This article contains spoilers for “The Price”, the penultimate episode of season 2 of “The Last of Us”. Stop reading now if you haven’t looked at it – The spoilers are in front!
It is impossible to imagine a world where Joel Miller, the original protagonist of the 2013 video game “The Last of Us” and the HBO 2023 television adaptation (played by Troy Miller and Pedro Pascal, respectively), is still alive. What I mean by that is that, in the game and the show, Joel in a way has Die to lead the story of his alblive daughter Ellie, portrayed by Ashley Johnson in the original games and Bella Ramsey in the show. According to the game creator and co-showrunner Neil Druckmann, however, there East A world where Joel may survive. However, as he explained to Alan Sepinwall for RollerHe and his co-showrunner Craig Mazin finally decided not to have survived a revengeful attack by Abby Anderson (Kaitlyn Dever).
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“Yes, because we discuss everything,” Druckmann told Sepinwall when the latter asked if they planned to save the death of Abby and Joel for a later season. “We even discussed what if we had not killed Joel, just to question him. Because everything had to be on the table. Everything should be questioned to make sure that we make the best choices for this version of the story. We even discussed it, the more it just felt us.
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So, as Sépinwall asked, which came out of a discussion on not Kill Joel? Did Druckmann recall details? “I don’t do it, because it was a very short conversation that had no impact on us,” said Druckmann. “Because we knew we explored something that, you know, we are not going to get much, and we didn’t do it.”
Pedro Pascal had to come back to shoot Joel’s flashback scenes … and the closure of his time on the last of us was difficult
Neil Druckmann entered the director’s chair for “The Price” – marking his second time on “The Last of Us” after the episode of season 1 “The Infected” – and as he said to Alan Sepinwall, the creatives of the show did it not Pull one of Joel’s flashback scenes before filming his death on the screen, which means that Pedro Pascal did I have to go back to the whole series to resume its role one last time. “We pulled Pedro for the episode [2]Then he went to work on another project, “said Druckmann. When Sépinwall asked if it was different when Pascal returned, his answer was measured:
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“Yes, although on a daily basis, you would not feel it. But certainly, as we got closer to the end, you could feel this separation of the means of coming. And then the last day, in particular, it became really emotional when we finished the last blow and that we spent a time and we simply embraced and discussed and recalls.”
Not only that, but Druckmann also knew very well that the final appeal with Joel and Ellie in the television series – which are represented SO Beautifully by Pascal and Bella Ramsey, two actors with real and obvious real chemistry and a sweet relationship – would be really difficult, due to the work they had already put in their roles. “I knew because of their chemistry, because of what they brought, how painful it would be,” said Druckmann, speaking that Joel De Pascal and Ellie de Ramsey conquered the public around the world.
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“And you had to be painful to tell this story,” he continued. “If they had no chemistry, I would have been worried about the way we tell this story. So, for me, it was more a question, this story can be complete, this story can live alone. This is how we made the first game. But we have put certain changes and adjust the preparation of the next story if we were lucky to tell it. And fortunately, the show succeeded in such a matter.
The shooting of the final scene between Joel and Ellie was incredibly beautiful, according to Neil Druckmann
Obviously, Joel will die (in the hands of Abby in season 2, episode 2, “through the valley”), and that is why we only see it via Flashback in “The Price”, living through several previous birthdays of Ellie and trotting the ups and downs of their relationship. Neil Druckmann said that the shooting of this episode with Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey was still intense, in particular because of the real affection between the two and their shared understanding of Joel and Ellie (and their relationship).
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“It’s such a joy. They are so talented,” spring Druckmann. “They now understand these characters. Surprised by what they put in front of the camera.”
In addition, as Druckmann pointed out, the work outside of movement capture – which was used for “Last of Us” games – has enabled a certain level of emotivity. “There are certain moments in the live action where you have happy accidents, as you cannot plan something,” he said before revealing a touching moment between Ramsey and Pascal who occurred organically in a scene where Joel brings Ellie to a museum of abandoned space for his birthday. “When they are in the space capsule, and Joel asks Ellie how he did it, and then you see that he has this beautiful smile on his face, and he turns around, and you see the glow of a tear in his wrinkles. You do not see him crying; just. We could not plan this, and the fact that we have caught it, you are just. left.
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The final of season 2 of “The Last of Us” was broadcast on May 25, 2025 at 9 p.m. on HBO Max and HBO.
