MAJOR The Last of Us season 2 spoilers ahead!
If you thought The Last of Us season 2 couldn't get more dramatic than its premiere, then you'd be wrong. Season 2 primes us for some emotional drama by showing just how much Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) are at odds, and throwing Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), who's seeking revenge on Joel for her own father's murder, into the mix shatters everything.
The Last of Us season 2, episode 2, "Through The Valley" is already being heralded by social media users as one of the best episodes in TV history. But it's definitely memorable for one specific reason: the episode killed off Joel, played by Pedro Pascal.
Let's talk about what the heck just happened with Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) in The Last of Us season 2.
Does Joel die in episode 2?
Liane Hentscher/HBO
Joel Miller (played by Pedro Pascal in the hit HBO show) dies in The Last of Us season 2, episode 2. "People are going to be upset. That's sometimes how good drama goes," executive producer Craig Mazin tellsUSA 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."
The horrifying moment comes after a blizzard — and some infected — put Abby, Joel, and Dina (Isabela Merced) on a collision course. After they rescue her from the aforementioned infected, Abby brings the two Jackson residents back to the lodge in the mountains where her group is hiding. Meanwhile Jackson, dealing with its own infected attack, burns in the distance.
Joel's anxious to return to town, but he's got bigger problems: Abby recognizes him as the man who killed her father (and wiped out the Firefly hospital) and, after putting Dina to sleep, Abby takes out five years' worth of anger and devastation on him with a golf club. Yeah. None of us can believe it either.
"that shattered me. forever ruined," one X user said, while another added, "the fact that Joel saw another kid in danger and didn't doubt in saving her.... dooming himself" with an Interstellar scene of Matthew McConaughey sobbing. Relatable.
But even more horrifying is when Ellie finds the lodge and bursts into the room. When she begs Joel to get up, there's a moment when you can see a beaten Joel start to lift himself up from the ground before Abby uses the now-broken golf club to kill him. I hope Ellie holds onto this moment and knows Joel was willing and able to do whatever it took to keep her safe!! I will scream about them forever!!
As Abby's group leaves, Ellie swears she'll kill them, and "you can't help but believe it is absolutely true," Craig says. There's a truly devastating shot of Ellie lying over Joel's body in the empty room that parallels her nursing him back to health at the end of season 1, episode 7 and I don't know if I'll ever get over it.
Why was Joel killed off?
In addition to being literal retribution for the death of Abby's father, Joel's death is a catalyst for Ellie's journey throughout the rest of the season as she grapples with revenge, grief, and anger. "Loss is kind of how this story functions, so this was largely preordained," Craig continues.
And yes, Pedro was aware of this devastating scene when he signed up for the life-changing role. "When I talked to Pedro the first time, I said, 'This is how this will go,'" Craig says. "I wanted him to know that we're not going to do this for seven seasons with you in that spot. We're going to do a season, and if it goes well and there's a second season, this will happen."
What happens to Ellie after Joel dies?
Liane Hentscher/HBO
The trailer for the rest of The Last of Us season 2 shows that Ellie and Dina aren't giving up until they enact their own revenge on Abby and her group. The two women are headed for Seattle and they're up against infected, the militia, and everything else this post-apocalyptic world has to throw at them.
But even though Joel's gone for good, Pedro isn't. We're in for plenty of flashbacks that fill in those five years between seasons 1 and 2!
Tune into new episodes of The Last of Us season 2 on HBO and Max Sundays at 9 PM ET to see what happens next.
The story's not over yet! Here's the last news on The Last Of Us Season 3.