HBO Recasting ‘The Last of Us’ Character

The Last of Us is recasting a major character for the upcoming third season.

Danny Ramirez will not return as Manny Alvarez, a former member of the Fireflies rebel militia who helped Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) seek revenge on Joel (Pedro Pascal) in Season 2 for the Firefly hospital killings that saved Ellie (Bella Ramsay) in Season 1.

Ramirez has dropped out of HBO’s video game adaptation due to scheduling conflicts, according to Deadline. The actor, who is best known for his role as Falcon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is set to premiere in the upcoming film Avengers: Doomsday next year, and will also appear in the upcoming Jean-Michel Basquiat biopic, Samo Lives.

It’s unclear who will take over Ramirez’s role as Manny on The Last of Us, a character who originated in the video game series by Alejandro Edda.

Ramirez’s departure is not the only major change coming to The Last of Us Season 3. In July, Neil Druckmann, who co-created the original video games, announced that he would be leaving his role as co-showrunner of the HBO series ahead of Season 3. Druckmann will remain attached to the show as a co-creator and executive producer. His fellow co-creator, Craig Mazin, will serve as the only showrunner of the series.

“I’ve made the difficult decision to step away from my creative involvement in The Last of Us on HBO,” Druckmann said in a statement at the time. “With work completed on season 2 and before any meaningful work starts on season 3, now is the right time for me to transition my complete focus to Naughty Dog and its future projects, including writing and directing our exciting next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, along with my responsibilities as Studio Head and Head of Creative.”

The statement continued, “Co-creating the show has been a career highlight. It’s been an honor to work alongside Craig Mazin to executive produce, direct, and write on the last two seasons. I’m deeply thankful for the thoughtful approach and dedication the talented cast and crew took to adapting The Last of Us Part I and the continued adaptation of The Last of Us Part II. I look forward to HBO and PlayStation Productions continuing Ellie and Abby’s story next season.”