‘The Last Of Us’ Season 2 Wolves And The Seraphites, Explained

Spoilers ahead for “The Last of Us” Part II (the video game), and likely for “The Last of Us” Season 2 (the show) as well.

“The Last of Us” may take place in a post-apocalyptic reality where the U.S. government has fallen and fungus-infested zombies roam the country, but its version of America is still a heavily militarized one.

In Season 1, we were introduced to the Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA), a fictional FEMA-esque branch of the U.S. Army that turns brutally authoritarian in the face of societal collapse, along with an armed resistance movement called the Fireflies. Now, in “The Last of Us” Season 2, our protagonist Ellie (Bella Ramsey) comes face to face with a new military force: the Washington Liberation Front (W.L.F.), or, as their enemies call them, the Wolves.

So what’s the deal with the Washington Liberation Front? To answer that question, we’ll have to dive into some details from the HBO show’s source material — the 2020 video game “The Last of Us Part II” — so if you prefer to experience “The Last of Us” Season 2 as it was intended, consider yourself warned.

But if you’re down for some light spoilers (or just haven’t played the game for a while and want a refresher), read on for our breakdown of the history of the W.L.F. and the conflict that defines much of the story that lies ahead.

In “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 3, we learn that the group of soldiers who murdered Joel (Pedro Pascal) in Episode 2 were part of the Washington Liberation Front, one of several militias dotting the Pacific Coast. Ellie quickly sets off for Seattle, where the group is based, on a quest for revenge, but she has no real sense of how large or dangerous the W.L.F. really is. At the end of the episode, the audience gets that answer. Episode 3’s final scene reveals an army of Wolves numbering in the hundreds, complete with military vehicles and lots of guns.

But what is the W.L.F., and where did they come from? To answer that, we’ll have to jump back in time to some important backstory that takes place before the events of “The Last of Us.”

After the zombie/infected outbreak, FEDRA takes over several major cities and establishes quarantine zones. In Seattle, resistance against this tyrannical new government quickly takes the form of the Washington Liberation Front. FEDRA fights back against the W.L.F. with overwhelming force, but that only bolsters the…