Danny Ramirez will not be returning for “The Last of Us” Season 3.
After co-starring in Season 2 opposite Katilyn Dever as a Firefly in Season 2, the actor has had to drop out of the project due to scheduling conflicts, TheWrap has learned.
He appeared in four episodes as Manny Alvarez. As TheWrap previously reported, Ramirez (“Top Gun: Maverick”) was cast for Season 2 in November 2024. His character Manny is a loyal soldier whose sunny outlook belies the pain of old wounds and a fear that he will fail his friends when they need him most. He is instrumental in Abby’s (Dever) journey of revenge against Joel (Pedro Pascal) after Joel’s Firefly massacre in Season 1. Abby and Manny were introduced in Season 2 but viewed as secondary characters; Abby’s journey in Seattle will be explored at length from her own perspective in Season 3.
The anticipated perspective split is similar to what happened in the video game on which the series is based. After hours playing as Ellie as she mercilessly hunted down Abby’s friends who witnessed Joel’s death, players were forced to jump back days and play as Abby, seeing her friendships with each person fated to die and her work with Isaac and the rest of the WLF group.
“We understand that both Ellie and Abby are moving forward in trouble,” showrunner Craig Mazin said in a press conference discussing the Season 2 finale. “They are in moral trouble because their certainty is beginning to fail them, and we can see it here with Ellie for sure, because she’s faced with the consequences of the things she’s done and people that didn’t deserve to die, dying. She’s starting to feel maybe a swing of the pendulum, and we don’t know where these two are going to end, but what I would hope the audience feels is that they are not done. They’re not done growing, or they are not done falling. We’ll have to wait and see which it is.”
“The Last of Us” takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
Season 2 adapted the events of video game “The Last of Us: Part II,” which takes place five years after Joel and Ellie’s dangerous journey across the post-pandemic United States, where the pair has settled down in Jackson, Wyoming.
Coming up, Ramirez is one of the many Marvel Cinematic Universe alums (“The Falcon and The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: Brave New World”) slated for “Avengers: Doomsday,” hitting theaters Dec. 18, 2026.
Ramirez is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content, Viewpoint and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller, Gellman, Meigs & Fox, L.L.P.
Ramirez’s recasting was first reported by Nexus Point News.
