'The Last of Us' Season 2, episode 1 introduces one of the game's most terrifying villains (2025)

If you survived The Last of Us Season 1 and the sheer terror of all the Clickers, Bloaters, and cannibals, we've got some grim news: You're not out of the woods in Season 2.

The second season of Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann's HBO adaptation amps up the threat level for Ellie (Bella Ramsey), Joel (Pedro Pascal), and the residents of Jackson, Wyoming, from the very first episode, with the arrival of one of the scariest types of Infected in The Last of Us Part II game.

Alas, the Stalkers have arrived.

What's the new type of Infected in The Last of Us Season 2?

In Season 2, episode 1, we get our first glimpse of a new type of Infected, one that crawls extremely fast in the most deeply unwelcome way.

When Ellie and Dina (Isabela Merced) investigate Clickers in the Greenplace Market, and Ellie falls through the floor into the supermarket below, we think the coast is clear through the lack of Grudge-level sounds. But as Ellie's flipping through an old People magazine, we see something scurry past in the background on all fours. It's an instant nope, especially when a small hoot echoes through the aisles. As Ellie hunts the creature, it takes on a strategic stealth we previously thought only humans could use, not Infected. It seems...calculated.

The evolution of Infected takes our heroes by such surprise they call a council meeting in Jackson about it. Ellie tells Tommy, Maria, and their councillors of the "smart" new Infected. "No one's saying it can do math or anything," says Ellie. "But it didn't run at me. It did what we do: took cover, planned, waited, lured me in. Stalking."

This swift, scurrying new villain is, in fact, known as a Stalker in The Last of Us games — and they're a tough one to beat.

What are Stalkers in The Last of Us?

Two words: Be afraid. Stalkers are a type of Infected who are very fast, very aggressive, but very stealthy. Think the speed of a Runner (the Infected that just run at you) with the power of a Clicker (the Infected who use echolocation to hunt you, making it unlikely you'll survive their attack), but make it covert.

When you're playing The Last of Us but mainly The Last of Us Part II, you'll be stealthing along, minding your own damn business, and you'll spot a Stalker scurrying in the shadows. As soon as you see this movement, that pulse rate skyrockets. When you try to attack them, they'll retreat into cover. Stalkers will then move up, getting closer to you, peeking their head out, and then charge at you in an unexpected moment (again, you're unlikely to survive the attack). When Ellie (that's you) finds a group of Stalkers in a pitch-dark office building in The Last of Us Part II, it's a flashlight-mode moment that still haunts me.

Plus, as Ellie experiences in the TV show, Stalkers are really hard to locate using the game's Listening Mode (your own version of echolocation that highlights enemies nearby). As Ellie says in the game, "These fuckers are quiet." Really, the only way to kill a Stalker in the game is swift reflexes (and an immunity to Infected helps if you miss the first time).

So, if Stalkers are near Jackson, as we see in Season 2, episode 1, the people of the settlement are in real trouble.

The Last of Us Season 2 is now streaming on Max. New episodes air weekly on Sundays 9 p.m. ET on HBO.