The Last of Us creator breaks down key changes in that pivotal scene from season two

The Last of Us creator Craig Mazin has explained several key changes in that scene from the latest episode of season two of the post-apocalyptic HBO series involving Joel, a very angry Abby, a very upset Ellie, and a very bloody golf club.

Warning: Spoilers for The Last of Us Part II and The Last of Us, season two, follow.

Well, it’s over.

Players of the 2020 video game sequel knew it was coming, but for viewers of The Last of Us‘s first season (2023) expecting another buddy-road-trip-across-the-post-apocalyptic-USA starring Pedro Pascal as Joel Miller and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, those hopes came to a jarring halt with the second episode of season two.

In Through the Valley, Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) has tracked down Joel with motives unknown to the viewer, apart from that she’s tied to the Fireflies – the resistance group that Joel dispatched to save Ellie’s life at the back end of season one.

After an Infected attack on the Jackson ranch, and with Joel and Dina (Isabela Merced) out on patrol, Joel winds up saving Abby from one of the mushroom-ridden baddies – a move which ends up being one of his last.

Dina is drugged and Joel is taken to Abby’s group’s hideout, where she decides to try out for a post-apocalyptic pitch and putt, with Joel’s head as the ball.

Ellie arrives just in time to be held down and forced to watch Abby go full Tiger Woods on our beloved Joel in one of the most shocking and brutal television deaths in recent memory.

But the televised version holds several key differences to the game’s. For one, players don’t know exactly why Abby is practicing her nine iron swing on Joel until halfway through the game, when perspective shifts to her, and we discover that one of the doctors Joel killed at the end of the last game was her father.

Here though, she gives us the big reveal during Joel’s death – and speaking to Entertainment Weekly, showrunner and co-creator/writer Craig Mazin has explained why.

“It’s really just about imagining how angry she is and how hurt, but also how correct she is in her mind,” he explains in regard to the new material given to Abby during the scene.

“What is important for her to convey is that what he did was wrong. The end. Guilty. Sentenced to die. No argument. No debate. No nothing. I do love how Pedro portrayed this kind of acceptance of it there. The truth is, what he did is what she’s doing now.

“We kill for the people we love. Joel has an experience that neither Ellie nor Abby have — and we’re going to explore this further in the season — and that is the experience of loving a child, which is different than being a child and loving a parent.”

In the game, Ellie is held down by one of Abby’s crew and watches as Joel dies from across the room; in episode two, though, she crawls over to him as he takes his last breath.

Explaining that change, Mazin told Variety, “That was in there from the very beginning, draft one. Ellie’s been kicked in the ribs. She’s clearly very injured. She has no reason to think she’s going to survive. 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.”

Viewers have reacted to the twist with shock, but given the TV series’ track record for successfully adapting its source material by Naughty Dog head Neil Druckmann and Mazin, we’d say we’re in safe hands.

The Last of Us airs on HBO on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET and on Mondays in the UK on Sky Atlantic and Now. It is also available to stream on Max.

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