The Hollywood Reporter first spoke to co-creator Craig Mazin, and Mazin and co-creator Neil Druckmann also took questions from reporters during a finale press conference tackling several burning questions.
In the game, Ellie survives this encounter with Abby and has a major role to play in the rest of the story.
‘” The finale also saw the death of Jesse (Young Mazino), who was shot by Abby.
“It’s an interesting situation because Jesse dies in part because of Ellie, but Ellie doesn’t pull the trigger — Abby does,” Mazin says.
“We’re telling you that next season, one, there’s an epic nature to everything that’s about to happen,” Druckmann said.
[This story contains spoilers for episode seven of season two of The Last of Us. [].
The second season of The Last of Us concluded with a gunshot and the mysterious title card, “Settle Day One.”. “”.
What does all of this mean? The Hollywood Reporter first interviewed co-creator Craig Mazin, and during a final press conference, Mazin and co-creator Neil Druckmann fielded questions from reporters, answering a number of pressing issues.
Of course, the first question is whether Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) shot Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to death (“I let you live — and you wasted it!”).
You can skip the remainder of this paragraph if you don’t want to know the answer to that one. Mazin is adamant that Ellie is not gone. Additionally, the adaptation of the show to its source material—the PlayStation games The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II—has been incredibly accurate. Ellie makes it through this encounter with Abby in the game, and she plays a significant part in the rest of the narrative.
A “Seattle Day One” title card and Abby being woken up at the end of the show probably indicate another change in the narrative focus of the program. In interviews, the show’s creators chose not to specifically confirm this, but just as the show’s viewpoint changed from Joel (Pedro Pascal) to Ellie, season three will probably change once more to tell Abby’s story, assuming the show stays on the plot points established by the game. This is not only a deft narrative technique; it also contributes to the show’s overall theme.
“This isn’t how I believe television should operate,” Mazin says. “I love that we’re obviously breaking a lot of rules. Because that is the main idea, I adore it. We are not employing this as a gimmick. The argument of this story, which is viewed from a wide variety of perspectives, is that the idea of a protagonist is inherently flawed. The villain concept is faulty in its entirety. Heroes and villains are a mistake in the way we interpret the world. It ultimately results in the creation of these unnecessary barriers between people. It eventually enables us to judge others harshly for actions for which we do not fully comprehend the motivation, and it gives us excuses and conveniences for inappropriate behavior. We are aware that this is an emotionally taxing thing to monitor. It is acknowledged that people will be provoked. However, this story also explores why we feel so at ease adopting one person’s perspective on everything. “.”.
Mazin went on to say, “Abby is the protagonist of her story.”. “Regardless of who we focus on next, whether it’s Abby and Owen or Ellie and Dina, everything is filtered through Joel’s lens—what Joel did to Abby and what Abby did to Joel.”. “”.
Abby shot Jesse (Young Mazino), who also died in the finale. According to Mazin, “it’s an interesting situation because Jesse dies in part because of Ellie, but Abby pulls the trigger — Ellie does.”. And we know that Dina had a wonderful relationship with Joel, and she feels a sense of justice for that by pursuing Abby. Jesse’s death will alter her life, so the question now is: Who does she blame [for Jesse’s death]? “”.
Abby’s pregnant friend Mel (Ariela Barer) passed away tragically, which was another significant event that was completely unrelated to the game.
“In the game, Ellie battles Owen (Spencer Lord) and then Mel, and it’s not until Mel’s death that her coat opens and Ellie discovers she’s pregnant,” Mazin explains. According to Bella and Spencer Lord, who is 6’4″ and extremely powerful, Ellie is not really capable of killing Owen for this reason. She is not there to kill them, and a physical altercation was not going to go well. All she wants to do is murder Abby. I recall telling Neil that even though that particular moment in the game was really bad, I believe it can be worse and not be a tormentor. “”.
Mazin continued: “Mel is a doctor and realizes that there is a chance to save her child in that moment as she is dying, not to be a tormentor, but to just reflect reality.”. Our theme is rooted in the idea that parents will stop at nothing to save their children. In this situation, poor Ellie faces both a terrible panic and the terrible consequences of her pursuit. When someone tells me how to save their child and I can’t understand them because they’re slipping away and running out of oxygen, it’s like my worst nightmare. Bella takes stock of her failure and realizes how complete it is, but what’s even more devastating is that it’s not over yet. She simply is unaware of it. “”.
We also questioned Mazin about whether Ellie would have killed Abby if she had gotten the drop on her instead of the other way around, considering her heartbreaking experience with Mel. “Unquestionably,” Mazin responds. It would not even be about whether she possessed it; rather, it would be about what she lacks, which is the capacity to control herself when pursuing that. I believe Ellie would have knelt down directly beside Abby and delivered a speech that was strikingly similar to what Abby said to Joel. “”.
Regarding a cliffhanger ending, Mazin claims that they did think of alternative ways to wrap up the season.
“Everything was taken into consideration,” Mazin says. I seem to recall asking, “Isn’t [switching perspectives] part of the genetics of how this story functions?'” Perhaps we should just weave the stories [of Ellie and Abby] together. As a television program, this means that we must take chances, and HBO is supporting us in doing so. However, we recently killed Pedro Pascal. For example, HBO recognizes that this show will change each season, which is a challenging task when your show is a hit. “I know you love this, we’re taking it away and giving you this now,” you ask people repeatedly. “”.
Another important query is whether Joel will make an appearance in season three. Mazin implied that a possible flashback side trip involving Joel and Tommy (Gabriel Luna) is open. “We will likely have a lot more freedom [to tell side stories] in the upcoming season,” Mazin says. We’ll never know, but it might be a side trip to see Joel and Tommy terrorizing the countryside. I never would have imagined that before we wrote the season, we would have a short story about Joel’s father. Later, he added: “[Tommy has] been in war, and we also know that he and Joel were doing some pretty bad things for a while.”. Given that Tommy has made a commitment to his brother, there is a chance that we will see another side of him. “”.
The pair also hinted at season three, but not too much because they didn’t want to reveal anything important.
“Everything that’s going to happen in the upcoming season, one, has an epic quality,” Druckmann stated. However, this additional story will be crucial in supporting Joel and Ellie and everything we’ve seen thus far. “”.
We haven’t seen the last of Isabela Merced, Bella Ramsey, or Kaitlyn Dever, and we haven’t even seen the last of many of the characters who are currently dead in the story,” Mazin continues. “”.
