In a recent episode of The OfficialThe Last of UsPodcast, game director Neil Druckmann, and other developers at Naughty revealed that they are very aware of the fact thatThe Last of Us 2is one of their most-divisive games. Of course, the biggest point of contention revolves aroundthe ultimate fate of one of the game’s major characters, but before anything else, players should note thatMAJOR SPOILERSwill follow.
Players who have already experienced the full story ofThe Last of Us 2would know that the game’s biggest twist revolves around the scene where Joel met a gruesome end. Not only did this plot twist launch the events of the game itself, but it alsosparked a major controversyfrom players who were not happy with the sudden passing of one ofThe Last of Us’smajor characters. During the recent podcast episode, Neil Druckmann along with game directors Kurt Margenau and Anthony Newmann, revealed when exactly the team decided to seal Joel’s fate, and it appears that it was earlier than what most people would expect.
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According to the developers, the decision to kill off Joel in the sequel was already made final during the last days of production of the first game, and while Druckmann and the team were still writing the script forthe Left Behind DLC. Additionally, Druckmann revealed the reason why Joel had to die, saying that the first game pretty much concluded his story arc. “In my mind, Joel’s arc was pretty much done,” Druckmann said. “I didn’t know where else to take that character — but Ellie there was…it felt at least at the time it was going to be right for all these other stories.”
Although Druckmann did not talk about it in detail, his comments in the podcast suggest that Joel’s death was already decided even before the sequel’s official development. This could mean that even before Naughty Dog came up with the Abby storyline,Joel would have died anywaygiven that Druckmann himself said that he “didn’t know where else to take that character.” Interestingly enough, Naughty Dog also touched on some of the game’s most prominent themes, saying that they decided to make hate the central theme inThe Last of Us 2and explore all the horrible things people are willing to do and whether there is any way to come back from that.
In the end, Naughty Dog revealed that while hate became the guiding emotion throughoutThe Last of Us 2’sstorytelling, Druckmann’s ultimate question, on whether people can come back from doing all those horrible things, is a much more important theme to the game’s resolution. Of course, those who have playedThe Last of Us 2would know that this ultimate question gets answered towards the end of the game, from both the perspectives of Ellie and Abby.
