THE LAST OF US Creators On Joel's Decision, Ellie Recasting Rumors, & Season 2 Plans - SPOILERS

The season finale of The Last of Us aired on Sunday, and the show's co-creators have now addressed Joel's fateful decision, a rather silly rumor, and plans for season 2. Spoilers follow...

By MarkCassidy - Mar 13, 2023 06:03 PM EST

Filed Under: Last of Us

The Last of Us concluded its first season with Sunday's emotional finale, "Look for the Light," and while gamers will have had a pretty good idea of how the episode was going to go, casual viewers were somewhat split on the outcome.

Upon realizing that Ellie would not survive the operation to remove the cordyceps samples from her brain, Joel goes on a murderous rampage through the hospital, gunning down any Firefly that stands in his way - including Marlene and the doctor that was about to perform the surgery (this will become a lot more significant in season 2).

Then, after rescuing an unconscious Ellie, they set off on the road to Jackson. On the way, Ellie asks Joel to tell her the truth about what happened, which he lies about.

Ellie clearly has her doubts, but accepts his explanation with an "okay," and we cut to black.

During an interview with THR, co-creator Craig Mazin addressed Joel's choices and where he feels viewers' sympathies should lie.

“When you love something unconditionally, logic goes out the window and you will do really horrible things to protect the ones you love,” he says. “And there’s a lot of examples worldwide of this happening all the time. So for us it was just like, ‘Here are all the different pieces that we have, the tools we have within this story. How can we, with each episode, thematically, touch on that in some way?’ Both the beautiful joy that can come out of like a story like Bill and Frank, and a fate worse than death when a man has to kill his own brother because he’s turned. [There’s] greater and greater sacrifices Joel has to make for Ellie, and likewise what she’s going through to protect him. I’m confused about it morally. I think it’s a difficult choice. I go back and forth. I think a lot of people will go back and forth on it.”

Mazin was also asked about Ellie needing to be "aged-up" for season 2 (several years pass between games) and the speculation that Bella Ramsey might be recast. He confirmed that Ramsey is absolutely staying on as Ellie, and that the next batch of episodes will play out differently from The Last of Us Part II.

“We know what we’re going to do in terms of her costume and makeup and hair. But more importantly, we know the spirit and soul of the actor. She’s 19 now, which is the same age as Ellie in The Last of Us Part II … it will be different. It will be different, just as this season was different. Sometimes it will be different radically … It won’t be exactly like the game. It will be the show that Neil and I want to make.”

In a separate interview with GQ, Mazin and co-creator Neil Druckmann revealed that the second game's story will play out in more than a single season, although they declined to reveal exactly how many.

Part II is a long game, so this isn't too surprising. Is it possible a certain divisive plot point will be expanded upon or changed completely? We'd assume what happens still happens, but they may save it for the season 2 finale.

What did you make of the season 1 finale of The Last of Us? Drop us a comment down below.

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