How to Get Cast in The Last of Us Season 3

The Last of Us is the rare video game adaptation that became prestige television — a critical phenomenon, an awards magnet, and one of HBO’s defining series. Season 3 is on the way in 2027, filming in Vancouver, with the story shifting focus to Abby’s perspective and new cast members including Peter Sarsgaard, Patrick Wilson, Jason Ritter, and Li Jun Li joining the ensemble. Craig Mazin serves as sole showrunner for the new season.

A new season means new characters, new communities, new infected encounters — and new opportunities for actors. Here’s how the casting works and how to get yourself considered.

What Is The Last of Us Season 3?

Based on Naughty Dog’s landmark video games and created for television by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us follows survivors in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by the infected. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey led the first two seasons as Joel and Ellie; Season 2 introduced Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, and Season 3 pivots to Abby’s storyline — a structural shift the games famously made, and one that opens the door to a largely new ensemble of characters around her.

The new season’s confirmed additions — Peter Sarsgaard, Patrick Wilson, Jason Ritter, Li Jun Li — signal the scale of the new cast being built. A post-apocalyptic epic needs survivors, soldiers, community members, raiders, and the infected themselves, across months of location filming in British Columbia. For actors, that’s one of the richest casting landscapes in television.

Meet the Casting Director: Victoria Thomas

The casting director for The Last of Us is Victoria Thomas, credited with series casting — including an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, shared with location casting directors Corinne Clark and Jennifer Page, who handle the Vancouver operation. That structure tells you exactly how the show casts: Thomas leads the principal casting, and Clark and Page — veteran Canadian casting directors — run the deep local casting in British Columbia, where the show films.

Thomas is one of the most accomplished casting directors working. She cast Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie — pairing a beloved star with a then-little-known young actor in the two most scrutinized casting decisions in recent television, and getting both exactly right. Her track record spans prestige film and television, and she has a particular gift for finding young performers who can carry enormous emotional weight.

Clark and Page are the reason the show’s world feels so populated and real. Vancouver location casting on a production this size means hundreds of local hires: day players, stunt performers, background actors, and specialty roles, all cast out of BC. If you’re a Canadian actor — especially BC-based — Clark and Page’s office is the most important casting relationship for this show.

What Kinds of Roles Get Cast

Season 3’s Abby-focused story creates specific demand:

• New series regulars and recurring characters — Abby’s circle, the WLF, Seraphites, Jackson community members. The announced names (Sarsgaard, Wilson, Ritter, Li) were offers, but an ensemble this large always includes recurring roles cast through the normal process.
• Co-star and guest roles — soldiers, scouts, community leaders, doctors, raiders, parents, kids. Single-episode and multi-episode speaking parts, cast through agents and through the Vancouver office.
• Young performers — the show consistently casts young actors in pivotal roles. Ellie, Sam, and the young characters across both seasons were career-making parts. Season 3 will need more.
• Stunt performers and infected — the infected are played by real performers: stunt professionals, dancers, contortionists, and movement specialists who can create the show’s horrifying physicality practically. This is a genuine specialty lane — the clickers and stalkers you remember are actors in prosthetics, not CGI.
• Background actors — settlements, patrols, crowds, refugees. Months of Vancouver location shooting means steady background work through BC extras agencies.

How to Get Cast in The Last of Us Season 3: Step by Step

Step 1: Build a complete, honest profile

Post-apocalyptic casting rewards authenticity over polish. Your profile should show a real person — current headshots, minimal retouching, a reel under two minutes. List physical skills prominently: the show hires people who can run, climb, ride, fight, and endure. Get set up at Project Casting and keep everything current.

Step 2: Headshots that survive the apocalypse

Think about who lives in this world: weathered, capable, tired, resilient. Your headshot doesn’t need to be glamorous — it needs to be believable as someone who has survived twenty years of collapse. Natural light, no heavy retouching, and for background or infected work, full-body shots matter. The Vancouver office casts hundreds of local background performers; they need to see your build and presence.

Step 3: Work both casting offices

Principal roles go through agents to Victoria Thomas’s office. But the Vancouver engine — Corinne Clark and Jennifer Page — is where the volume is: local co-stars, stunt, background, and specialty casting. If you’re BC-based or can work as a Canadian local hire, register with Vancouver casting agencies and make sure the local office can find you. If you’re a US actor with an agent, make sure The Last of Us Season 3 is a named target on your submissions list.

Step 4: The stunt and creature-performer lane

This deserves its own step because it’s the show’s most distinctive opportunity. The infected are performed practically by skilled movement artists. If you’re a stunt performer, dancer, contortionist, or physical theatre artist, cut a reel that shows your movement range — under 90 seconds, no filler. Register with Vancouver stunt coordinators and casting databases. Productions remember infected performers who deliver; the prosthetics process is long and intimate, and reliability matters enormously.

Step 5: Background casting in Vancouver

BC extras agencies will post The Last of Us background breakdowns throughout the shoot: settlement residents, patrol members, WLF soldiers, Seraphite villagers. Register with the reputable Vancouver extras companies, keep your sizes current, and respond fast. Background on this show is a genuine credit — the production values are film-level, and the ADs build lists of reliable people they bring back episode after episode.

Step 6: Audition with gravity, not genre

If you tape for a speaking role, understand the show’s register: it’s a drama that happens to have monsters, not a horror show with dramatic scenes. The characters are grieving, exhausted people making impossible choices. Play the human stakes, not the apocalypse. Thomas cast this show by finding actors with profound emotional availability — show her yours, quietly and specifically.

Realistic Tips for This Casting Team

• Physical capability is a real asset. List horseback riding, weapons training (legitimate), climbing, swimming, martial arts, and endurance sports. The breakdowns ask for this constantly.
• Young actors: this show changes lives. The young cast members of The Last of Us have had career-defining experiences. If you’re a young performer with training and emotional range, this is a show to target seriously — through proper youth representation.
• Canadian actors have a structural advantage. The Vancouver shoot means a huge percentage of the cast is hired locally. If you’re BC-based, you’re not an outsider hoping for a break — you’re the hiring pool.
• Infected performers: embrace the prosthetics. The creature roles require hours in makeup and total physical commitment. If that excites rather than daunts you, you’re exactly who they need.
• Don’t play “tough.” The show’s hardest characters are vulnerable underneath. Auditions that mistake hardness for strength miss what Thomas actually casts.
• Never pay to audition. Real casting for The Last of Us — through Thomas’s office, Clark and Page’s Vancouver operation, agencies, or extras companies — never charges actors. Fee-for-audition is always a scam.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the casting director for The Last of Us?

Victoria Thomas is the series casting director for HBO’s The Last of Us, Emmy-nominated for her work on the show. Corinne Clark and Jennifer Page handle location casting in Vancouver, where the series films.

When does The Last of Us Season 3 come out?

Season 3 is expected in 2027 on HBO and Max. Filming takes place in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Who is joining the cast for Season 3?

New cast members announced for Season 3 include Peter Sarsgaard, Patrick Wilson, Jason Ritter, and Li Jun Li, as the story shifts focus to Abby’s perspective. Craig Mazin serves as sole showrunner.

How do I audition for The Last of Us Season 3?

Principal and recurring roles are cast through agent submissions. Co-star roles, stunt and creature-performer positions, and background work run through the Vancouver casting operation — build a complete profile, register with Vancouver casting and extras agencies, and submit to breakdowns you genuinely fit.

Where is The Last of Us filmed?

The series films in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A large share of supporting, stunt, background, and specialty roles are cast locally through the Vancouver casting office.

Can I play one of the infected?

Yes — the infected are portrayed by real stunt performers, dancers, and movement specialists in prosthetics, not CGI. If you have legitimate movement or stunt training, cut a short physical reel and register with Vancouver stunt casting channels.

The Bottom Line

The Last of Us Season 3 is building a new ensemble around Abby’s story, filming in Vancouver, cast by a team with a proven record of career-making discoveries. The leads are announced, but the world around them — soldiers, survivors, communities, and the infected — is being cast now.

Get your materials ready, get registered in the right markets, and lead with what’s real. That’s what this show casts.

Create your free Project Casting profile and start submitting today.