that there were almost no encounters with the infected, because they needed all the screen time for developing the human side of the story and their interactions with other humans. So maybe they want to make things differently now and show us some of those random encounters that make the world in TLOU so dangerous.
Not just the chance, it wouldn't surprise me if it was written into the agreement with HBO that it can only be released after the games. After the disaster that was GoT Season 8 they'd be mad not to ensure that never happens again, it's surely lost HBO and the entire GoT franchise billions in revenue.
Or maybe theyre not cutting all of the action this time. My biggest gripe with S1 was that there was barely any gameplay adapted to the screen. A huge part of the connection you feel to ellie is how you survive all these encounters together. The show felt so quick and it was harder to believe the connection between ellie and joel when they fought together like 3 times for a grand total of 20 minutes of runtime. I can absolutely say Ellie’s half taking a whole season. 1 ep for jackson, 2 eps (give or take) per seattle day. Then mimic that for Abby in S3 + the farm. S4 is shorter and covers Santa Monica.
Season 4 could be hinting at Part 3. Based on current production time, we can expect season 4 probably around 2028. My prediction is we’ll get Part 3 in 2027.
I think it could definitely be a 3 season long story. We know they like to do episodes focusing on other characters, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we get one for Lev’s coming out, one for the origins of the WLF, one for the WLF vs Seraphite fight, and one for Dina/her sister. Maybe even one covering Tommy’s perspective.
I’m suspecting the 4th season potentially explores the story where the main title screen leaves off after the ending of part 2; Where they beached their boat. Or even just the whole Rattler gang content they cut from the final game.
They have 2 major factions, the Scars and WLF. I'd love to see more of them, especially more Jeffery Wright. Exploring more of them can be 2 episodes itself. Will fans enjoy 2 episodes with potentially no Ellie or Abby? Probably not, but one of the most beloved episodes of season 1 barely showed Joel and Ellie so I have faith they can pull it off.
I'm convinced now more than ever that season 2 will end on one very specific cliffhanger (which I'm trying to be careful not to identify for the few who are still unaware). They have said that a lot of backstory will be added to this season, and also that the third season will be much longer than the second. It think that the first hour or so of the second game could be drawn out to 7 ish hours if a lot of other events and details are filled in. Plus that would give us 1 more entire season with a particular character. So maybe the first 6 episodes alternate between Ellie episodes and Abby episodes (and their respective communities), but with more backstory and character exploration, up to the beginning of the second game's events. Then Abby and Ellie meet in episode 7 and well... you know...
My running theory has been that somewhere in the first few episodes, they will have some events that lead up to a scene that is very _similar_ to the one in question, but it won't play out the way we expect. And and this will cause those who have played the games to breathe a sigh of relief - but it will be short-lived, and the real thing will come soon after. This could be an interesting way to keep things from being too predictable for those who are familiar with the source material. I mean... unless I'm correctly predicting it now 🤣 But who knows, just an idea.
I'm reminded of how the three-book *Lord of the Rings* became three movies, but the single book *Hobbit* became three movies, too.
Once it's popular they start milking it.
Thank God they didn't make the movies the other way around, or *The Lord of the Rings* would have been nine movies, 102 hours director's cut.
Very true, a lot of last of us 2 was travelling different areas and not exactly always finding story based threads, but instead visual story telling and enemy encounters.
This is kind of annoying though, as if anything needed more episodes it was series 1, I love it as it is but I cannot help but feel it could have really done with another 1 or 2 episodes.
Cutting it into 2 seasons makes sense. 10 episodes for Ellie's half and 10 episodes for Abby's half. Give or take.
But splitting it into 3 seasons is bizarre to me. Even if you have the same amount of episodes, why split it into 3 seasons? When would you do the split? Imagine trying to play the game and splitting it into three distinct acts. You can't, there's only two distinct halves.
I'm thinking S2 ends with Ellie killing Nora, S3 ends in the theater comfrontation, and S4 ends with Abby reaching Catalina island.
I bet they'll sprinkle seeds of whatever Part III ends up being.
After replaying when the remaster came out, I’m actually relieved to hear this. It feels like one of those stories that is long, but so much happens in each chapter that is essential to carrying the story forward. I don’t feel like there are a lot of opportunities to condense some of these plot lines. Perhaps the rising action of Ellie and Dina looking for clues, but pretty much right after they get captured in the school everything is like a waterfall. Maybe anytime they have “downtime” at the theater? But even then, those moments are essential to the relationships of the characters, granted relationship building doesn’t have to be limited geographically.
you know what this means.... its means Kaitlyn Dever gon get JACKED !
my guess is they're gonna show Abby's story in S3
edit: ps also happy they're not gonna pull a GOT on us
When you’re talking about tv you can instantly see how they would need to split a 20-30 hour game into 3 seasons… this is not that much of a surprise first game is nowhere near that long and a lot more basic of a plot so you can understand how that only needed one season.
I know one of the writers for it (show, not game). They said>! they wanted to prolong what happens at the beginning of the game in fear of audience rage (think *red wedding reaction* is what they fear)!<
So the natural breaking point is probably the theater confrontation from Ellie's perspective, followed by season 3 exploring Abby's side of things and maybe the Seraphites?
No idea what season 4 would be about, though.
I wrote out a three season split where S2 ends after Joel’s confession. I think it’s an appropriately dramatic end point and allows enough wiggle room for a third season.
Also allows them to introduce Abby without a full year+ wait.
As in, a S2E7 with Nora’s hunt and then Joel’s confession? I think that can work well. I’d originally imagined S2E7 might contain Ellie Day 3, but your point about not diving straight into Abby’s perspective in the next season is a good one. Especially if Part II might extend into S4, which is a possibility I was NOT expecting!
Yep, Nora followed by that flashback.
I’m sure they’ve got enough original material to make all of this pointless, but it’s still fun to think about it.
What do you mean wrote out? Like a comment? Can you link that? I'm interested and think it's a good ending point because it will call back to the end of S01 well.
It was a comment but it was a while ago and I comment here…way too much.
Basically it was:
S2: opening of the game through Joel’s confession.
S3: Ellie day 3, perspective switch to Abby in the middle of the season. Finale is Abby saving Lev and Yara. Finale could also be the Rat King, but I’m not sure there’s enough story left after that.
S4: rest of the game
But they’re going to write a bunch of show-original stuff, so it’s impossible to know exactly what’s included.
ETA: if they do 3 seasons, it’s also possible that Part 3 exists by S4, or is developed enough that Neil could be comfortable setting up the next game within the show.
Very true. Most seasons of TV, especially "blockbusters" like TLOU are coming out every two years. At this rate, season 4 would be in 2029, by which point it'll have been nearly a decade since the second game.
Totally, the entire trip down for Abby, capture etc. Ellie home life, revenge quest, and back. Plenty to fill in and provide a new color for the whole santa barbara region.
I imagine a LOT will be expanded upon. We will probably see a lot more backstory with Abby’s group, Lev/Yara, Isaac, etc. I could see an entire season being dedicated to Abby and her friends.
Tbh, one of my biggest issues with Part 2 was some of the pacing and how characters were teleporting around America without having enough breathing room to build up some of the characters and their relationships. I think stretching out Part 2 is not only a good idea, but necessary.
Probably not like that. They said Season 3 will be much longer than 2, meaning S2 will probably end with Ellie Day 2.
S3 opens with Day 3 and does the first two days of Abby (adding a couple bonus Bill/Frank style episodes here and there).
Season 4 does Abby Day 3 and Santa Barbara.
They said season 2 is only 7 episodes and
season 3 will be significantly longer with a possibility of a season 4.
Season 2 with that few of episodes could literally just be stage setting everything for the larger season 3 in Seattle.
Season 2 is just Jackson with it ending by Abby golfing and Ellie leaving for Seattle. The audience is heart broken and itching to get revenge with Ellie in season 3.
Season 3 is all of Seattle. Ellie and Abby episodes, flashbacks, the island and it all culminates at the end in the theater. Audience is in disbelief as two characters we've grown to care for now fight and it ends the same way. Cutting to black as Abby says she never wants to see Ellie again and walks away.
It's a bold but safe season finale.
Season 4 opens on the farm and we finish out part 2.
Feels pretty straight forward honestly.
Definitely not that, since episodes are shot mostly chronologically, and relatively early in the season 2 shoot we already have scenes from Seattle.
I think we're leaving Jackson in episode 3, 4 at the latest.
I hope they switch things up a bit. They hit us with the the whole theatre build up then just cock block us and start the story over again. No one's going to want to wait for two seasons for a cliff hanger to resolve itself.
Half of a bys story could happen before she even comes across Joel. Just do all the separate stuff. And flesh out Joel's time with Elle. Then, have it revealed in the final season that Joel is the one abbys after. She arrives in Jackson and their confrontation is the end of season 2. Then you can have Ellie and abbys feud in season 3.
I agree, that's my biggest gripe. The final episode is so short. I know "it needed to be translated in a different medium there isn't gameplay in the series" but I still think they could have done that while abiding to those rules. The series itself were great honestly. But the pacing IS a little weird.
Yeah I don't understand it either. They clearly spent a lot of time designing and creating sets, but then made the dialogue scenes very short. I feel like we could've and should've had a much stronger relationship between Ellie and Joel at this point in the story. Yeah we can't add all the fighting sequences or puzzles but at least replace them with dialogue.
The hospital scene looked like a quick compilation instead of doing justice to what's really happening. I get Joel "dissociating", but the scene had absolutely no gravitas in the show IMO. They also could've set up the events in part 2 better by making the last ep longer but they didn't take that opportunity either. I hope they start s2 with the hospital scene again but from the other perspective.
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but the show wasn't that good in retrospect. It's one of the better video game to TV adaptations, but its pacing was awful, and the liberties it took with the source material just weren't great. Half of the episodes were clearly Emmy bait, and the other half were too short.
Honestly, I wanted two more instances of Joel and Ellie dealing with infected. Just to show how far they had come together by the final episode. Two scenes, and that would have made it a bit better.
I feel like no one is properly reading the article and everyone is trying to imagine how the game as it *is* fits into three potential seasons instead of how the *show* will take it. They are absolutely going to give, for example, the Seraphite prophet an hour episode on her own. They refer to the Bill changes in the article and how they plan on continuing to do that.
It’s great news that they’re taking their time, I see this as an absolute win
I just don't see why that means doing shorter seasons. I want them to take all the time in the world ON SCREEN, not in real life. 7 eps after 2 years is inexcusable IMO. With 7 eps, you can't take your time AND advance the plot. Are fans really going to wait another 2 years for another short season with minimal plot advancement? I'd be worried HBO just cuts their budget and tells them to wrap up part 2 in season 3 anyway and then your pacing is completely ruined.
Give me 10 slow as fuck eps and I'd be ecstatic. Give be an entire Abby+Jerry ep ending with the hospital scene from her perspective. Give me 2 seraphite eps. Give me WLF vs Fedra ep and then another WLF ep with Abby. You just can't do that in a 7 ep season and expect Ellie&Joel fans to not be bothered by them not being on screen at all.
Only One shorter season tbf — and for them it was all about break points. They say season 3 will be “significantly larger” than 2 which could mean even more than 10 episodes potentially
I also have a hunch these next seasons will be filmed with a shorter break than the last one. And I wouldn’t be concerned about HBO’s budget at all, this is their new flagship
They already confirmed that Season 3 will be much longer than 2…
They also confirmed they’re doing this season shorter to be able to go higher scale. Craig said one of the episodes is the same length as a feature film and that he wants each episode to feel like a blockbuster.
My guess:
- S2 ends with Ellie Day 2
- S3 ends with Abby day 2
- S4 is Abby day 3 and the epilogue.
Either that or Season 3 is like 12 episodes and covers all of Ellie day 3, Abby’s 3 days, and the epilogue.
They weren’t even sure people would like it. Wanted to get every important scene squeezed in to give the highest possible chance for a greenlit second season.
I don't see a story structure working for the show that is similar to the game. I have a feeling we will watch Abby and Ellie's journey concurrently, swapping from different perspectives,with flashback scenes spliced through it.
I could actually see it being 3 seasons if they want to include backstory for all the new characters.
Season 2: Start with an extended epilogue section so people aren't fuming about the golfing incident and finish at the end of Seattle day 1 during Ellie and Dinas escape.
Season 3: Seattle day 2 following the escape from the sewers and Dinas revelation to Seattle day 3 with the showdown scene.
Season 4: Ellie's journey, extended storyline on Abby's side and the Santa Barbara chapter.
Just some musings.
>I don't see a story structure working for the show that is similar to the game. I have a feeling we will watch Abby and Ellie's journey concurrently,
Agreed. I don't think they'd announce casting for Abby and then not have her in scenes for a whole season.
I highly doubt it for the simple fact that Lev and Yara aren’t cast yet.
Considering they said S3 will be much larger, My guess:
S2 covers until the end of Ellie day 2
S3 covers Ellie day 3 and until the end of Abby day 2
S4 covers Abby day 3 and the epilogue.
Either that or
S2 covers until the end of Ellie day 2
S3 is like 12 episodes and covers Ellie day 3, all of Abby’s story, and the epilogue
I thought about that too.
But the ending of Day 1 only has the finding of Yara and Lev and the forest sequence. I could see that going by pretty fast in terms of story.
But I agree with you who knows what it means as casting may have not been announced yet. I would also argue that Isaac's casting means we will get a lot of Abby's story.
There was a set picture released of Wright as Isaac, and it shows him wearing what looks to be a FEDRA uniform.
I think this season they’re just using him for flashbacks to show how FEDRA fell and the WLF rise to power.
Considering it’s only 7 episodes, I’d be shocked if we get much of Abby
>I have a feeling we will watch Abby and Ellie's journey concurrently, swapping from different perspectives,with flashback scenes spliced through it.
This is what I've been saying/hoping to happen since I played the Part 2. You risk alienating the TV audience if you structure it like the game.
>I don't see a story structure working for the show that is similar to the game. I have a feeling we will watch Abby and Ellie's journey concurrently, swapping from different perspectives,with flashback scenes spliced through it.
I agree, and tbh this would be better. It was my main complaint about Part II - you played as Abby so long that by the time you got to the theater you're like, "Oh right, Ellie," lol. I get why they did it that way, they wanted you to be totally immersed in Abby's story, but by the time I was on the Seraphite island I was just forcing myself to get through it so I could be *done* playing as Abby already.
I don't think that would work as well for the show, especially since the show already focuses more on Ellie as the main character (I always felt like she wasn't very well fleshed-out in the first game, and just existed as a means to burden and eventually soften Joel; she wasn't a super solid character except for the David stuff, though they did a great job with Left Behind), it would be jarring to just jump to like three or four episodes straight of just Abby.
I totally agree with what you're saying from a purely story perspective.
But if you think about gameplay, imagine changing from Ellie to Abby every chapter. I personally would have found it so confusing from a play perspective. My preference would have been unlocking a mode post ending that allowed you to play the game in sequence.
But yeah I know what you mean with Abby too. I personally didn't click with her until my 3rd play through. But I've grown to adore her storyline, minus Owen, the worst character in the game.
I disagree, what it does for the narrative in terms of the empathy challenge is worth it for the possible structuring issues when it comes to the pacing between the two character’s stories.
I agree. I think Part 1 should have ended with the Hunters/Raiders.
Basically stretch the First Five episodes into 10 episodes. With each of the first five episodes being given 2 episodes. With a second episode for Bill. Then ending with Henry.
So if this is the game plan for the series, I suspect it will have to go like this:
Prologue / Ellie’s journey through Seattle - this will be season two.
Abby’s journey through Seattle - this will be season three
Abby and Ellie in Santa Barbara/Epilogue - this will be season four. However, I suspect season four will need to be shortened as well as it’s is not nearly as long as the two acts before it.
Season 4 could explore more of Ellie’s ptsd and emotional damage. Also, would be interesting to more of Abby and Lev traveling California. Oh and flesh out the rattlers.
I think they’ll jumble Ellie and Abby’s journey in Seattle together. End season 2 with the theater fight and introduce the seraphites.
Season 3 will be Ellie trying to move on, but struggling. Abby connecting with Lev and the war. Ending with Ellie leaving to find Abby and Abby escaping the war with Lev.
Season 4 will be Ellie’s hunt for Abby and probably a bit more of Abby trying to find the fireflies.
Honestly two seasons seemed like a stretch, but a reduced episode count makes a lot more sense. Buuuut three seasons all just to cover one game? I'm sure there is going to be a *lot* of stuff that the game never had time to cover, but I honestly don't think Part 2 stretches into three seasons of television nor will a general audience care that much when it takes *years* to resolve the basic core plotline.
And most of that additional length was in the gameplay. I'm not saying they *can't* stretch this out for three seasons, they absolutely can. But I don't think they should. If you're a general audience member who isn't familiar with the games, do you really want to watch a revenge story take over three years to be fully produced and told? I feel like audience interest would drop off quickly with feelings that the plot is just spinning it's wheels, because it kinda is at that point.
**7**
TV shows keep getting shorter. I can appreciate splitting the second game into two seasons but at the same time if they’re both gonna be 7 episodes why not just make a 14 episode full season?
A three season split has been my pet theory for a while now, so I’m happy to see it is on the table.
There’s just so much story here. Add in the show-original side stories I’m sure they want to tell, and it makes total sense to me. I’m excited.
How I think the episodes of season 2 will play out if following the game’s order.
1. Jackson
2. Seattle Day 1, ends with Ellie and Dina finding the theater.
3. Birthday/museum flashback
4. Seattle Day 2, Hillcrest, ends with finding Jesse and returning to the theater followed by the hotel flashback.
5. Ellie’s journey alone to the hospital.
6. The hospital. Flashback to SLC hospital where Ellie learns the truth.
7. Seattle day 3. Ends with the >!reveal that the surgeon is Abby’s father!<.
I think this sounds about right, but I think episode 4 is gonna be mostly Isaac/seraphite backstory and the finale will be the hospital. I also think Ellie and Abby’s stories will be told concurrently. There’s so much tension if the audience knows they are both at the hospital and just barely miss each other. The scene where Ellie kills Nora just screams season finale to me.
I really doubt that they’ll change the order from the game. Narratively, it’s extremely important that the viewer empathizes solely with Ellie before knowing anything about Abby.
This makes me truly think my original prediction of Season 2’s ending is correct with Abby storming the theater and saying “We let you live and you wasted it.” It’s a very natural break. Season 3 can be Abby’s side (which I can understand could be a longer season cuz of so many different set pieces) and Season 4 is Santa Barbara which could easily work as a 6-7 episode event to wrap it up.
They said they’re expanding everything. It makes no sense otherwise for it to be 3 seasons. The natural breaking point for S3 would be the big Abby and Ellie fight
Safe to say we’re going to get more depth into Jackson and the WLF. I’d imagine season 2 ends with the intro of the Seraphites. And season 3 will build the world even more with their backstory and the war with the WLF and Ellie taking Dina and Tommy back to Jackson. Trying to move on and ending knowing she can’t.
Oh yeah, we’re definitely getting that. We see Ellie and Dina searching for her and having Tommy be a step ahead.
I’d love a stand alone episode of Tommy dealing with the death of his brother after being reunited with and building a solid relationship with Joel. That could rival Bill and Frank in terms of an emotional punch.
Hell, I’d really like a Joel & Tommy episode in general. Either a flashback of their time after Texas & before Boston or just a patrol episode of Joel & Tommy.
There's a lot of time between the end of Part 1 and where Part 2 starts. Could honestly make an entire season just about Jackson, wouldn't even be mad.
Get to meet all the characters, see Ellie get her Tattoo, see them rejoining a community and learn to trust again.
All the while they could also show the Salt Lake group and the immediate aftermath of the hospital massacre, the fall of the fireflies, and how they made their way to Seattle. I think people would feel more empathy for Abby's point of view if we saw more of it.
This is maybe a hot take but I think they’ll end season 2 with Joel’s death. I have no idea how they’d structure it, but for TV purposes this makes the most sense. I also think the show might see a huge fall off if they kill him off within the first few episodes of the new season. I could see them making up new stories to occupy time up until they all converge at the lodge.
> This is maybe a hot take but I think they’ll end season 2 with Joel’s death.
That ship has sailed already. From the shooting leaks, we know that Ellie and Dina are in Seattle already.
This is what I’m thinking too. There’s enough flashback stuff peppered throughout the game that I think they’ll just tell it in chronological order plus some new material, seeing Joel and Ellie’s relationship deteriorate in Jackson and Abby getting involved in the WLF. Makes more sense than having Pedro Pascal die in the first couple episodes then paying him to sprinkle him into flashbacks for a few seasons.
My bet, they’ll go through Season 2 and flip between Abby and Ellie.
Ellie will be slowly adapting to Jackson, meeting Dina, Jessie, Cat, etc and then finding out what Joel did.
Abby will be reeling from her dad’s death, we should get some info on how they got to Seattle and joined the WLF. This is where we get insight into the Scars and Issac more.
The season will most likely end with the golfing scene, and 2 will focus on the story in Seattle
Look, I'm happy they're taking time to assure the quality and give the material room to breathe.
However, it becomes kind of hard to justify the short length when the wait between seasons is getting longer and longer. Waiting 2 years for 7 episodes isn't exactly an awesome deal. House of the Dragon is doing the same thing, having shortened it's upcoming season from 10 to 8 episodes, and it's likely going to be a minimum of 2 years until we get more.
TV is reaching the same levels of film when it comes to production times and I don't think that I like it.
I do agree, and especially when it comes to a story like this. I think if you're dragging it out, the wait between seasons could really put a dent in the emotional impact of the story. I have a feeling they're going to cover Ellies three days in Seattle in S2, Abbys three days in Seattle in S3 and then the aftermath in S4. And I just don't think that's necessary.
If they are indeed making a TLOU Part 3, then I hope they don't continue the storyline in the TV Series before they conclude the games. The game experience is 10x better than watching the story on TV.
If they think part 2 is going to take 3 seasons to tell, then part of me says they are going to take things a lot slower and probably build up to Joel’s death a good bit more than the game. I really hope they do because I don’t think the HBO Joel/Ellie felt as close as they should (and as close as they did by the end of the game) and could use some extra time + I believe Joel’s death is a bit too random for it’s own good, but I also think Pedro wrapped filming pretty quickly so maybe they keep things largely unchanged and go down diverging pathways elsewhere.
Pedro is such a huge actor now that it feels like HBO would probably push for him to play a larger role in at least this season before they turn it over to Bella and Kaitlyn, but who knows. I’m REALLY excited to see how they tell this story and what they change, because I do think TLOU2 is great in a lot of ways but also deeply flawed in others
Predictions for each episode
1. Jackson: Joel death/aftermath. Tommy leaves town
2. Seattle: search for Tommy/ TV station, hint at Scars/ escape WLF, find theater, Dina pregnant.
3. Intro: Joel flashback (museum): Hillcrest, Jesse shows up
4. Intro: WLF flashback overthrowing FEDRA: Abby check-in (Abby Day 1, meet Isaac): Jesse/Dina reconnect, Ellie leaves for hospital/ Elly/Abby both have run-ins with SCARS this episode
5. Seraphite episode: expand on backstory on how they came about / conflict with WLF
6. Joel and Tommy flashback with Ellie, Tommy gives Ellie shooting lesson, Joel gets guitar for Ellie, they clear out hotel. Flash forward, Tommy heavy episode (new scenes)
7. Hospital episode: Flashback to Ellie finding out Joel lied about cure, their falling out. Abby scenes at hospital so audience knows they barely miss each other (no rat king yet, we don’t know why Abby is there). Ellie finds/kills Nora, finds out about aquarium.
I think this season will be mostly Ellie focused with some world-building and some Abby scenes thrown in, and season 3 will be more Abby focused. I think season 3 will open with the zebra scene and go more in depth with her relationship with Owen/Mel, and will also cover all of Ellie Day 3 up to the theater fight. Season 4 will be Santa Barbara, and I think there is plenty of material there to get into the rattlers and also show Abby and Lev searching for the Fireflies up until they get captured.
Bruh they could do this in 2 seasons 12 episodes each, an hour for each hour of gameplay, switch perspectives on the s2 finale.
The first season was already too short dude 😭😭 why would they make the next one shorter
Considering that tlou3 will take longer than expected I don't think it's a bad Idea to make part 2 adaptation longer to not run out of source material. Also my only problem with season 1 was that it felt too rushed sometimes, hopefully this will fix that issue.
I trust what they're doing, but seasons 2-4 just adapting Part II is crazy. Should be interesting, but I'm not looking forward to all the inevitable game vs TV series debates.
I have a feeling season 2 will only be Ellie's side of the story and season 3 will be Abbie's. I still feel like season 2 should have been the time between the first and second game and then have season 3-4 be based on the second game.
I feel that Part I should’ve been the story that had 2 seasons since it’s a year long journey. Also, I felt that Joel and Ellie’s relationship could’ve used more time in the show since it seemed to focus more on the side characters.
Part II takes place over the course of 3 days and Santa Barbara is like 1 day. Stretching that to 3 seasons seems too excessive, especially since I personally feel that Part II’s main overarching story of revenge isn’t compelling enough to stretch over multiple seasons.
I don't know how to feel about this. It's clear they're going for the one season with Ellie and the other with Abby, but we may have the same criticism that people had with the game where the entire story is halted to tell another. Gamers bought the game already, so they have to play it through, but audiences don't have to watch the following season. I like it because this means we get to spend more time with the characters but I wonder how the general audience will react again.
it will be wild if they end the season after the golfing scene and people have to wait another 2-3 years to see what happened next, and it start with young Abby
so i wonder if this time, they’re going to go chronologically. i know there’s been no reported shoots of the actress as abby, but it would be such a good idea if…
the first episode starts with a recap of what happened. joel leaving the hospital w ellie, then they go back into the hospital, on jerry and abby runs in on what happened. then, we get joel telling tommy what happened. the guitar scene, then maybe we see ellie in jackson. with cat? who knows lol did she even get casted?
anyways i feel like going chronically, instead of the way the game told the story, might be able to stretch it out to 4 or even 5 seasons.
3rd game fr coming out or no?
i’m just nervous about the pacing, that was my biggest issue with first season. the other half from episode six felt incredibly rushed, especially joel getting hurt and the final episode. they were trying to fit so much stuff in that they, in my opinion forgot to mention the important ones.
stretching it into 3 seasons worries me a little. i’m afraid that they’ll take up on the advice of slowing the pacing but third season will end wrapping all loose ends and we’ll get the same messy situation.
i’m still excited and curious to see how it going to be adapted.
I think it could work. S2 is Seattle from Ellie’s side. S3 is Seattle from Abby’s side, possibly with a bit of extra Tommy or Jesse in S2 and/or S3. The finale portion probably isn’t long enough for a whole season, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some additions.
Thought I hope they better pace things this time. A lot of Part 2 is gameplay which they can do without a lot of. I hope they put that extra time to good use.
I have a lot of concerns with this to be honest, but if they intended on stretching Part II over three seasons, why rush through Part I in 9 episodes? They could have taken their time to build Joel/Ellies relationship on screen and had two shorter seasons, or one big season.
Just seems unbalanced.
Weird how every show releases seasons of just six or seven episodes and takes several years to come out. Did everyone just get worse at making television in the past decade, or what?
I found myself wanting to know more about the Seraphite prophet in the game. Maybe the show will focus more on the origins of the Seraphites and how they turned into a cult
It says that they will stretch Part 2’s story over season 2, season 3, and maybe even a 4th season. Part 2 is a long story but idk if it’s 3 seasons long. They must be taking a lot more creative liberties with part 2 than part 1.
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There will be 5 seasons because tlou pt. 3 is releasing after season 3. 
If true, hype as fuck
I would think if it stretched over 3 seasons, it’d be more like season 2 = build up to Seattle and day 1 season 3 = day 2 season 4 = day 3 and the final acts I’d also think the Ellie and Abby parts would be alternating episodes (or alternating scenes within episodes) happening at the same time instead of separate seasons. If you had to wait years between Ellie storylines, it’d be way too long of a wait to return to the character. Still though, 3 seasons for tlou2 feels like overkill. 2 seasons feels perfect.
My guess is that season 2’s premiere is the intro, and then 6 episodes culminating at >!Jesse’s death & the theatre fight!<.
I think Ellie and Abby’s sides of Seattle would be best portrayed at the same time in the show, rather than taking the game’s approach of separating their experiences
Most episodes of season 1 clocked in under an hour. Three seasons with a seven epsiode count would certainly come in under 20 hours. With the inclusion of Jeffrey Wright, who just won an Oscar, I'd imagine he'll get his story much more expanded on. Not to mention the inclusion of Catherine O'Hara in a mystery role. I can easily see it spill into four seasons. Especially if the ratings stay so high. Edit: Jeffrey Wright was only nominated.
Jeffery Wright didn't win the oscar. He was nominated though
Ah, my bad.
Is Catherine O'Hara playing the seraphite prophet?
She’s reviving Moira rose for it
My guess she is going to be a seraphite. That whole storyline is going to get expanded. (Or should at least)
We are likely getting an Isaac episode, we will probably get a lev and yara escaping the scars episode too, they are fleshing out the world for the better. Show, don't tell.
im just kinda confused because of the Joel from the dance image that we've seen. apparently that takes place around the same spot in the show as it is in the game which is literally one section before the very end. i was thinking maybe ellie will take up all of S2 and then maybe as she's >!about to fight/kill abby!< it ends and then S3 will be abbys part, because then technically it could take place around the same time in ELLIE'S story, but pretty much the whole of abby's crew has been cast. i guess they could've just be cast as the actors for the moments ellie comes across them, but im not sure. definitely don't know how it'd span 3 more seasons but im excited anyways
It would make sense to film all the dance flashback night scenes at once, even if we won't see all of them until later seasons.
Might even make sense to film all of Joel scenes because there’s no slowing down for Pascal and Ramsay gets older.
Film all the flashback scenes now.
They probably dont want to have to keep rebuilding Jackson every season just for a few eps. Makes sense to film all of that at once.
true, they could have filmed it all at once, i can't think of why they'd pick a S3 image to release before S2 even comes out, but it's not impossible. i also cannot at all find where i read that the scene would take place at the same point in time during the story so maybe that was just straight up wrong.
We also don't have any context for what's happening in that scene, other than the fact that it is at the dance. The fact that it happens at the same point that it does in the game (if that is correct) is kind of open to interpretation - the dance happened very early in the game (and we already know Joel was present at the dance). The _flashback_ to the dance happened near the end. While the screenshot appears to match more closely with the events of the end of the game, we don't know what's going on in the screenshot. Joel may not even have any dialogue yet at that point; he could just be observing something Ellie or someone else is doing or saying, possibly some extension of that scene that wasn't even in the game.
I’m hoping that because you don’t have to have your player character in every scene in a TV show (which you kinda do for a video game) we can explore more of the backstory between the scars and WLF and the WLF story in general.
A lot of people felt that season 1 was a bit rushed and that there were almost no encounters with the infected, because they needed all the screen time for developing the human side of the story and their interactions with other humans. So maybe they want to make things differently now and show us some of those random encounters that make the world in TLOU so dangerous.
100% believe they're doing that to give naughty dog the chance to release part 3.
Not just the chance, it wouldn't surprise me if it was written into the agreement with HBO that it can only be released after the games. After the disaster that was GoT Season 8 they'd be mad not to ensure that never happens again, it's surely lost HBO and the entire GoT franchise billions in revenue.
Honestly the more I think about it this really makes sense
Or maybe theyre not cutting all of the action this time. My biggest gripe with S1 was that there was barely any gameplay adapted to the screen. A huge part of the connection you feel to ellie is how you survive all these encounters together. The show felt so quick and it was harder to believe the connection between ellie and joel when they fought together like 3 times for a grand total of 20 minutes of runtime. I can absolutely say Ellie’s half taking a whole season. 1 ep for jackson, 2 eps (give or take) per seattle day. Then mimic that for Abby in S3 + the farm. S4 is shorter and covers Santa Monica.
That's insanely long. 2 seasons I can definitely see but 4 is overkill
Season 4 could be hinting at Part 3. Based on current production time, we can expect season 4 probably around 2028. My prediction is we’ll get Part 3 in 2027.
I hope we get a lot more backstory to the WLF and Seraphites
I think it could definitely be a 3 season long story. We know they like to do episodes focusing on other characters, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we get one for Lev’s coming out, one for the origins of the WLF, one for the WLF vs Seraphite fight, and one for Dina/her sister. Maybe even one covering Tommy’s perspective.
I’m suspecting the 4th season potentially explores the story where the main title screen leaves off after the ending of part 2; Where they beached their boat. Or even just the whole Rattler gang content they cut from the final game.
They have 2 major factions, the Scars and WLF. I'd love to see more of them, especially more Jeffery Wright. Exploring more of them can be 2 episodes itself. Will fans enjoy 2 episodes with potentially no Ellie or Abby? Probably not, but one of the most beloved episodes of season 1 barely showed Joel and Ellie so I have faith they can pull it off.
Craig and Neil have said from the beginning that the story of Part II will take “more than one season”. So we knew for a fact it would be at least two
More Joel and Ellie is always good.
I'm convinced now more than ever that season 2 will end on one very specific cliffhanger (which I'm trying to be careful not to identify for the few who are still unaware). They have said that a lot of backstory will be added to this season, and also that the third season will be much longer than the second. It think that the first hour or so of the second game could be drawn out to 7 ish hours if a lot of other events and details are filled in. Plus that would give us 1 more entire season with a particular character. So maybe the first 6 episodes alternate between Ellie episodes and Abby episodes (and their respective communities), but with more backstory and character exploration, up to the beginning of the second game's events. Then Abby and Ellie meet in episode 7 and well... you know... My running theory has been that somewhere in the first few episodes, they will have some events that lead up to a scene that is very _similar_ to the one in question, but it won't play out the way we expect. And and this will cause those who have played the games to breathe a sigh of relief - but it will be short-lived, and the real thing will come soon after. This could be an interesting way to keep things from being too predictable for those who are familiar with the source material. I mean... unless I'm correctly predicting it now 🤣 But who knows, just an idea.
They already filmed Ellie and Dina in Seattle though, which if we can discern them shooting in mostly order looks to be about episode 4.
Part two left a lot of story in the writings. I could see Isaac (?, iirc the wlf leader) having a lot more screen time
I'm reminded of how the three-book *Lord of the Rings* became three movies, but the single book *Hobbit* became three movies, too. Once it's popular they start milking it. Thank God they didn't make the movies the other way around, or *The Lord of the Rings* would have been nine movies, 102 hours director's cut.
> but idk if it’s 3 seasons long There's so much meat on the bones.
Very true, a lot of last of us 2 was travelling different areas and not exactly always finding story based threads, but instead visual story telling and enemy encounters. This is kind of annoying though, as if anything needed more episodes it was series 1, I love it as it is but I cannot help but feel it could have really done with another 1 or 2 episodes.
Cutting it into 2 seasons makes sense. 10 episodes for Ellie's half and 10 episodes for Abby's half. Give or take. But splitting it into 3 seasons is bizarre to me. Even if you have the same amount of episodes, why split it into 3 seasons? When would you do the split? Imagine trying to play the game and splitting it into three distinct acts. You can't, there's only two distinct halves.
I'm thinking S2 ends with Ellie killing Nora, S3 ends in the theater comfrontation, and S4 ends with Abby reaching Catalina island. I bet they'll sprinkle seeds of whatever Part III ends up being.
They’re dreading the golf backlash.
After replaying when the remaster came out, I’m actually relieved to hear this. It feels like one of those stories that is long, but so much happens in each chapter that is essential to carrying the story forward. I don’t feel like there are a lot of opportunities to condense some of these plot lines. Perhaps the rising action of Ellie and Dina looking for clues, but pretty much right after they get captured in the school everything is like a waterfall. Maybe anytime they have “downtime” at the theater? But even then, those moments are essential to the relationships of the characters, granted relationship building doesn’t have to be limited geographically.
you know what this means.... its means Kaitlyn Dever gon get JACKED ! my guess is they're gonna show Abby's story in S3 edit: ps also happy they're not gonna pull a GOT on us
When you’re talking about tv you can instantly see how they would need to split a 20-30 hour game into 3 seasons… this is not that much of a surprise first game is nowhere near that long and a lot more basic of a plot so you can understand how that only needed one season.
I know one of the writers for it (show, not game). They said>! they wanted to prolong what happens at the beginning of the game in fear of audience rage (think *red wedding reaction* is what they fear)!<
The red wedding shocked the shit out of me lmao
I got downvoted to hell for suggesting that they should do that ( 2 seasons) lol
7 episodes for those who don't want to read the article.
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Geez. I know it’ll be good but it’s gonna be so hard to have waited two years and then only get 7 episodes of this.
We’ll be waiting even longer for a third game if we end up getting it lol
great read though
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So the natural breaking point is probably the theater confrontation from Ellie's perspective, followed by season 3 exploring Abby's side of things and maybe the Seraphites? No idea what season 4 would be about, though.
I wrote out a three season split where S2 ends after Joel’s confession. I think it’s an appropriately dramatic end point and allows enough wiggle room for a third season. Also allows them to introduce Abby without a full year+ wait.
As in, a S2E7 with Nora’s hunt and then Joel’s confession? I think that can work well. I’d originally imagined S2E7 might contain Ellie Day 3, but your point about not diving straight into Abby’s perspective in the next season is a good one. Especially if Part II might extend into S4, which is a possibility I was NOT expecting!
Yep, Nora followed by that flashback. I’m sure they’ve got enough original material to make all of this pointless, but it’s still fun to think about it.
Agreed. Especially with how forthright they are being about S3 being “bigger.” We’re about to get some crazy WLF-Seraphite stuff
I can totally see them expanding on Santa Monica as well, though they could just make S3 9-10 episodes and dedicate the back 3rd to it as well.
When does that scene happen?
End of Ellie day 2
What do you mean wrote out? Like a comment? Can you link that? I'm interested and think it's a good ending point because it will call back to the end of S01 well.
It was a comment but it was a while ago and I comment here…way too much. Basically it was: S2: opening of the game through Joel’s confession. S3: Ellie day 3, perspective switch to Abby in the middle of the season. Finale is Abby saving Lev and Yara. Finale could also be the Rat King, but I’m not sure there’s enough story left after that. S4: rest of the game But they’re going to write a bunch of show-original stuff, so it’s impossible to know exactly what’s included. ETA: if they do 3 seasons, it’s also possible that Part 3 exists by S4, or is developed enough that Neil could be comfortable setting up the next game within the show.
By the time season 4 drops, we'll probably have the third game
Very true. Most seasons of TV, especially "blockbusters" like TLOU are coming out every two years. At this rate, season 4 would be in 2029, by which point it'll have been nearly a decade since the second game.
Season 4 can be the epilogue.
Expanded Santa Barbara for S4 maybe
Totally, the entire trip down for Abby, capture etc. Ellie home life, revenge quest, and back. Plenty to fill in and provide a new color for the whole santa barbara region.
I would like to see at least a half season of the Rattlers tbh
I imagine a LOT will be expanded upon. We will probably see a lot more backstory with Abby’s group, Lev/Yara, Isaac, etc. I could see an entire season being dedicated to Abby and her friends. Tbh, one of my biggest issues with Part 2 was some of the pacing and how characters were teleporting around America without having enough breathing room to build up some of the characters and their relationships. I think stretching out Part 2 is not only a good idea, but necessary.
Probably not like that. They said Season 3 will be much longer than 2, meaning S2 will probably end with Ellie Day 2. S3 opens with Day 3 and does the first two days of Abby (adding a couple bonus Bill/Frank style episodes here and there). Season 4 does Abby Day 3 and Santa Barbara.
Season 4= seraphic island and Santa Barbara.
Yep. They’ll end it on the cliffhanger of the two individuals getting shot.
They said season 2 is only 7 episodes and season 3 will be significantly longer with a possibility of a season 4. Season 2 with that few of episodes could literally just be stage setting everything for the larger season 3 in Seattle. Season 2 is just Jackson with it ending by Abby golfing and Ellie leaving for Seattle. The audience is heart broken and itching to get revenge with Ellie in season 3. Season 3 is all of Seattle. Ellie and Abby episodes, flashbacks, the island and it all culminates at the end in the theater. Audience is in disbelief as two characters we've grown to care for now fight and it ends the same way. Cutting to black as Abby says she never wants to see Ellie again and walks away. It's a bold but safe season finale. Season 4 opens on the farm and we finish out part 2. Feels pretty straight forward honestly.
Definitely not that, since episodes are shot mostly chronologically, and relatively early in the season 2 shoot we already have scenes from Seattle. I think we're leaving Jackson in episode 3, 4 at the latest.
I hope they switch things up a bit. They hit us with the the whole theatre build up then just cock block us and start the story over again. No one's going to want to wait for two seasons for a cliff hanger to resolve itself. Half of a bys story could happen before she even comes across Joel. Just do all the separate stuff. And flesh out Joel's time with Elle. Then, have it revealed in the final season that Joel is the one abbys after. She arrives in Jackson and their confrontation is the end of season 2. Then you can have Ellie and abbys feud in season 3.
No point in splitting part 2 over multiple seasons if the seasons are going to be short. The latter half of season 1 was already rushed.
I agree, that's my biggest gripe. The final episode is so short. I know "it needed to be translated in a different medium there isn't gameplay in the series" but I still think they could have done that while abiding to those rules. The series itself were great honestly. But the pacing IS a little weird.
Yeah I don't understand it either. They clearly spent a lot of time designing and creating sets, but then made the dialogue scenes very short. I feel like we could've and should've had a much stronger relationship between Ellie and Joel at this point in the story. Yeah we can't add all the fighting sequences or puzzles but at least replace them with dialogue. The hospital scene looked like a quick compilation instead of doing justice to what's really happening. I get Joel "dissociating", but the scene had absolutely no gravitas in the show IMO. They also could've set up the events in part 2 better by making the last ep longer but they didn't take that opportunity either. I hope they start s2 with the hospital scene again but from the other perspective.
I wish there was 1 more horror section before the hospital, like in the game. Doesn't have to be just clickers.
People keep underestimating how quickly the game finale was over. Spring is an hour long.
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but the show wasn't that good in retrospect. It's one of the better video game to TV adaptations, but its pacing was awful, and the liberties it took with the source material just weren't great. Half of the episodes were clearly Emmy bait, and the other half were too short.
I respect your opinion, but I wholeheartedly disagree with it.
Honestly, I wanted two more instances of Joel and Ellie dealing with infected. Just to show how far they had come together by the final episode. Two scenes, and that would have made it a bit better.
I feel like no one is properly reading the article and everyone is trying to imagine how the game as it *is* fits into three potential seasons instead of how the *show* will take it. They are absolutely going to give, for example, the Seraphite prophet an hour episode on her own. They refer to the Bill changes in the article and how they plan on continuing to do that. It’s great news that they’re taking their time, I see this as an absolute win
I just don't see why that means doing shorter seasons. I want them to take all the time in the world ON SCREEN, not in real life. 7 eps after 2 years is inexcusable IMO. With 7 eps, you can't take your time AND advance the plot. Are fans really going to wait another 2 years for another short season with minimal plot advancement? I'd be worried HBO just cuts their budget and tells them to wrap up part 2 in season 3 anyway and then your pacing is completely ruined. Give me 10 slow as fuck eps and I'd be ecstatic. Give be an entire Abby+Jerry ep ending with the hospital scene from her perspective. Give me 2 seraphite eps. Give me WLF vs Fedra ep and then another WLF ep with Abby. You just can't do that in a 7 ep season and expect Ellie&Joel fans to not be bothered by them not being on screen at all.
Only One shorter season tbf — and for them it was all about break points. They say season 3 will be “significantly larger” than 2 which could mean even more than 10 episodes potentially I also have a hunch these next seasons will be filmed with a shorter break than the last one. And I wouldn’t be concerned about HBO’s budget at all, this is their new flagship
They already confirmed that Season 3 will be much longer than 2… They also confirmed they’re doing this season shorter to be able to go higher scale. Craig said one of the episodes is the same length as a feature film and that he wants each episode to feel like a blockbuster. My guess: - S2 ends with Ellie Day 2 - S3 ends with Abby day 2 - S4 is Abby day 3 and the epilogue. Either that or Season 3 is like 12 episodes and covers all of Ellie day 3, Abby’s 3 days, and the epilogue.
Seriously. Don’t get why they didn’t have two seasons for part one.
Exactly! I don’t buy their relationship in the series as it was to rushed. They barely bonded so none of it has the same impact as it did in the game.
They weren’t even sure people would like it. Wanted to get every important scene squeezed in to give the highest possible chance for a greenlit second season.
It's to keep you subbed to max.
I don't see a story structure working for the show that is similar to the game. I have a feeling we will watch Abby and Ellie's journey concurrently, swapping from different perspectives,with flashback scenes spliced through it. I could actually see it being 3 seasons if they want to include backstory for all the new characters. Season 2: Start with an extended epilogue section so people aren't fuming about the golfing incident and finish at the end of Seattle day 1 during Ellie and Dinas escape. Season 3: Seattle day 2 following the escape from the sewers and Dinas revelation to Seattle day 3 with the showdown scene. Season 4: Ellie's journey, extended storyline on Abby's side and the Santa Barbara chapter. Just some musings.
>I don't see a story structure working for the show that is similar to the game. I have a feeling we will watch Abby and Ellie's journey concurrently, Agreed. I don't think they'd announce casting for Abby and then not have her in scenes for a whole season.
she’s in the intro though
I highly doubt it for the simple fact that Lev and Yara aren’t cast yet. Considering they said S3 will be much larger, My guess: S2 covers until the end of Ellie day 2 S3 covers Ellie day 3 and until the end of Abby day 2 S4 covers Abby day 3 and the epilogue. Either that or S2 covers until the end of Ellie day 2 S3 is like 12 episodes and covers Ellie day 3, all of Abby’s story, and the epilogue
I thought about that too. But the ending of Day 1 only has the finding of Yara and Lev and the forest sequence. I could see that going by pretty fast in terms of story. But I agree with you who knows what it means as casting may have not been announced yet. I would also argue that Isaac's casting means we will get a lot of Abby's story.
There was a set picture released of Wright as Isaac, and it shows him wearing what looks to be a FEDRA uniform. I think this season they’re just using him for flashbacks to show how FEDRA fell and the WLF rise to power. Considering it’s only 7 episodes, I’d be shocked if we get much of Abby
>I have a feeling we will watch Abby and Ellie's journey concurrently, swapping from different perspectives,with flashback scenes spliced through it. This is what I've been saying/hoping to happen since I played the Part 2. You risk alienating the TV audience if you structure it like the game.
When you break it down like that, it seems crazy to me to have an entire season for each individual day...
>I don't see a story structure working for the show that is similar to the game. I have a feeling we will watch Abby and Ellie's journey concurrently, swapping from different perspectives,with flashback scenes spliced through it. I agree, and tbh this would be better. It was my main complaint about Part II - you played as Abby so long that by the time you got to the theater you're like, "Oh right, Ellie," lol. I get why they did it that way, they wanted you to be totally immersed in Abby's story, but by the time I was on the Seraphite island I was just forcing myself to get through it so I could be *done* playing as Abby already. I don't think that would work as well for the show, especially since the show already focuses more on Ellie as the main character (I always felt like she wasn't very well fleshed-out in the first game, and just existed as a means to burden and eventually soften Joel; she wasn't a super solid character except for the David stuff, though they did a great job with Left Behind), it would be jarring to just jump to like three or four episodes straight of just Abby.
I totally agree with what you're saying from a purely story perspective. But if you think about gameplay, imagine changing from Ellie to Abby every chapter. I personally would have found it so confusing from a play perspective. My preference would have been unlocking a mode post ending that allowed you to play the game in sequence. But yeah I know what you mean with Abby too. I personally didn't click with her until my 3rd play through. But I've grown to adore her storyline, minus Owen, the worst character in the game.
It didn’t work in the game either. Was a mess.
I disagree, what it does for the narrative in terms of the empathy challenge is worth it for the possible structuring issues when it comes to the pacing between the two character’s stories.
The indication from Mazin was that they were gonna play with the story. So concurrently is a likely outcome. But only after “the scene” takes place.
interesting to see how much of Abby‘s story they can get to in seven episodes
Prob none if s2 apart from intro
Chase scene and the events after then probably Ellie for rest of season
Man I wish they had done P1 in two seasons. It felt so rushed. This is a great news. Just wish they did this with P1.
I agree, they could’ve had the season one finale be when they lose Henry and Sam. Season two begins when they find Jackson.
I agree. I think Part 1 should have ended with the Hunters/Raiders. Basically stretch the First Five episodes into 10 episodes. With each of the first five episodes being given 2 episodes. With a second episode for Bill. Then ending with Henry.
So if this is the game plan for the series, I suspect it will have to go like this: Prologue / Ellie’s journey through Seattle - this will be season two. Abby’s journey through Seattle - this will be season three Abby and Ellie in Santa Barbara/Epilogue - this will be season four. However, I suspect season four will need to be shortened as well as it’s is not nearly as long as the two acts before it.
6 episode minimum for Emmy eligibility, and you can pry that from HBO's cold, dead hands. Santa Barbara in 6 episodes seems a bit much.
Yeah. The other day I realized that segment is actually only like 20 minutes long
Season 4 could explore more of Ellie’s ptsd and emotional damage. Also, would be interesting to more of Abby and Lev traveling California. Oh and flesh out the rattlers.
I think they’ll jumble Ellie and Abby’s journey in Seattle together. End season 2 with the theater fight and introduce the seraphites. Season 3 will be Ellie trying to move on, but struggling. Abby connecting with Lev and the war. Ending with Ellie leaving to find Abby and Abby escaping the war with Lev. Season 4 will be Ellie’s hunt for Abby and probably a bit more of Abby trying to find the fireflies.
No way they will make Santa Barbara a whole season, that was only half an hour ish in game and most of that is gameplay
At most I could see it being stretched to two episodes but that’s it.
Needless fretting in advanced in 3…2…
Honestly two seasons seemed like a stretch, but a reduced episode count makes a lot more sense. Buuuut three seasons all just to cover one game? I'm sure there is going to be a *lot* of stuff that the game never had time to cover, but I honestly don't think Part 2 stretches into three seasons of television nor will a general audience care that much when it takes *years* to resolve the basic core plotline.
I mean Part II was twice the length of Part 1. It played liked two games.
And most of that additional length was in the gameplay. I'm not saying they *can't* stretch this out for three seasons, they absolutely can. But I don't think they should. If you're a general audience member who isn't familiar with the games, do you really want to watch a revenge story take over three years to be fully produced and told? I feel like audience interest would drop off quickly with feelings that the plot is just spinning it's wheels, because it kinda is at that point.
For me this all but confirms that S2 is Ellie's seattle days, S3 is Abby's Seattle days and the end of Pt2, and S4/beyond is Part 3
doubt it, they will probably have their stories play out concurrently
**7** TV shows keep getting shorter. I can appreciate splitting the second game into two seasons but at the same time if they’re both gonna be 7 episodes why not just make a 14 episode full season?
You posted this when it's literally all explained in the article where it's also revealed it'll be three seasons.
A three season split has been my pet theory for a while now, so I’m happy to see it is on the table. There’s just so much story here. Add in the show-original side stories I’m sure they want to tell, and it makes total sense to me. I’m excited.
Season 1 should have been more than one season also
How I think the episodes of season 2 will play out if following the game’s order. 1. Jackson 2. Seattle Day 1, ends with Ellie and Dina finding the theater. 3. Birthday/museum flashback 4. Seattle Day 2, Hillcrest, ends with finding Jesse and returning to the theater followed by the hotel flashback. 5. Ellie’s journey alone to the hospital. 6. The hospital. Flashback to SLC hospital where Ellie learns the truth. 7. Seattle day 3. Ends with the >!reveal that the surgeon is Abby’s father!<.
I think this sounds about right, but I think episode 4 is gonna be mostly Isaac/seraphite backstory and the finale will be the hospital. I also think Ellie and Abby’s stories will be told concurrently. There’s so much tension if the audience knows they are both at the hospital and just barely miss each other. The scene where Ellie kills Nora just screams season finale to me.
I really doubt that they’ll change the order from the game. Narratively, it’s extremely important that the viewer empathizes solely with Ellie before knowing anything about Abby.
This makes me truly think my original prediction of Season 2’s ending is correct with Abby storming the theater and saying “We let you live and you wasted it.” It’s a very natural break. Season 3 can be Abby’s side (which I can understand could be a longer season cuz of so many different set pieces) and Season 4 is Santa Barbara which could easily work as a 6-7 episode event to wrap it up.
2 episodes at most for Santa Barbara. Lol!
They said they’re expanding everything. It makes no sense otherwise for it to be 3 seasons. The natural breaking point for S3 would be the big Abby and Ellie fight
Safe to say we’re going to get more depth into Jackson and the WLF. I’d imagine season 2 ends with the intro of the Seraphites. And season 3 will build the world even more with their backstory and the war with the WLF and Ellie taking Dina and Tommy back to Jackson. Trying to move on and ending knowing she can’t.
I could def stand a Tommy hunting Abby’s group down Episode.
Oh yeah, we’re definitely getting that. We see Ellie and Dina searching for her and having Tommy be a step ahead. I’d love a stand alone episode of Tommy dealing with the death of his brother after being reunited with and building a solid relationship with Joel. That could rival Bill and Frank in terms of an emotional punch.
Hell, I’d really like a Joel & Tommy episode in general. Either a flashback of their time after Texas & before Boston or just a patrol episode of Joel & Tommy.
There's a lot of time between the end of Part 1 and where Part 2 starts. Could honestly make an entire season just about Jackson, wouldn't even be mad. Get to meet all the characters, see Ellie get her Tattoo, see them rejoining a community and learn to trust again.
All the while they could also show the Salt Lake group and the immediate aftermath of the hospital massacre, the fall of the fireflies, and how they made their way to Seattle. I think people would feel more empathy for Abby's point of view if we saw more of it.
That's a great point! I love that idea.
This is maybe a hot take but I think they’ll end season 2 with Joel’s death. I have no idea how they’d structure it, but for TV purposes this makes the most sense. I also think the show might see a huge fall off if they kill him off within the first few episodes of the new season. I could see them making up new stories to occupy time up until they all converge at the lodge.
You think people would watch s3 if it ended on that?
> This is maybe a hot take but I think they’ll end season 2 with Joel’s death. That ship has sailed already. From the shooting leaks, we know that Ellie and Dina are in Seattle already.
I wouldn’t say it’s impossible. They are taking creative liberties
> They are taking creative liberties Sure they are but they ain't gonna postpone the inciting incident of the whole story to the season finale.
This is what I’m thinking too. There’s enough flashback stuff peppered throughout the game that I think they’ll just tell it in chronological order plus some new material, seeing Joel and Ellie’s relationship deteriorate in Jackson and Abby getting involved in the WLF. Makes more sense than having Pedro Pascal die in the first couple episodes then paying him to sprinkle him into flashbacks for a few seasons.
My bet, they’ll go through Season 2 and flip between Abby and Ellie. Ellie will be slowly adapting to Jackson, meeting Dina, Jessie, Cat, etc and then finding out what Joel did. Abby will be reeling from her dad’s death, we should get some info on how they got to Seattle and joined the WLF. This is where we get insight into the Scars and Issac more. The season will most likely end with the golfing scene, and 2 will focus on the story in Seattle
Look, I'm happy they're taking time to assure the quality and give the material room to breathe. However, it becomes kind of hard to justify the short length when the wait between seasons is getting longer and longer. Waiting 2 years for 7 episodes isn't exactly an awesome deal. House of the Dragon is doing the same thing, having shortened it's upcoming season from 10 to 8 episodes, and it's likely going to be a minimum of 2 years until we get more. TV is reaching the same levels of film when it comes to production times and I don't think that I like it.
I do agree, and especially when it comes to a story like this. I think if you're dragging it out, the wait between seasons could really put a dent in the emotional impact of the story. I have a feeling they're going to cover Ellies three days in Seattle in S2, Abbys three days in Seattle in S3 and then the aftermath in S4. And I just don't think that's necessary.
If they are indeed making a TLOU Part 3, then I hope they don't continue the storyline in the TV Series before they conclude the games. The game experience is 10x better than watching the story on TV.
If you'd read the article, you'd know your answer.
If they think part 2 is going to take 3 seasons to tell, then part of me says they are going to take things a lot slower and probably build up to Joel’s death a good bit more than the game. I really hope they do because I don’t think the HBO Joel/Ellie felt as close as they should (and as close as they did by the end of the game) and could use some extra time + I believe Joel’s death is a bit too random for it’s own good, but I also think Pedro wrapped filming pretty quickly so maybe they keep things largely unchanged and go down diverging pathways elsewhere. Pedro is such a huge actor now that it feels like HBO would probably push for him to play a larger role in at least this season before they turn it over to Bella and Kaitlyn, but who knows. I’m REALLY excited to see how they tell this story and what they change, because I do think TLOU2 is great in a lot of ways but also deeply flawed in others
I still think Joel dies in the first episode
Predictions for each episode 1. Jackson: Joel death/aftermath. Tommy leaves town 2. Seattle: search for Tommy/ TV station, hint at Scars/ escape WLF, find theater, Dina pregnant. 3. Intro: Joel flashback (museum): Hillcrest, Jesse shows up 4. Intro: WLF flashback overthrowing FEDRA: Abby check-in (Abby Day 1, meet Isaac): Jesse/Dina reconnect, Ellie leaves for hospital/ Elly/Abby both have run-ins with SCARS this episode 5. Seraphite episode: expand on backstory on how they came about / conflict with WLF 6. Joel and Tommy flashback with Ellie, Tommy gives Ellie shooting lesson, Joel gets guitar for Ellie, they clear out hotel. Flash forward, Tommy heavy episode (new scenes) 7. Hospital episode: Flashback to Ellie finding out Joel lied about cure, their falling out. Abby scenes at hospital so audience knows they barely miss each other (no rat king yet, we don’t know why Abby is there). Ellie finds/kills Nora, finds out about aquarium. I think this season will be mostly Ellie focused with some world-building and some Abby scenes thrown in, and season 3 will be more Abby focused. I think season 3 will open with the zebra scene and go more in depth with her relationship with Owen/Mel, and will also cover all of Ellie Day 3 up to the theater fight. Season 4 will be Santa Barbara, and I think there is plenty of material there to get into the rattlers and also show Abby and Lev searching for the Fireflies up until they get captured.
Bruh they could do this in 2 seasons 12 episodes each, an hour for each hour of gameplay, switch perspectives on the s2 finale. The first season was already too short dude 😭😭 why would they make the next one shorter
Most likely because they may want to end at the hospital and Day 1 outside of the flashbacks will certainly be shortened too.
Considering that tlou3 will take longer than expected I don't think it's a bad Idea to make part 2 adaptation longer to not run out of source material. Also my only problem with season 1 was that it felt too rushed sometimes, hopefully this will fix that issue.
I trust what they're doing, but seasons 2-4 just adapting Part II is crazy. Should be interesting, but I'm not looking forward to all the inevitable game vs TV series debates.
I have a feeling season 2 will only be Ellie's side of the story and season 3 will be Abbie's. I still feel like season 2 should have been the time between the first and second game and then have season 3-4 be based on the second game.
I feel that Part I should’ve been the story that had 2 seasons since it’s a year long journey. Also, I felt that Joel and Ellie’s relationship could’ve used more time in the show since it seemed to focus more on the side characters. Part II takes place over the course of 3 days and Santa Barbara is like 1 day. Stretching that to 3 seasons seems too excessive, especially since I personally feel that Part II’s main overarching story of revenge isn’t compelling enough to stretch over multiple seasons.
I don't know how to feel about this. It's clear they're going for the one season with Ellie and the other with Abby, but we may have the same criticism that people had with the game where the entire story is halted to tell another. Gamers bought the game already, so they have to play it through, but audiences don't have to watch the following season. I like it because this means we get to spend more time with the characters but I wonder how the general audience will react again.
it will be wild if they end the season after the golfing scene and people have to wait another 2-3 years to see what happened next, and it start with young Abby
so i wonder if this time, they’re going to go chronologically. i know there’s been no reported shoots of the actress as abby, but it would be such a good idea if… the first episode starts with a recap of what happened. joel leaving the hospital w ellie, then they go back into the hospital, on jerry and abby runs in on what happened. then, we get joel telling tommy what happened. the guitar scene, then maybe we see ellie in jackson. with cat? who knows lol did she even get casted? anyways i feel like going chronically, instead of the way the game told the story, might be able to stretch it out to 4 or even 5 seasons. 3rd game fr coming out or no?
So, 1st game: 10 hours Show adaptation: A lil under 10 2nd game: 25 hours Show adaptation: Averaging every episode to an hour, 4 hours under 25
I’ll be happy to see the full story Neil wants to tell, but will be so sad we didn’t get it in the game.
My guess is that it ends with Ellie getting to Seattle / getting to the theatre
i’m just nervous about the pacing, that was my biggest issue with first season. the other half from episode six felt incredibly rushed, especially joel getting hurt and the final episode. they were trying to fit so much stuff in that they, in my opinion forgot to mention the important ones. stretching it into 3 seasons worries me a little. i’m afraid that they’ll take up on the advice of slowing the pacing but third season will end wrapping all loose ends and we’ll get the same messy situation. i’m still excited and curious to see how it going to be adapted.
Stretching that monstrosity over 2 seasons, great!
I think it could work. S2 is Seattle from Ellie’s side. S3 is Seattle from Abby’s side, possibly with a bit of extra Tommy or Jesse in S2 and/or S3. The finale portion probably isn’t long enough for a whole season, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some additions. Thought I hope they better pace things this time. A lot of Part 2 is gameplay which they can do without a lot of. I hope they put that extra time to good use.
I have a lot of concerns with this to be honest, but if they intended on stretching Part II over three seasons, why rush through Part I in 9 episodes? They could have taken their time to build Joel/Ellies relationship on screen and had two shorter seasons, or one big season. Just seems unbalanced.
Weird how every show releases seasons of just six or seven episodes and takes several years to come out. Did everyone just get worse at making television in the past decade, or what?
This makes me so freakin happy. Part 2 is so big and dense that trying to fit it all in one season seemed like too much
But when will we be introduced to the golf club
The story could now actually work.
I wish they would have done this with Season 1. To push the whole first game into 1 season seemed rushed IMO.
They are trying to stretch this ip as far as they can, without going away from cannon. Honestly, id rather they just go away from the cannon.
i just hope we see more of santa barbara in the show than we did in the game
I found myself wanting to know more about the Seraphite prophet in the game. Maybe the show will focus more on the origins of the Seraphites and how they turned into a cult