SPOILERS AHEAD FOR SEASON TWO OF THE LAST OF US.
At the end of its second season finale, The Last of Us offered a tease of the explosive conflict that is brewing between two rival human adversaries. A potentially epic war that will play a large role in season three's narrative.
"What this war is and why it matters will be revealed," showrunner and Emmy winner Craig Mazin tells the Television Academy. Mazin also promised that, at the heart of this revelation, will be the antagonist — and leader of the Washington Liberation Front, (aka the W.L.F. or "The Wolves") — Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright).
"We will definitely see more of Isaac next season," Mazin promises. "We will certainly see more of his leadership style. And I think we will see — I mean, just like [with] all of our characters, whenever we start to hate them, something happens that makes us admire them and vice versa. "
According to Mazin, "fear is a big factor" for Isaac. "He's scared that they're going to lose [this war] so he's trying to achieve something," Mazin explains. "We will find out exactly what it is next season. All these questions will be answered."
Audiences glimpsed how important victory and having a legacy are to Isaac in the season finale, where he talked about his potential fate with one of his lieutenants. Their discussion revealed that, in the W.L.F.'s chain of command, there is only one person qualified to be Isaac's successor: Joel's ruthless killer, Abby (Kaitlyn Dever).
Issac tortures and interrogates a Seraphite / Photo by: HBO
Mazin and his fellow collaborators, executive producers Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross, established Isaac's preoccupation with legacy early on with his introduction in episode four, "Day One," where he tortures and interrogates a captive member of the brutal religious cult known as the Seraphites. The interrogation ends with the Seraphite dying without divulging the information Isaac desperately seeks.
"He is trying to get intel in that scene that is key to his and the W.L.F.'s survival, and he fails," Mazin says. "With this scene, I wanted to communicate that this wasn't his first rodeo when it comes to torturing people. This is a speech he has given before, and he is quite calm about [delivering] it, even though there is someone he has committed violence against chained in the corner. Fear weighs heavily on his mind. We'll find out all about this war and these people — and how it matters to them and how it might matter to viewers — next season. But, for this season, what was intriguing to me was planting the notion that [Isaac] is scared. We will see how that not only impacts him but everyone else in the next season."
The Last of Us is now streaming on HBO Max.
