The Last Of Us Season 2 has a secret connection with Game Of Thrones and Succession that no one noticed 

The Last of Us season 2 is earning rave reviews for its adaptation of the Naughty Dog game franchise's second installment. The second episode, "Through the Valley" of The Last of Us season 2, was a heady cocktail of impeccable writing, riveting performances, and fantastic direction.

In many ways, The Last of Us season 2 has come to assume gold status in contemporary fiction television, a place hitherto held by such prestige shows as Game of Thrones and Succession. While many members of the audience might not be aware of this fact, there's a subtle underlying connection between these three shows, and here we aim to explain the same.

What's the connection between The Last of Us season 2, Game of Thrones, and Succession?

The one unifying tie that joins The Last of Us season 2, Game of Thrones, and Succession is the famed Emmy Award-winning director Mark Mylod. It isn't just a coincidence that Mylod directed the episode "Through the Valley," featuring the heartbreaking death of Pedro Pascal's Joel Miller. In the past, Mylod has directed six episodes of Game of Thrones across different seasons, as well as sixteen episodes of the HBO show Succession.

Mylod has been praised for his grand expression, which is contained in the shows mentioned above, along with his penchant for poignant character development. Incidentally, one of the GOT episodes that Mylod directed featured the introduction of Bella Ramsey on the popular show. Ramsey once again teamed up with Mylod on the latest episode of The Last of Us.

Mark Mylod opens up about The Last of Us season 2

The celebrated director recently spoke in an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, wherein he shared his insights about the HBO show. When asked about his initial reaction after reading the script for the sophomore season, Mylod recounted:

"My first reaction was a combination of jaw dropping and terror — because as soon as I read it, I knew I had to do it. But there’s an extraordinary responsibility with taking on writing of that quality and also obviously just being aware of the importance of that episode as a fulcrum in the story and killing off Pedro’s character. Though, obviously, killing beloved characters on television is becoming a bit of a habit (having also directed the rather deceptively titled Succession season four episode “Connor’s Wedding,” among others).

He further added:

"I’ve been a fan of Craig’s writing for so long and he has this capacity that the born storytellers have, to effortlessly combine the epic and the intimate — Chernobyl being a beautiful example of that. The minutia, those details of the human condition and our vulnerability, and our flaws; he’s so beautifully obsessed with those details."

He was then asked about his approach to filming the scene where Abby kills Joel:

Trending

"I wanted to avoid overt torture. I don’t have much interest in showing violence itself. But what motivated Abby to a place where she was doling such extraordinary violence — that is endlessly fascinating. So after establishing the brutality and, hopefully, exploring some of the context to why this young person was driven to such extraordinary violence and cruelty, I wanted to keep most of it off screen — and Craig was very much on the same page."

The Last of Us season two airs new episodes exclusively on HBO.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback