The Last of Us Season 2 creators reveals some necessary changes from the game for the brutal scene 

The Last of Us Season two recently dropped its most heartbreaking moment, although it wasn't entirely unexpected. For those who are familiar with the game The Last of Us Part II, it is a known fact that Pedro Pascal's Joel meets his brutal end at the hands of Abby.

However, the latest episode of The Last of Us Season two, which was directed by the immensely talented Mark Mylod, featured quite a few departures from the Naughty Dog source material. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that Joel's death was presented exceptionally replete with pathos. Here's all that we know.

What did The Last of Us Season 2 creators say about the differences between the show and the game?

As depicted in The Last of Us Part II game, Joel meets his end at the hands of Abby, who beats him to death with a golf club as Ellie watches on helplessly. The show further built upon this premise by giving Abby a haunting monologue that shed light on her journey to exact revenge by killing Joel, as he was the one who had killed her father in the past.

Contrary to the game, Ellie was shown embracing Joel one last time after his death on the show. Speaking in an exclusive interview with Variety magazine in this context, Mylod explained:

"The shot was just about desolation, absolute finality and loss. We specifically shot the scene in a very unflashy way. It was very much about the humanity, vulnerability, anger, all the emotional elements of the character. It had to be honest and observational and not standing too far back, so there was almost a voyeurism of being uncomfortably close to to the action and emotion, to the ferocity of Abby, to the extraordinary pain, both physical in Joel’s and emotional in Ellie’s. That top shot was about breaking out of that camera grammar to a place that was final, judgmental and hopefully heartbreaking to see the desperate need for that final physical contact.”

Mylod also let go of the act of Danny Ramirez's Manny spitting on Joel's dead body and cursing him.

"It was a choice. In some of the takes, Danny did do the spitting move. There was a spit version also. It just didn’t feel right in the edit, or it wasn’t the best take for the rest of the moment to support Danny’s performance. It became what felt like the most powerful incarnation of that moment, rather than wanting the spit because it matched the game. A lovely thing about working with Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin is that there’s a huge respect and adoration of the game’s canon, but always in any given moment it’s what’s best for the emotional truth of that moment on camera.”

Mark Mylod reveals being overwhelmed with emotions

Speaking in the same interview, Mylod revealed an emotional moment he shared with his cast while shooting the latest episode:

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"Kaitlyn and Bella had to make themselves so vulnerable over multiple days to find extraordinary mental and physical stamina — to take themselves to the edge so that nothing was left on the table, emotionally. There’s always one take that does it. We built up a number of takes with Bella of just me and her feeling that there was further she could go, and she was prepared to go further. Then there was one take where I just couldn’t talk afterwards with tears running down my face, and that’s the lovely moment as a director where you know that’s the one.”

The Last of Us is exclusively available on HBO.

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