As The Last of Us concludes on HBO after a tremendous first season, the time has come to look back on what made the show such a breakout hit for the network, with skyrocketing and record-breaking viewing figures mixed with critical acclaim for the apocalyptic drama, led magnificently by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. Speaking with Empire Magazine, the key players in the series have reflected on the successes and the scenes which worked best for them throughout their process.
The Opening Episodes
All "zombie-adjacent" films and shows tend to begin the same way - with the outbreak, and The Last of Us was no exception, taking its time to take us through Sarah's (Nico Parker) last day with her father Joel (Pascal), before she is brutally shot by a soldier who panics under pressure. It's pivotal, because the incident informs Joel's character arc for the entire series. "As quickly as that moment happens in the first episode, we shot that scene all night," said Pascal. "It was physically and emotionally one of the hardest nights of shooting I've ever had."
"That was a rough night," says Craig Mazin, showrunner. "I think we did eight takes and the one we used was take eight! Pedro was beating himself up, saying, 'I haven't gotten there, I haven't gotten there.' Because he knew how important it was. And then he got there. And boy, did he ever."
Bill and Frank
A major diversion taken by the series involved the characters of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett). Bill, a supporting character in the game, is given a full twenty-year backstory alongside his lover, Frank - who doesn't even appear in the game, apart from at the end of a noose. The creators used the medium of television to give viewers one of the greatest 'standalone' episodes in television history. 'I don't even know the words for the reaction to this episode," said Neil Druckmann, co-creator. "It's flattering and it's weird to walk down the street and hear people talking about The Last Of Us randomly all around you."
Pascal concurs. "It's like the icing on the cake with a cherry on top, and a little crack!" The episode marked a milestone too, for its representation of LGBTQ characters 'of a certain age'. "The letters that we've received are beautiful and sometimes make me cry," said Mazin. "Over the last 20 years, the visibility of LGBTQ people on television has increased dramatically, but not necessarily if you're 65 or 75 and in a monogamous relationship." The message left by Bill for Joel to find underlines the narrative thread of finding a purpose for your own life - death is more meaningful when you're truly alive, and have someone to live for.
Henry, Sam and the Bloater
While The Last of Us had already introduced audiences to the prospect of heartbreaking loss to characters we've barely known, few moments hit as hard as the story of Henry (Lamar Johnson), a teenage Firefly-turned-rogue and Sam (Keivonn Woodard), his Deaf little brother. At the conclusion of an incredibly tense action scene, with involves the introduction of a Bloater - a fan-favourite infected that barrels around like Donkey Kong - Henry, Sam, Joel and Ellie escape to a nearby building to recover, only for the next morning to discover Sam has been bitten and turned. On the Bloater, Druckmann notes: "Throughout the season we talked about tone, about how grounded we wanted it to be. So we decided no Bloaters in the show. But we kind of missed it and thought there must be a cool way to get it in there."
But the truly memorable moment involves Henry and Sam. Horrified by what's happened, Henry takes his gun and puts his little brother out of his misery, before turning the gun on himself in front of Joel and Ellie, who bury the brothers, with Ellie leaving a note on Sam's grave simply stating "I'm sorry." As bleak as it is, it's vital to show Joel how close Ellie will always be to death. "It was important to show to Joel that if you lose her, you lose. That's it," says Druckmann.
Riley, David, First Love and The End of Innocence
Episode 7 takes us on another diversion back in time, but on this occasion, it's with Ellie. Based on the video game add-on Left Behind, it follows Ellie on a night of fun-turned-tragedy with Riley (Storm Reid), her best friend and first crush. The game, a flashback, is set in the Winter section of The Last of Us, when a stricken Joel is on the verge of death, and Ellie - alone - ventures out to seek food and medicine. When Ellie first brings up Sarah, Joel cuts her off immediately claiming she knows nothing of loss, when in truth, Ellie was forced to kill the only person she'd ever loved. "It felt so heartbreaking that it had to be that way. She carries the weight of that with her," said Ramsey. "That's why she's so determined to look after Joel. She can't live without him."
While on her quest to help Joel, she encounters David, an Evangelical cannibalistic predator (played by Scott Shepherd), who traps her, determined to make her his other half. Using her wits and the survival skills Joel taught her, she escapes - but when David catches her and pins her to the ground, about to commit a vile act on her, Ellie snaps and violently kills him, staggering into Joel's arms outside the burning restaurant in shock. "I can see instantly that she's been through an experience that I couldn't protect her from, and from this point forward, nothing will ever happen to her again as far as I'm concerned," said Pascal.
The Lie
The season ends on the darkest of notes. Having finally made it to the Firefly hospital in Salt Lake City, Joel awakens to discover Ellie has been taken to surgery - where the procedure to extract the part of her brain which has rendered her immune to the Cordyceps virus - will kill her. Having lost Sarah already, he refuses to let it happen again, going into a dissociative state and gunning down everyone in his way to save his "baby girl". On their way home, Ellie stirs in the car and asks what happened, and Joel feeds her a lie about the hospital being raided, and how her immunity couldn't be manipulated into a vaccine, which Ellie does not believe in her heart.
"I think Ellie knows," says Ramsey. "There's a part of her that knows or fears he's not telling the truth. But she has to believe it. Because she can't think about what it would mean if he isn't telling the truth. She has to believe, because otherwise it would break her heart."
The future for Joel and Ellie is now uncertain - at least for those who haven't played The Last of Us Part II. Season 2 has been greenlit, and the wait begins to see where their story takes us next. But for now, the debate will rage on - was Joel selfish, corrent, heroic, the villain, or just a little bit of everything?
The Last of Us is streaming in full on HBO Max now.