Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel in HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation, has shared his thoughts on the shocking events from this week’s episode.
Please note, there will be major spoilers for The Last of Us below.
During the early hours of Monday morning for those of us here in the UK, the second episode of The Last of Us season two aired. It was a packed showing, with more infected than you can shake a stick at. But, even though the siege of Jackson was surely an suspenseful and emotionally impactful story beat, there is one moment in particular that has grabbed the hearts of viewers and torn them into a million pieces – Joel’s death.
As in The Last of Us Part 2, in the show Joel is killed with a golf club by Abby, a former Firefly seeking revenge for the death of her father.
In the season one finale, Joel massacred the Fireflies in Salt Lake City in a bid to save Ellie, his surrogate daughter. And now, the time has come for him to face the consequences of those actions. Abby – played in the show by Kaitlyn Dever – arrives in Jackson with a group of fellow former Fireflies to even the score. And she does, beating Joel until finally dealing a killing strike to the neck with a golf club. It’s a hard watch.
But, what is it like for Pascal and the rest of The Last of Us’ cast and crew? “I’m in active denial,” Pascal told EW, following the episode’s debut.
“I realise this more and more as I get older, I find myself slipping into denial that anything is over. I know that I’m forever bonded to so many members of the experience and just have to see them under different circumstances, but never will under the circumstances of playing Joel on The Last of Us.
“And, no, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it because it makes me sad.”
But while it may make the actor sad, Pascal believes the fact that this narrative has affected and pained so many people is a “brilliant achievement of the storytelling”.
“I have nothing but respect for the level of investment that people have in a video game or a TV show or movie or book. I experience that myself. I’ve flung books across the room because its impact is so profound on me and experiencing the story,” Pascal said.
The show has made a few tweaks to The Last of Us Part 2’s narrative – for example having Dina on patrol with Joel that day, rather than his brother Tommy. Another change made by the showrunners was to have Bella Ramsey’s Ellie drag herself over to Joel’s dead body, an image that will stay with me for a long time to come. According to showrunner Craig Mazin, this moment was “in there from the very beginning, draft one”. This is because Ellie at this moment also believes she is going to die.
“Ellie’s been kicked in the ribs. She’s clearly very injured. She has no reason to think she’s going to survive,” Mazin told Variety.
“She’s not crawling over there just to say goodbye. She’s crawling over there so she could be with him in death. That’s where she wants to be, and it’s when she takes his hand. We’ve seen her do it before. Bella Ramsey, geez.”
Naughty Dog and HBO have already confirmed The Last of Us will be back for a third season, with showrunner Craig Mazin stating:
“We approached season two with the goal of creating something we could be proud of. The end results have exceeded even our most ambitious goals.”
For more, you can check out my feature on the show’s latest episode: Joel dominates headlines, but it’s Tommy who shines in The Last of Us season 2 episode two.
