Young Mazino stars in Season 2 as Jesse.
HBO’s The Last of Us is coming back for a second season, and the role of Jesse will be played by Beef star Young Mazino. He recently discussed how he landed the part and his experience playing the games. Speaking to Variety, Mazino said he played The Last of Us: Part II before he stepped into a meeting with showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann to help prepare.
“I played the video game before the meeting and we had a long talk about their process and what they were looking for. I guess Beef kind of pushed me the rest of the way,” he said.
Young Mazino had never played #TheLastofUs until recently, before he met with series creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann to discuss joining the show. He had previously watched the cutscenes on YouTube edited together like a movie. https://t.co/Ch9mWMwWkV pic.twitter.com/ScRQhtaafj
The Last of Us Season 2 adapts at least some of the events of The Last of Us: Part II, which is why Mazino played that game to get up to speed. Before that, though, he watched cutscenes from the first game stitched together to get an idea for the story leading up to The Last of Us: Part II.
“I only played Xbox and PC so I didn’t play the first game,” he said. “However, I watched the cutscenes; they stitched it all together on YouTube. So it’s a whole movie. I watched that whole thing like a movie. Years later, I played the second game before the meeting. It’s phenomenal.”
Mazino joins a cast for Season 2 that already includes Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey reprising their characters Joel and Ellie, respectively, as well as Kaitlyn Dever as Abby and Isabela Merced as Dina.
Pascal recently broke his arm, but the actor is having surgery soon and says he will be ready to go when filming on Season 2 begins in February. The second season is currently scheduled to premiere in 2025.
As for the game series, The Last of Us: Part II Remastered releases for PS5 on January 19, and preorders are available now. Naughty Dog was developing a Last of Us online game, but this game has been canceled. Naughty Dog is now shifting its focus back to single-player games, and many are expecting the studio to make The Last of Us: Part III next.