HBO’s “The Last of Us” is filling out its supporting cast for Season 2 with six actors, Variety has learned exclusively. They are Joe Pantoliano (“Bad Boys for Life,” “The Matrix”), Alanna Ubach (“Euphoria”), Ben Ahlers (“The Gilded Age”), Hettienne Park (“Hannibal”), Robert John Burke (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”) and Noah Lamanna (“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”).
Pantoliano is playing Eugene, a small character from video game “The Last of Us Part II” that will be expanded on the show, similar to the Emmy-winning Bill and Frank stand-alone episode from Season 1. In the game, Ellie (played by Bella Ramsey on the show) and her friend Dina (Isabel Merced on the show), talk about Eugene when they stumble upon the lab he used to grow cannabis. In a recent interview for a Variety feature about the process of adapting “Part II” for the series, creators and executive producers Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann said that while Eugene is never seen in the game beyond a photograph, they saw the show as an opportunity to explore more about the character.
“The game has so many little flourishes,” Mazin said. “You find notes that have their own little story to them.”
“I get excited when I see these opportunities,” added Druckmann, who is also the creative director of “Part II.” “I’m like, ‘Oh, I don’t know Eugene that well!’ The story we told [in the game] was somewhat superficial.”
Burke and Lamanna are also playing characters that originated in the game. Burke — who’s appeared in a multitude of projects since the 1980s, including “Oz,” “Rescue Me,” and “Person of Interest” — is playing Seth, who runs a bar in the Jackson, Wyoming community where Ellie and her surrogate father Joel (Pedro Pascal) live following the events of Season 1.
Lamanna, who recently joined the cast of Netflix’s “Ginny & Georgia,” is playing Kat, who dated Ellie before the events of “Part II.”
The three other actors are playing roles that are original to the series. Ubach — who has a worked extensively as a voice actor as well as in live-action projects like “Mythic Quest,” “Bombshell” and “The Flight Attendant” — is playing a character named Hanrahan.
Ahlers, who first appeared on the 2019 NBC series “The Village,” is playing Burton.
And Park, who costarred in the recent Sundance hit “Sorry, Baby” and the 2024 Max series “The Girls on the Bus,” is playing Elise Park.
Along with Pascal, Ramsey and Merced, Season 2 of “The Last of Us” stars Kaitlyn Dever, Young Mazino, Danny Ramirez, Ariela Barer, Tati Gabrielle, Spencer Lord, Catherine O’Hara and Jeffrey Wright (who is reprising the role he played in “Part II”).
Mazin and Druckmann also serve as co-showrunners, and both direct episodes of Season 2 along with Mark Mylod (“Succession”), Kate Herron (“Loki”), Stephen Williams (“Watchmen”), Nina Lopez-Corrado (“Perry Mason”) and Peter Hoar (“It’s a Sin”).
Other executive producers include Carolyn Strauss and Evan Wells, president of Naughty Dog, PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan, and Jacqueline Lesko and Cecil O’Connor. The series is a co-production between HBO and Sony Pictures Television. PlayStation Productions, Word Games, The Mighty Mint, and Naughty Dog produce.
Pantoliano is represented by Independent Artist Group, and Surpin, Mayersohn, and Coghill. Ubach is represented by Margrit Polak Management, Gersh, and imPRint. Ahlers is represented by Gersh, Artists First, and Felker Toczek Suddleson McGinnis Ryan LLP. Burke is represented by Amplified & Innovative Artists. Park is represented by Artists & Representatives and Framework Entertainment. Lamanna is represented by M2 Talent Agency Inc.