The Last of Us Season 3 Casts John Goodman, Ian Alexander, and Laura Bailey

HBO's The Last of Us is adding three notable names to its ensemble for season three. According to a report from Deadline published on September 26, John Goodman, Ian Alexander, and Laura Bailey have all been cast in the upcoming season of the post-apocalyptic drama, and the casting carries a fun wrinkle for anyone who has played the games: two of the new additions are already veterans of the franchise.

Goodman, the veteran actor known for Roseanne and The Big Lebowski, will play a character named Joey. Ian Alexander, known for The OA and Star Trek: Discovery, will play Paco. Together, Joey and Paco are a friendly duo who call themselves the "Heroes of the Highway," suggesting season three will introduce a traveling pair with their own offbeat mythology. Bailey, one of the most recognizable voice actors in the industry, will play Elizabeth, a leader of the Seraphites — the religious clan fighting for control of Seattle against the Washington Liberation Front.

Two familiar faces, two brand-new roles

Game fans will immediately recognize Alexander and Bailey. Alexander played Lev in The Last of Us Part II, while Bailey played Abby in that same game. Neither is reprising those characters on the show: Kyriana Kratter plays Lev in the television version, and Abby is portrayed by Kaitlyn Dever. Instead, Alexander and Bailey step into entirely new parts, a move the series has made before with actors like Merle Dandridge and Jeffrey Wright, who played Marlene and Isaac in the games and returned for the show, and Ashley Johnson, who voiced Ellie in the games and appeared as Ellie's mother in season one.

Bailey's turn as Elizabeth is particularly notable because it flips her relationship to the story. Where she voiced Abby, the character whose arc drives the second game, she now plays a leader of the Seraphites, the antagonistic faction that barely appeared in season two but is expected to play a much larger role in season three.

What season three is shaping up to be

The new season arrives at a point of transition for the series. Neil Druckmann, the Naughty Dog creative lead who co-created the games and the show, has stepped back from the series for season three in order to focus on the new PlayStation game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Season two ended with the death of Joel, Pedro Pascal's character, which reshaped the show's center of gravity; season three is expected to shift focus toward Abby's storyline, with Dever carrying more of the narrative weight.

The casting news landed during The Last of Us Day celebrations. Naughty Dog teased a partnership announcement, a collaboration, digital surprises, and more, along with a charity stream on Twitch scheduled for Monday, September 28, pausing the festivities until that date.

The Last of Us remains one of HBO's flagship dramas, and these three additions signal that the third season is widening the world rather than narrowing it. Between the Highway duo's mystery and the Seraphites' expanded presence, there is plenty of new ground for the show to cover as it moves past the Joel and Ellie dynamic that defined its first two seasons.