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The Last of Us will take us beyond Joel and Ellie's original journey, as HBO has announced the show has secured a second season renewal. It's no surprise to anybody, but it's a victory for both the network and the creative team behind the series.

The post-apocalyptic drama, starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey has been a massive hit for HBO since its very first minutes on air. The series scored 97 percent positive reviews among critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and its premiere episode earlier this month was HBO's second highest viewed series debut in a decade, with viewership climbing to 22 million viewers across all platforms. Last Sunday’s second episode jumped 22 percent in the overnight ratings compared to the premiere across HBO and HBO Max.

The first season is adapting The Last of Us which originally launched on PlayStation 3 in 2013. The second season, following that pattern, should see the series adapt The Last of Us: Part II. The video game original sold over 10 million copies worldwide, and is considered one of the greatest video games of all time. Part II was released to further critical acclaim and fanfare in 2020, and is one of the best-selling PlayStation 4 games of all time. It won more than 320 Game of the Year awards.

“I’m humbled, honored, and frankly overwhelmed that so many people have tuned in and connected with our retelling of Joel and Ellie’s journey. The collaboration with Craig Mazin, our incredible cast & crew, and HBO exceeded my already high expectations,” said executive producer Neil Druckmann.

“Now we have the absolute pleasure of being able to do it again with season two! On behalf of everyone at Naughty Dog & PlayStation, thank you!”“I’m so grateful to Neil Druckmann and HBO for our partnership, and I’m even more grateful to the millions of people who have joined us on this journey,” said executive producer Craig Mazin. “The audience has given us the chance to continue, and as a fan of the characters and world Neil and Naughty Dog created, I couldn’t be more ready to dive back in."

Season one stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Storm Reid as Riley, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, and Elaine Miles as Florence. Stars of the video game Ashley Johnson (Ellie) and Troy Baker (Joel) also appear in the series.