'The Last of Us Part 2' release date, news: 'Westworld' star to appear in video game sequel

A "Westworld" star will join the highly anticipated "The Last of Us Part 2" game.

Shannon Woodward, the actress who portrays the role of theme park employee Elsie Hughes in HBO's Western-inspired sci-fi drama "Westworld," announced on Twitter that she will be part of the second installment of Naughty Dog's action-adventure survivor horror game.

Woodward posted a photo of herself wearing a motion capture suit with game director Neil Druckmann. However, she did not reveal which role she will portray in "The Last of Us Part 2."

The sequel of the critically acclaimed video game that was released in June 2013 was first announced at the PlayStation Experience event back in December 2016.

Based on the first trailer of "The Last of Us Part 2," the characters from the original game, Joel and Ellie, will be back in the sequel. But this time, the upcoming video game will center on the adventures of Ellie five years after the events of the first game.

In an interview during a panel session at the PlayStation Experience in 2016, Druckmann revealed that the theme of the sequel will be different from the that in the first one. "If the first game, the theme was the love between these two characters... This story's the counter of that," Druckmann stated. "It's about hate."

Druckmann also said that the conclusion of the first game does not necessarily need a sequel, but they managed to find a way to bring back the game for a second installment. "I know there's trepidation about going back to these characters," the game director said. "We feel that as well. No-one loves these characters more than we do, and we wouldn't do it if we didn't have the right idea. I had ideas with different characters and it didn't feel right. The Last of Us is about these two characters."

Naughty Dog has yet to reveal the official release date of "The Last of Us Part 2" on PlayStation 4 soon.