Jason Ritter joins Last of Us
- Actor Jason Ritter has joined the main cast of The Last of Us Season 3. - Reports list him alongside established additions like Patrick Wilson for the upcoming season. - The casting signals HBO is broadening the ensemble as the show moves toward adapting more game material. (aceshowbiz.com)
Jason Ritter has joined HBO’s *The Last of Us* for Season 3 in a recurring role, adding another new face as the series expands its cast. (deadline.com) Deadline and Variety reported on March 16 that Ritter and Patrick Wilson were both cast for the third season, while Ariela Barer, Tati Gabrielle, and Spencer Lord were promoted to series regulars. (deadline.com) (variety.com) Trade reports identified Ritter’s character as Hanley, a soldier in the Washington Liberation Front, while Wilson is set to play Jerry Anderson, Abby’s father. (deadline.com) (thewrap.com) HBO renewed *The Last of Us* for a third season on April 9, 2025, before Season 2 premiered on April 13, 2025. Season 2 then ran for seven episodes and ended on May 25, 2025. (deadline.com) (usatoday.com) Those dates matter because Season 3 is being assembled after the show moved deeper into *The Last of Us Part II*, the 2020 Naughty Dog game that shifts focus toward Abby and the factions fighting in Seattle. (thewrap.com) (wikipedia.org) Recent casting points in the same direction. Variety reported this week that Li Jun Li joined Season 3 as Miriam, a Seraphite and the mother of Lev and Yara, adding another character tied to that Seattle storyline. (msn.com) Ritter has appeared in the series before, but not as a speaking character. Screen Rant reported that he showed up uncredited as a clicker in Season 1 during the Kansas City arc that featured his wife, Melanie Lynskey, as Kathleen. (screenrant.com) The creative team has also changed since the show’s first two seasons. Neil Druckmann said in July 2025 that he would step back from direct creative work on Season 3 to focus on Naughty Dog projects, leaving Craig Mazin to continue the series without him in the writers’ room. (ign.com) For now, HBO has not announced a Season 3 premiere date. What it has done is keep adding actors tied to Abby’s side of the story, and Ritter is now part of that buildout. (deadline.com)
