The Last of Us is expanding its Season 3 ensemble with John Goodman, Laura Bailey and Ian Alexander. The three actors join an already substantial group of returning and newly announced performers for the HBO drama, which is expected back next year and could be the show’s final season.
The additions are notable for two different reasons. Goodman is joining the adaptation as a new character, Joey, while Bailey and Alexander each have important connections to The Last of Us Part II. Bailey voiced Abby in the game, and Alexander played Lev. For the live-action series, however, both will portray different roles: Bailey is Elizabeth, a leader within the Seraphites religious sect, and Alexander is Paco.
The new casting also gives Season 3 a clearly defined small unit in Joey and Paco. The characters call themselves the “Heroes of the Highway,” with Goodman’s Joey and Alexander’s Paco comprising the duo. Beyond those role descriptions, their place in the season’s wider plot has not been detailed.
For the full set of newly reported character details, see this Season 3 casting update.
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What the new roles tell us
At this stage, the announced character names and affiliations are more useful as signposts than as plot answers. Joey and Paco’s self-selected “Heroes of the Highway” title suggests that the pair will be presented as a duo with a shared public identity. That does not establish whether they will be allies, adversaries or something more complicated; it simply marks them as characters who arrive together and have given themselves a memorable label.
Elizabeth’s description is more directly connected to the established world of the story. She is identified as one of the leaders of the Seraphites, a religious sect within the series’ post-apocalyptic setting. “Sect” here is an organizational term: it indicates a distinct religious group, while “leader” establishes Elizabeth as someone with authority inside it. The casting announcement does not specify her rank, relationships or the extent of her involvement, so viewers should be careful not to treat the role description as confirmation of any particular game storyline or scene.
That distinction matters because adaptations often shift, combine, expand or reframe material when moving between media. The available information confirms Bailey’s and Alexander’s Season 3 characters, but it does not promise a one-to-one recreation of their prior game roles. Their presence is exciting in part because it reconnects the television production with performers who helped define major game characters—not because it confirms that Abby or Lev will be played by their original voice actors onscreen.
Laura Bailey and Ian Alexander return in new capacities
Bailey’s casting is especially striking given her role as Abby in The Last of Us Part II. Abby is a major figure in the game, but Bailey will be playing Elizabeth in the HBO series. It is a different kind of participation: not reprising the character she voiced, but stepping back into the franchise as a new live-action character tied to the Seraphites.
Outside of the franchise, Bailey has contributed voice performances to The Legend of Vox Machina and played Mary Jane Watson in 2023’s Spider-Man 2. Those credits underline her extensive work in game and animation voice acting, while Elizabeth represents a separate on-camera role within the same broader fictional universe in which Bailey previously worked.
Alexander’s situation has a similar, though distinct, resonance. Alexander played Lev in The Last of Us Part II and will now play Paco, Joey’s partner in the “Heroes of the Highway.” Alexander also appeared as Buck Vu in The OA. The transition from Lev to Paco means audiences familiar with the game should expect a new performance rather than a literal transfer of a previous portrayal.
There is a practical upside to casting performers with firsthand familiarity with a franchise’s emotional and thematic terrain, even when they are assigned new characters. That familiarity can inform how they approach the setting without forcing the series to duplicate prior casting. Still, that is an interpretation of the casting’s creative potential, not a disclosed production rationale. No additional details about the characters’ arcs or the scale of their roles have been announced.
Goodman joins as Joey
Goodman takes on Joey, one half of the highway-traveling duo. The announcement provides no broader biographical information about Joey, no indication of how long he appears, and no confirmation of whether the character originates in the games or was created for the television series. What is certain is that Paco completes the pairing, giving Season 3 another named relationship amid its larger cast.
Goodman is also set to play President Compson in Digger, a Tom Cruise-starring film scheduled to open October 2. That project is separate from The Last of Us, but it places the actor’s new television role alongside another upcoming screen appearance.
The wider Season 3 cast
Season 3 is gathering a mix of familiar faces, promoted cast members and newly announced additions. Kaitlyn Dever, Bella Ramsey, Isabella Merced, Gabriel Luna and Jeffrey Wright are set to return. Ariela Barer, Tati Gabrielle and Spencer Lord have been promoted to series regular status.
In television, a series regular is generally a performer contracted as a continuing principal member of a show’s cast rather than as a guest performer. It is a meaningful credit designation, though it does not by itself disclose exact episode counts, character outcomes or story prominence. The promotions for Barer, Gabrielle and Lord therefore indicate a larger formal place in the Season 3 ensemble, while leaving the specific narrative shape under wraps.
Previously revealed newcomers include Clea DuVall, Patrick Wilson, Jason Ritter, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Michelle Mao and Kyriana Kratter. Combined with Goodman, Bailey and Alexander, that list signals an expansive cast for a season already framed as a potentially final chapter.
A transition in the show’s creative leadership
The HBO series is based on the Sony PlayStation game franchise and takes place after a widespread infection has transformed most of the population into zombielike creatures. It was co-created by Craig Mazin and game creator Neil Druckmann.
Season 3 will also arrive after a change behind the scenes. Druckmann had previously been announced as leaving the show ahead of the season. Mazin will be the sole showrunner, as well as a writer and executive producer, for Season 3.
Showrunner is a television term for the lead creative and managerial authority on a series. The job commonly encompasses guiding the writing, coordinating production priorities and maintaining the overall creative direction. Mazin being identified as the sole showrunner establishes who will lead that process for the upcoming season; it does not, on its own, reveal changes to the show’s style, narrative plans or adaptation approach.
The series is co-produced by HBO and Sony Pictures Television. Its executive producers include Mazin, Carolyn Strauss, Jacqueline Lesko, Cecil O’Connor, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan and Evan Wells, with PlayStation Productions, Word Games, Mighty Mint and Naughty Dog among the producing companies.
Why this casting stands out for fans of the games
For players, the standout point is not merely that Season 3 has added three recognizable actors. It is that Bailey and Alexander are returning to the franchise in roles that deliberately differ from the game characters most associated with them. That arrangement preserves a link to The Last of Us Part II while inviting audiences to meet Elizabeth and Paco on their own terms.
Goodman’s Joey, Alexander’s Paco and Bailey’s Elizabeth also represent three different routes into the season’s world: a named road duo with an uncertain agenda, and a leader connected to an established religious faction. Those are promising building blocks, but they are not substitutes for story information. For now, the safest reading is straightforward: Season 3’s roster is growing, the series is expected next year, and its new performers add both franchise history and fresh character possibilities to what may be its final run.
