The Last of Us Part 2’s new trailer reveals our last teaser was a fake-out

The Last of Us Part 2’s new trailer has the internet buzzing for all sorts of reasons — its excessive violence; its confounding plot; its gorgeous visuals. And just as Naughty Dog expected, fans are hard at work putting together whatever they can based off what we’ve seen from the game today at Paris Games Week. One big realization? Our last preview of the game may not have been what we thought it was at all.

On Outbreak Day, which Last of Us fans and the team at Naughty Dog celebrate on Sept. 26, artist Kevin Tong released a poster for The Last of Us Part 2. All it showed was a bloodstained arm gripping a hammer tightly above a burning car. Vague as it was, the image was enough to convince fans that Joel, hero of the original The Last of Us whose role in the new game remains in question, was back; that had to be his arm, they argued.

Kevin Tong/Mondo

Turns out that’s not the case, based on the new trailer. We see the very same arm in that same pose, clenching an identical hammer. An old car burns brightly throughout the footage as well, further confirming the poster connection.

The hammer plays an important part in the trailer, getting passed around several different hands and causing one death before it ends up in the first of its final owner. But the person isn’t Joel; in fact, we don’t even know the woman whose arm that is clenching the hammer. We just know that she’s not our old pal.

Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment

This woman is one of several totally new characters introduced in the trailer, which Naughty Dog said it did on purpose. Instead of focusing on Joel and his companion Ellie like the game’s debut trailer did, the team wanted to show off more from the game — and throw fans off its trail.

The moral of this story appears to be that we should expect the unexpected from The Last of Us Part 2, because we may know much less than we thought about the game. And, frankly, we know almost nothing about it as it is.