John Goodman, Laura Bailey, and Ian Alexander to Star in HBO's The Last of Us Season 3

Emmy-winning actor John Goodman, prolific voice talent Laura Bailey, and returning star Ian Alexander have been cast in the third (and possibly final) season of HBO’s The Last of Us series.

As revealed on September 26 — the day the Cordyceps infection ravaged humanity in The Last of Us universe — the show’s third season will feature three big talents, two of whom are making their return to Naughty Dog’s flagship zombie franchise.

Perhaps most surprisingly, John Goodman has been slated to play a character named Joey, a figure who wasn’t in the original games. Joey is joined by another character named Paco, who will be played by Ian Alexander; the two are described as a “friendly duo who dub themselves ‘Heroes of the Highway.’” Alexander notably played Lev in The Last of Us Part 2, a young boy who Abby helps rescue from the Seraphite cult.

The Seraphites will play a part in season 3, as Laura Bailey is set to play Elizabeth, one of the cult’s leaders. Bailey is also a returning actor to the franchise, having famously voiced Abby in The Last of Us Part 2 alongside Alexander.

With the Seraphites being included in the third season and Alexander playing a new character, it stands to reason that another person will be playing Lev, most likely because Alexander has aged out of the role.

These two aren’t the only actors from the original games who have been included in HBO’s screen adaptation; Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker also played characters in The Last of Us Season 1, with Johnson playing Ellie’s mother in a harrowing birth scene and Baker playing James, a member of Baker’s villainous group.

Johnson and Baker famously provided the voice and motion performances for Ellie and Joel in both of The Last of Us Games, so it’s not surprising that Bailey and Alexander are also showing up in some way.

HBO’s The Last of Us series is expected to end with this forthcoming season, which will air in 2027. In a September interview with Deadline, the Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, Casey Bloys, said he “thinks [showrunner] Craig [Mazin] has planned it as the final season.”

Bloys has been hinting at this since January, saying in another Deadline interview that “it certainly seems that way, but on decisions like that, we will defer to the showrunners. So you can ask them.”

With the games’ creator, Niel Druckmann, having left the project after Season 2, the future of HBO’s show is looking uncertain — but with talent like Alexander, Bailey, and Goodman on board, there’s bound to be some fantastic performances in store. We just hope they don’t tear our hearts apart like Nick Offerman did in the first season.

Image Credits: Henry NICHOLLS / AFP via Getty Images