There are massive spoilers ahead for The Last of Us season 2, episode 2. Steer clear if you haven’t seen this week’s episode!
HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us seemed to intentionally downplay Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby in the promotion for the second season possibly because she’s such a divisive figure in The Last of Us Part II. In both the game and the show, Abby has a grudge against Joel (Pedro Pascal) for murdering her father and she vowed revenge. In the second episode of season 2, the show brought Joel’s final fate to the screen as Abby beat him to death in front of a horrified Ellie (Bella Ramsey).
Players who completed The Last of Us Part II knew this moment was coming, but not necessarily this soon in the season. In a new interview with Deadline, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann shared their insights about Joel’s death and what comes next.
“It does hurt tremendously when it happens,” noted Mazin. “It hurts, of course it does, because we love Joel, and more importantly, because Ellie loves Joel, and we’re experiencing her heartbreak, and we’re all going to grieve the loss of this person that we’ve come to love. But in terms of the narrative, yes, it felt like an inevitability, because this isn’t a show that goes on and on. This is a show that has an ending. We are a show that confronts people dealing with the hardest emotions. Watching Bella in that moment was heart wrenching. It really was. There were a lot of tears that day from all of us. It was tough.”
One of the key changes in this adaptation was the presence of Dina (Isabela Merced), Ellie’s new love interest. Joel was on patrol with Dina when they were taken by Abby, and the showrunners made that decision to give Dina more motivation to follow Ellie’s lead about what she plans to do to make good on her own threat against Abby.
“It’s something that in the game, we talk about Dina having a relationship with Joel,” explained Druckmann. “You never get to see it. Here, we felt like this was a good choice for this show to see that and to have her specifically be present at that moment of confrontation.”
“It certainly makes their voyage forward — should that occur, you understand Dina’s motivations,” added Mazin. “Because there is a mechanical benefit to Dina in the game. We don’t have that mechanical benefit. So the question really was, how do we connect Dina to this tragedy in a way that is deeper than just ‘I’m Ellie’s friend.'”
Another departure for this take on the story was the near destruction of Jackson, the town that has been Joel and Ellie’s home for nearly five years. Mazin indicated that this done to up the stakes for the show and remove the idea that there’s anywhere safe to go.
“All the things that made you safe are gone,” said Mazin. “Joel made Ellie feel safe. He’s gone. That impenetrable wall made Jackson feel safe, and it got broken. Creating that threat from inside and out at the same time, we just felt that it was the right way to show how dangerous the world is and how fragile everything is and how precious everything is. So the relationships going forward have to be taken very seriously, and the decisions that we make have to be taken very seriously, because there is no safety.”
The Last of Us season 2 will continue on Sunday, April 27. HBO has already renewed the series for a third season.
