Here’s Why Joel’s Death in The Last Of Us‘ Was ‘Always Meant to Happen’ in the Show & Game
Warning. Major spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2. The Last of Us Season 2 just delivered the emotional gut punch fans of the video game had been waiting for, the one that was so controversial when it happened in The Last of Us: Part II. The HBO show recently returned for Season 2 with Joel and Ellie’s relationship in a much different place than where we left it in Season 1. At the end of the first season, the two headed to Jackson, Wyoming, to meet up with Joel’s brother Tommy.
But to get there, Joel had to “save” Ellie from the thing he was supposed to be delivering her to, the Fireflies. Ellie, who is immune to the virus that makes everyone into a zombie, was supposed to help make a vaccine. It’s just that to do that, the Firefly team in charge of making that vaccine was willing to sacrifice her. Once Joel found out about it, he decided that was too high a price to pay and killed all of them, including the doctor who was going to operate on Ellie. In Season 2, we see that decision come back to bite him in the form of Abby, the daughter of that very same doctor.
Abby comes back for revenge in Season 2, Episode 2, titled “Through the Valley.” She doesn’t just come after Joel and finish him off quickly; she brutally beats him to death with a golf club, and basically tortures him for a while. Then, when Ellie arrives, she is forced to watch as Abby kills Joel in front of her, despite Ellie trying to get Joel to “get up.” One of Abby’s crew holds Ellie down as another one kicks her in the stomach, as she promises Abby she will “kill her” for what she’s done to Joel.
Related: Who dies in The Last of Us Season 2?
But why was Joel killed in The Last of Us show and game? What was the reasoning behind the decision? Here’s what led to his demise.
Why did they kill off Joel in The Last of Us show and game?
Neil Druckmann, the co-creator of The Last of Us video game, made it clear that Joel’s death was the “inciting incident” in The Last of Us: Part II and, as such, always needed to happen. EP Craig Mazin agreed. “We love Pedro, but I told him the very first time I ever Zoomed with him, ‘So here’s the thing, you’re playing this guy, Joel. In Season 2, he’s gonna die.’ There was never a question.” Mazin told The Wrap.
And since both Druckmann and Mazin always knew this had to happen, they didn’t want to drag it out. “There’s a danger of tormenting people. It’s not what we want to do. If people know it’s coming, they will start to feel tormented. And people who don’t know it’s coming are going to find out it’s coming, because people are going to talk about the fact that it hasn’t shown up yet. Our instinct was to make sure that when we did it, that it felt natural in the story and was not some meta-function of us wanting to upset people,” Mazin added in an interview with Variety.
But the decision to kill off Joel was made to open up a story that was more about Ellie and Abby. It’s about the larger storytelling possibilities opened up by his death. “People are going to be upset. That’s sometimes how good drama goes,” Mazin told USA Today. “This was something that was always meant to happen. So much of the first season was, in a weird way, leading to this moment. And it’s upsetting.”
Going forward, the story is about how Ellie reacts. “The way Bella as Ellie says, ‘You’re all going to die,’ you can’t help but believe it is absolutely true,” Mazin added. She will go for revenge. But as Abby walks away, there’s also a sense that even though she got what she was looking for, that revenge hasn’t given her the peace she thought it would. “It’s not remorse,” Mazin also added to the outlet. “There is a sense of dissatisfaction. This thing she thought would fix the wound in her didn’t fix it. She walks away no happier than when she showed up.”
And that is also something to explore at this next stage of the story focuses on Ellie and Abby and how the story moves on without Joel. This is exactly what happens in the game, where you are forced to play as Abby in an attempt to make you sympathize with her, even after she kills Joel. Tough pill to swallow for fans, but exactly what the show is asking everyone to try to do right now.
