HBO's The Last of Us Recasts Key Character, We're Gutted

At least one actor won’t be returning for the third season of HBO’s The Last of Us– and no, before you ask, this isn’t some tongue-in-cheek joke about Pedro Pascal.

The second season of HBO and Sony Pictures Television’s The Last of Us wasn’t exactly a huge hit with the fans.

Critics were noticeably far more positive about it, based on the 92% score the second season has on Rotten Tomatoes, but the fanbase took issue with several elements of the adaptation.

It’s a little difficult to discern between the genuine critiques and the bad-faith takes online, as some people simply took the less-than-favourable fan response to the second season as an opportunity to merely dogpile on lead actor Bella Ramsey, but it would seem that most fans simply took issue with the quality of Season 2’s writing.

It also didn’t help that the showrunners opted to split the events of The Last of Us Part II into two seasons. Although the decision does somewhat make sense, considering the game’s length, it did have a noticeable effect on Season 2’s pacing.

Once the TV series returns for its third season, the story will shift toward focusing on Abby’s story, which is a bit of a shame considering that the actor who portrays one of her closest allies won’t be returning for the next season.

Official promo image of Danny Ramirez as Manny from the second season of HBO's The Last of Us, Sony Pictures Television

Scheduling Conflicts Are Behind The Change

As revealed in an article by Variety, Danny Ramirez, who played Manny in the second season of The Last of Us, has had to drop out of the third season due to scheduling conflicts. Ramirez is best known for his role as Joaquin Torres in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as his role as Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia in Top Gun: Maverick.

For those of you who haven’t played The Last of Us Part II, while Manny’s role in the second season of the TV series was notably small, he becomes far more important during the Abby-centric chapters in the game, so it’s a shame that Ramirez won’t be able to reprise his role for the juiciest part of the character’s story.

No word on who exactly will be replacing Ramirez or what scheduling conflict has forced him to drop out, but I think it’s pretty fair to wager that said scheduling issue is probably MCU-related.

The third season of The Last of Us is reportedly set to continue filming at some point in 2026, so we’ll likely hear who is set to replace the actor in the coming months.