The Batman actor Peter Sarsgaard joins The Last of Us season three, and he’ll play a character we haven’t seen before

Peter Sarsgaard has joined the cast of HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation for the show’s upcoming third season.

As reported by Deadline, Sarsgaard will play a brand-new character known as Amon, who does not appear in the games. According to the publication, Amon is a leader of The Seraphites, a religious cult which resides in Seattle.

Sarsgaard’s other credits include Bartholomew Bogue in The Magnificent Seven, Gil Colson in The Batman and David Goldman in An Education (pictured below).

As teased in The Last of Us season two’s finale, season three will largely focus on Abby’s story in Seattle. It also introduces a number of new characters from the games, including Patrick Gibson as Abby’s father Jerry, and Sarsgaard’s fellow Seraphites Yara and Lev, played by Michelle Mao and Kyriana Kratter respectively.

While The Seraphites’ presence was felt during the second season, the group is set to play a much greater part in season three (no spoilers). Earlier this year, we got our first look at Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby and Kratter’s Lev on set, though filming in Vancouver has paused momentarily while the World Cup takes place.

While we don’t yet have a release date, the third season of The Last of Us is expected to be its last. In July, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann announced he was stepping back from the series after season two, in order to focus on the studio’s gaming output, which includes Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Druckmann had previously worked on The Last of Us’ TV adaptation as a co-showrunner, director, writer and producer.

HBO’s CEO Casey Bloy has said he is not worried about The Last of Us without Druckmann, explaining he’d “given us a good blueprint with the show”.