[This story contains spoilers for The Last of Us season two, episode seven.]
The last of us Season two ended with a shot and a cryptic title card: “Seattle Day One”.
What does it mean? The Hollywood Reporter For the first time, the co-creator Craig Mazin, and Mazin and Co-creator Neil Druckmann also answered journalists at a final press conference, tackling several burning questions.
The first question, of course, is whether Ellie (Bella Ramsey) died of what seemed to be Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) which shoots him (with a burning: “I let you live – and you wasted! »).
If you don’t want to know the answer to it, jump the rest of this paragraph. Mazin firmly says that we have not seen the last of Ellie. In addition, the show was extremely faithful in its adaptation of its source equipment, the PlayStation Games The last of us And The last of us part II. In the game, Ellie survives this meeting with Abby and has a major role to play in the rest of the story.
As for the end showing that Abby was excited to sleep and a title card “Seattle Day One”, this probably indicates another change in the narrative goal of the show. While the creators refused to confirm this explicitly this during the interviews, as was the prospect of the show went from Joel (Pedro Pascal) to Ellie, season three will probably move again to tell the story of Abby – assuming that the show follows the tracks established by the game. It is not only an intelligent narrative device, but part of the theme of the show.
“I don’t think television is supposed to work like this,” says Mazin. “We clearly breed a lot of rules, and I love it. And I love it because This is the point. This is not something we do as a gadget. The purpose of this story – and this is examined from so many different angles in so many different ways – is that the whole concept of protagonist is defective. The entire concept of bad guys is imperfect. Our way of treating the world through heroes and bad guys is a mistake. This ends up creating these barriers between people who should not be there. This ends up giving us justifications and amenities for bad behavior, and it allows us to judge others summarily for things that we do not understand the motivation behind. We know it is a difficult thing to follow emotionally. We understand that people will be caused. But part of this story is to examine why we are so comfortable with the point of view of a person on everything. »»
“Abby is the hero of his story,” added Mazin later. “Wherever we go, we will always focus someone, whether it’s Ellie and Dina, or Abby and Owen … [But] Everything is under the cloud or the light of Joel’s sun – which Joel did to Abby and what Abby did to Joel. “”
The final also saw the death of Jesse (Young Mazino), which was shot down by Abby. “This is an interesting situation because Jesse dies in part because of Ellie, but Ellie does not shoot the trigger – Abby does it,” says Mazin. “And we understand that Dina had this great relationship with Joel and she went in search of Abby by sense of justice for that. So now, the question is: who does she blame [for Jesse’s death]? Jesse’s death will change things for her. »»
Another great moment – and a very different from the game – was the traumatic death of the pregnant friend of Abby Mel (Ariela Bararer).
“In the match, Ellie Combat Owen (Spencer Lord), then fights Mel, and it is only after Mel dies that his coat opens and Ellie realizes that she is pregnant,” said Mazin. “But for that, Ellie is not really able to kill Owen – you look at Bella and you watch Spencer Lord, he has 6’4” and simply incredibly imposing. A physical struggle was not going to go well, and it is not there to kill them. She just wants to kill Abby. I remember told Neil that it is screwed up. “”
Mazin continues: “In order not to be a executioner, but to simply reflect reality, Mel is a doctor and understands at that time because she would die that there is a chance to save her child. This is rooted in our theme – parents who do everything they can to save their child. And the poor Ellie in these circumstances is confronted by the horrible consequences of his prosecution and also a terrible child. Understand what they say because they lack oxygen and slip.
We also asked Mazin if Ellie – given his overwhelming experience with Mel – would have killed Abby if Ellie had obtained the drop on her rather than the reverse. “I would undoubtedly say,” says Mazin. “It wouldn’t even be if she had it in her, it would be what she doesn’t Having it – which is the ability to hold back in pursuit of this. I think that Ellie would have crouching right next to Abby and would have given a speech very similar to that that Abby delivered to Joel. »»
As for ending on a cliffhanger, Mazin says they have planned other ways to end the season.
“We have considered everything,” says Mazin. “Maybe we should just intertwine the stories [of Ellie and Abby]? I just remember saying: ‘is not [switching perspectives] Part of the genetics of the way this story works? It’s just part of genetics. Now what it means is that we have to take risks as a television issue, and HBO supports us by taking risks. But then again, we have just killed Pedro Pascal. As [HBO] Understands that this program will be a different program every season, which is a difficult thing to do when you are a successful show. You continue to ask people like: “I know you like it, we take it and you give that now.” »»
Another key question: will Joel appear in season three? Mazin gave the impression that a potential flashback trip featuring Joel and Tommy (Gabriel Luna) is not outside the table. “Next season, we will probably have much more flexibility [to tell side stories]Said Mazin. “Maybe a parallel trip to make Joel and Tommy terrorizing the countryside, we will never know. I would not have guessed that we would have a news on Joel’s father before writing the season. “And then later, he said:”[Tommy’s] I was at war, and we also know that for some time, he and Joel have been doing very bad things. So there is the potential to see this other side of Tommy, and it is now on this subject which holds his promise including his brother. »»
The duo also teased season three – to a certain extent, because they did not want to give anything crucial.
“We tell you that next season, one, there is an epic nature to everything that is about to happen,” said Druckmann. “But this other story will be really important to return to Joel and Ellie and everything we have seen so far.”
Adds Mazin: “All I can say is that we have not seen the last of Kaitlyn Dever, and we did not see the last of Bella Ramsey, and we have not seen the last of Isabela Merced, and we have not even seen the last of many people who are currently died in history.”
