Sunday’s episode of HBO‘s The Last Of Us brought the tragic death of a beloved lead character, with stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey reacting to it.
The show follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they navigate a post-apocalyptic environment following a global fungal infection that turns many into zombie-like creatures.
Season 2 – which debuted last week – takes place five years after the first season, and introduces fans to one of the most hated characters in the video games the show is based on – Abby (Kaitlyn Dever).
With the introduction of Abby and her group making it to Jackson Hole, Wyoming where Joel and Ellie have settled, many fans familiar with the games predicted that this second episode would mark the death of a main character.
Those who theorized that death would happen were proven correct, with Joel meeting a rather brutal death at the hands of Abby, right in front of Ellie who swore to kill Abby, setting up the driving force for the rest of the season.
After the episode aired, both Pascal and Ramsey reacted to the tragic death in new interviews with Entertainment Weekly.
Sunday’s episode of HBO ‘s The Last Of Us brought the tragic death of a beloved lead character, with stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey reacting to it
Those who theorized that death would happen were proven correct, with Joel meeting a rather brutal death at the hands of Abby, right in front of Ellie who swore to kill Abby, setting up the driving force for the rest of the season.
Season 2 – which debuted last week – takes place five years after the first season, and introduces fans to one of the most hated characters in the video games the show is based on – Abby ( Kaitlyn Dever )
Ramsey said that no one on the set wanted to talk about the death, adding, ‘I think it was a hushed thing, like scary words that no one wants to utter.’
‘It feels like too big of a thing to just speak about it,’ Ramsey added, while series creator/showrunner Craig Mazin added how important the moment was.
‘When it came time to discuss it with other people [outside of production], we were circumspect,’ Mazin said.
‘Everybody really cared about making sure that this felt like what it was, which was an event we all respected,’ he added.
Pascal did not play the 2020 video game The Last of Us Part II – where his character Joel is killed off fairly early on – but he knew his fate right from the start.
Even though he didn’t play The Last of Us Part II, the 2020 video game on which season 2 is based, Pedro Pascal knew this would be his character’s fate from the moment he accepted the job.
‘It’s not like they said, “Hey, we kill you at the beginning of season 2,” but it was always an understanding that it would stay true to the source material in a specific way and that the, let’s say, practical and exclusive obligation would be for season 1. It was just a matter of how and when,’ Pascal said.
Mazin said in another interview with The Wrap that he told Pascal about Joel’s fate in the first Zoom meeting he had with him.
Ramsey said that no one on the set wanted to talk about the death, adding, ‘I think it was a hushed thing, like scary words that no one wants to utter’
Pascal did not play the 2020 video game The Last of Us Part II – where his character Joel is killed off fairly early on – but he knew his fate right from the start.
‘It’s not like they said, “Hey, we kill you at the beginning of season 2,” but it was always an understanding that it would stay true to the source material in a specific way and that the, let’s say, practical and exclusive obligation would be for season 1. It was just a matter of how and when,’ Pascal said.
‘We love Pedro, but I told him the very first time I ever Zoomed with him, “So here’s the thing, you’re playing this guy, Joel. In Season 2, he’s gonna die.” There was never a question. It was always understood that was built into this,’ Mazin said.
He added there were brief conversations about pushing Joel’s death to later in Season 2, but, ‘those conversations didn’t last long.’
Joel’s fate was ultimately sealed in the Season 1 finale, where he learns that Ellie – who has an extremely rare immunity to the fungal infection – was going to be killed so the Fireflies could create a cure from the immunity within Ellie.
While he originally viewed Ellie as just someone he had to protect, he grew quite close to her, and ended up killing several Fireflies to save Ellie… and one unarmed doctor.
That doctor, it turns out, was the father of Abby, who spent the past five years tracking down Joel to get her revenge and kill him brutally with a golf club.
Bella opened up about her first time reading the script, revealing it was the first time they actually cried while reading a script.
‘I’ve never cried reading a piece of writing before, but I had such a gastral reaction to it. It’s almost like we’ve played that dynamic, me and Pedro, for a year, and it feels like father-daughter in some way,’ Ramsey said.
‘I think my reaction to that being over was quite a gradual feeling. Also knowing that that would be the end of Pedro and us two working together in this capacity,’ Ramsey added.
Teasers for the rest of the season have shown new bits of footage with Pascal’s Joel, indicating he will be seen in flashback scenes, which Pascal confirmed.
‘We love Pedro, but I told him the very first time I ever Zoomed with him, “So here’s the thing, you’re playing this guy, Joel. In Season 2, he’s gonna die.” There was never a question. It was always understood that was built into this,’ Mazin said
He added there were brief conversations about pushing Joel’s death to later in Season 2, but, ‘those conversations didn’t last long’
that would be the end of Pedro and us two working together in this capacity,’ Ramsey added
Pascal attends the Freaky Tales premiere during the 2024 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Center Theatre in January
He revealed that when he went back to the set to film the flashback scenes, he beamed with pride seeing how Ellie had stepped into a leadership role.
‘Bella was never my child, but there’s an obvious parental dynamic between the characters of Joel and Ellie,’ Pascal said.
‘I did feel this sort of pride that I had nothing to do with but was able to observe how effortlessly they stepped into a position of leadership,’ he added.
The Last of Us has five more episodes left in Season 2, airing Sunday evenings at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT, with the Season 2 finale airing Sunday, May 25 on HBO.