It’s the end of the world.
HBO’s grim hit “The Last of Us” starring Pedro Pascal returns for Season 2 on Sunday, April 13 (9 p.m.).
Co-created by Craig Mazion and Neil Druckmann, and based on a video game of the same name, the show is set in a dystopian future where society has broken down, there are zombie-like creatures and gruff survivor Joel (Pascal) has formed a pseudo father/daughter relationship with teen girl Ellie (Bella Ramsey).
Pascal, 50, noted that he “was grateful” to be back on set during a recent press conference at the London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills.
“And yet at the same time it’s – this experience, more than any other I’ve had is – hard for me to separate what the characters are going through, and how it makes me feel. In a way that isn’t very healthy,” the “Game of Thrones” actor added. “And so, I kind of feel their pain…so I suppose I was in an unhealthy mindset.”
Season 2 picks up five years after the events of Season 1. Ellie, who was 14 during the Emmy-winning first season, is now 19, and her relationship with Joel is now strained. Joel is saddened by this, and worn down.
The show returning is “a little bit scary,” said Ramsey, 21, who previously revealed that she got diagnosed with autism while filming the show.
“When Season 1 came out obviously it was this huge thing,” she continued. “I think I’m just so aware of Season 2 coming out and everybody looking at it, and looking at me. It’s quite scary, but it’s exciting and I hope that people will watch it.”
About Ellie and Joel’s strained relationship, Pascal joked that Ramsey, “had to not like me, which came easy.”
“I think in any teenager’s life that’s always the formative years, so that definitely informed it,” Ramsey explained. “But there’s obviously deeper reasons for their little rift. I didn’t enjoy the feeling of being estranged from Pedro within a scene. It wasn’t a nice feeling.”
Pascal said about Joel and Ellie, “There’s an incredibly painful distance between the two of them, [but] we still got to be on set and f–k around and laugh and stuff like that. And that was incredibly comforting. That was like coming home.”
“The Mandalorian” star shot to a higher level of fame thanks to “The Last of Us.’
“This job definitely created a new chapter in my life in a profound way, I think because of the personal experience I had making the show,” he acknowledged at the event. “And then, of course, the way the show was received….in a way that is in measure with how deeply important it means to all of us is a rare thing.”
As he’s been more in the spotlight, he noted: “When the work is this, it kind of shields you…it’s just an anchor.”