The Last of Us Season 2's Washington Liberation Front's History explained

We see the WLF patch for the first time in The Last of Us Season 2 in the second episode, right before the death of Joel. Dina notices the "WLF" patch on the bags of Abby and her crew before she is given a sedative to make her unconscious. But this militant group is seen for the first time in the closing moments of the third episode, in which countless armed people are walking on the streets of Seattle.

In the fourth episode of The Last of Us Season 2, WLF has a larger role as we meet Jeffrey Wright's Isaac Dixon, who is leading the group. It seems that this group was formed sometime after the outbreak of the Cordyceps, which happened in the HBO show's timeline in 2003. Before Isaac joined them in 2018, the group was more of a guerrilla group led by a woman named Hanrahan. But, with Isaac's help, the group gained a strategic advantage.

What is the Washington Liberation Front, or WLF, in The Last of Us Season 2?

Those who played the game back in 2020 will know that this militant group is one of the most dangerous enemies that Ellie has to navigate through in the upcoming episodes of The Last of Us Season 2. The group became a dangerous force in Seattle. Thanks to the training provided by its leader, Isaac Dixon, a character played by actor Jeffrey Wright.

It seems that the writers behind The Last of Us Season 2 have added more to Dixon's past. In the game, all that we know of his past is that Isaac was a soldier in the army. But the show reveals that he joined FEDRA and served there for a decade until 2018, when he finally defected from it to the WLF, where he trained the members using his military expertise.

In the present, the group, thanks to Isaac's military experience, is heavily armed, as we see them in The Last of Us Season 2. It even follows brutal military interrogation techniques, as seen in the fourth episode when Dixon is seen torturing a Seraphite prisoner. After ascertaining that he can't break the man, Isaac takes out his gun and just fatally shoots the man.

Why did Abby and her fellow fireflies join the WLF in The Last of Us Season 2?

The reason behind Abby and her friends joining the WLF is revealed right in the opening scene of The Last of Us Season 2 premiere. It is a flashback scene set right after the season 1 finale. Turns out Abby and her four friends are all that's left of the Fireflies after Joel massacred through the Firefly hospital in the first season's finale.

Abby swears to kill Joel at her father's grave, who was the surgeon murdered by Joel. This revelation, while a surprise in the game, is put front and center in the HBO series. Craig Mazin, one of the showrunners, said this in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on April 22, 2025:

“The point of this story is that the entire concept of protagonist is flawed. The entire concept of villain is flawed. Our way of processing the world through heroes and villains is a mistake. It ends up creating these barriers between people that shouldn’t be there.”

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Want to learn how the WLF factors into this story? Catch the remaining three of The Last of Us Season 2 episodes.

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