The Last of Us viewers are terrified after spotting hints at fate of Joel as season 2 debuts

The Last of Us is back on screens for the start of the second season, and fans are already terrified.

This time however, it’s not the unsettlingly weird zombies, the creepy cult-ish humans trying to kill Bella Ramsay’s Ellie, but instead, fans are worrying for the fate of Pedro Pascal’s Joel.

The show, based on the hit video game series created by Naughty Dog Studios, has just released the first episode of season two titled Future Days.

Reviews have been positive and fans, for the most part, have been raving about the return of the show.

It opens with a set of new main characters, centred around a young woman called Abby, played by Kaitlyn Dever.

Abby is played by Kaitlyn Dever (HBO)

She leads a group of ex-Fireflies, the smuggling group shown at the end of season one.

As those who have watched season one know (spoilers ahead for the season one finale), Joel killed the vast majority of the Fireflies, running through one of their hospitals in order to save Ellie from an operation that might lead to a cure, but would kill her.

Abby, whose relationship to the other Fireflies is unclear in the show, is shown saying they need to hunt Joel down, saying: “When we kill him (Joel), we kill him slowly."

Fans of the show have been left worried that series two is set to kill off Joel.

Spoilers ahead for The Last of Us, and potential spoilers for The Last of Us season 2.

This comes from, in large part, the knowledge that The Last of Us 2 takes the bold choice to have the player play as Abby not knowing who she is, only for her to beat Joel to death with a golf club.

One fan posted: “'When we kill him we kill him slowly’ that’s just a joke right guys? joel will be okay right?”

Another posted a panicked gif saying: “OH HELL NO NOT NEXT EPISODE #TheLastOfUs.”

This panic came due to the first episode ending with Abby and the other former Fireflies shown arriving at Jackson, the town where Joel and Ellie are staying.

Fans think that Joel's fate is sealed (HBO)

Despite some fans seeming to think that Joel might be spared for this season at the very least, the episode being bookended by Abby promising to kill Joel and then arriving at his home has left fans thinking his fate is sealed.

If the show does decide to kill off Joel next episode, it will be one of the most shocking moments in TV history.

Pedro Pascal, the main lead of the show in season one, is now one of the biggest names in Hollywood, also appearing in Star Wars and several upcoming Marvel films.

The decision to kill him off in the game was one of the most controversial in gaming history, with the voice actor behind Abby, Laura Bailey, leaving social media after the backlash led to her and her family receiving numerous death threats.