The Last Of Us to bring Eugene to life via Joe Pantoliano

Exploring more of Eugene in the HBO series was the idea of co-showrunner Craig Mazin, but one his collaborator—and the game’s creator—Neil Druckmann embraced. “I get excited when I see these opportunities,” Druckmann says in a new interview with Variety. “I’m like, ‘Oh, I don’t know Eugene that well!’ The story we told [in the game] was somewhat superficial. The way this character comes in really gets to the heart of Joel and Ellie and their relationship.”

In addition to Joe Pantoliano, several more new members of The Last Of Us season two have been announced. According to Variety, Robert John Burke (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) will play Seth, who runs a bar in Jackson. Noah Lamanna (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) is set to play Ellie’s ex Kat. Alanna Ubach (Euphoria), Ben Ahlers (The Gilded Age), and Hettienne Park (Hannibal) have all been cast in new roles that don’t originate from the games.

Mazin describes Druckmann as “unique” for understanding “the value of invention, reinterpretation, addition, change” in adapting the games for television. (While the first season covered the events of the first game, Part II will be split into at least two, perhaps three seasons, the creators say.) “I love the changes that we’ve made,” Druckmann says. “It’s a different version of that story, but its DNA is in there. Maybe more than excited, I’m really curious what their reaction will be.”`