SPOILER alert:This post discusses plot developments from “The Last Of Us Part II” video game, which will presumably serve as inspiration for Season 2 of the HBO adaptation.
Video game fans knew not to fall too hard for Pedro Pascal‘s Joel while watching the first season of HBO’s “The Last of Us” adaptation (although that was all but impossible given Pascal’s acclaimed performance). In the video game’s sequel, “The Last of Us Part II,” Joel is shockingly murdered in the first act of the game by Abby, the daughter of the Firefly surgeon Joel killed in order to let Ellie live. Joel’s death sets Ellie up on a mission of revenge against Abby.
When HBO announced at the end of January that “The Last of Us” would be renewed for Season 2, video game fans knew that meant the demise of Pascal was on the way. But is HBO really going to let “The Last of Us” team kill off the show’s most beloved and high profile star?
“It wouldn’t make sense to follow the first game so faithfully only to stray severely from the path,” Pascal recently told Esquire magazine about prepping for his Season 2 fate. “So, yeah, that’s my honest answer.”
“If that does take place in the show, I don’t know that I’m emotionally ready for it,” added Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie on the HBO series adaptation.
“This should be fairly obvious to anyone by now, but I don’t fear killing characters,” showrunner Craig Mazin told the publication. “But the important thing to note is that neither Neil [Druckmann, who co-created and exec-produces the series with Mazin] nor I feel constrained by the source material.”
Mazin and Druckmann made minor deviations to the first “The Last of Us” video game when adapting it into the first season of the HBO show, but Joel’s death is such a pivotal foundation of “The Last of Us Part II” storyline that it would be shocking for the HBO series not to follow it. However, the creative team is already planning to experiment with the show’s timeline, meaning it’s unlikely that Pascal is killed off in the first episode of Season 2.
When asked if Season 2 will include the entire “Part II” storyline, Druckmann previously told GQ magazine, “No. No way. It’s more than one season.”
“You have noted correctly that we will not say how many [seasons will cover ‘Part II’],” added Mazin at the time. “But more than one is factually correct.”
What adapting “Part II” into multiple TV seasons means for Pascal’s time on the show remains to be seen. The first season of “The Last of Us” is streaming in its entirety on HBO Max.
