Season 2 of HBO's The Last of Us concluded last night with an episode that has proven to be somewhat divisive, even among those who had been on board with this adaptation of the acclaimed Naughty Dog video game up to this point.
For the most part, the finale stuck pretty close to the events of the game - which was one of the biggest issues for a lot of fans.
Major spoilers follow.
In the closing moments of "Convergence," Abby catches up with Ellie and her crew in the theater they've been holed up in. Jesse is killed almost immediately (mirroring his shocking death in the game), and Abby holds her gun on Tommy while demanding that Ellie tosses her weapon and face her.
Ellie admits that she was the one that killed Abby's friends, pleading for Tommy's life. Abby turns her gun on Ellie, and we hear a shot ring out as the screen cuts to black. We then flash back to "Seattle, Day On," with Abby waking up in her WLF barracks. Just like the game, most of season 3 will play out from Abby's perspective.
This turned out to be a highly controversial choice for many gamers, who weren't exactly overjoyed at being forced to play as the person who brutally murdered Joel Miller at the start of the story. We can probably expect just as much backlash if season 3 of the show shifts focus to Abby.
“I don’t think television is supposed to work like this,” co-creator Craig Mazin tells THR. “We’re clearly breaking quite a few rules, and I love that. And I love it because that is the point. This is not something we’re doing as a gimmick. The point of this story — and this is looked at from so many different angles in so many different ways — 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. It ends up giving ourselves justifications and conveniences for bad behavior, and it ends up allowing us to judge others summarily for things that we don’t quite understand the motivation behind it. We know this is a challenging thing to keep track of emotionally. We understand people are going to be provoked. But part of this story is about examining why we’re so comfortable with following one person’s point of view about everything.”
“Abby is the hero of her story,” Mazin adds. “Wherever we go next, we’ll always be centering on somebody, whether it’s Ellie and Dina, or Abby and Owen … [But] everything is under the cloud or sunlight of Joel — what Joel did to Abby and what Abby did to Joel.'”
A lot of fans assumed that season 2 would cut back and forth between Ellie and Abby as we build towards their final confrontation, and Mazin confirms that following this plot structure was on the table at one point.
“We considered everything. Maybe we should just interlace the stories [of Ellie and Abby]? I just remember saying, ‘Isn’t [switching perspectives] part of the genetics of how this story functions?’ It’s just part of the genetics. Now what it means is we have to take risks as a television show, and HBO is backing us taking risks. But then again, we just did kill Pedro Pascal. Like [HBO] understands that this show is going to be a different show every season, which is a tricky thing to do when you’re a hit show. You keep asking people like, ‘I know you love this, we’re taking it away and giving you this now.'”
It sounds like season 3 - which has already been announced - will indeed follow the game's narrative, but that doesn't mean there won't be any surprises for those who already know the story.
“We’re telling you that next season, one, there’s an epic nature to everything that’s about to happen,” Neil Druckmann said. “But this other story is going to be really important coming backing to Joel and Ellie and everything we’ve seen so far.”
Adds Mazin: “All I can say is we haven’t seen the last of Kaitlyn Dever, and we haven’t seen the last of Bella Ramsey, and we haven’t seen the last of Isabela Merced, and we haven’t even seen the last of a lot of people who are currently dead in the story.”
New cast members for season 2 include Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart) as Abby, Young Mazino (Beef) as Jesse, Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick) as Manny, Ariela Barer (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) as Mel, Tati Gabrielle (You) as Nora, and Spencer Lord (Heartland) as Owen.
The Last of Us is set 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed and centers on the relationship between Joel, a smuggler in this new world, and Ellie, a teenager who may be key to a cure for a deadly pandemic. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle the 14-year-old girl out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey as they traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
Season 1's cast also featured Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Storm Reid as Riley, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, Elaine Miles as Florence, Ashley Johnson as Anna, and Troy Baker as James.
Filming took place in Vancouver, since a significant part of the story in The Last of Us Part II game is set in the Pacific Northwest.
The Last of Us is written and executive produced by Mazin and Druckmann. Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Rose Lam also executive produce.
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