Warning: This article contains spoilers forThe Last of Us Part II.
I think I’ve figured out whenThe Last of Usseason 2 will end — and it’ll be the perfect stopping point for the TV series’ ambitious adaptation ofPart II. Since HBO’sThe Last of Usis confirmed to be splitting up the story of the second game into more than one season, there’s been a lot of discussion about when the TV show will take a break. There are a few options; if it follows Ellie and Abby’s adventures in Seattle simultaneously, it could break when they unwittingly cross paths at the hospital.
Now thatThe Last of Usseason 2 has released a full trailer, the shape the adaptation is taking is becoming a little clearer. With a couple of tweaks aside, the TV show seems to be sticking as faithfully to the second game as it did to the first game in season 1. As an avid player of the games who’s sunk over 500 hours into this franchise, I’m delighted that the TV adaptation seems to be staying game-accurate as it dives intoPart II. And one key shot from the trailer seems to suggest where season 2 will end.
I Think The Last Of Us Season 2 Will End With Abby’s Backstory Reveal
The TV Audience Needs To Be Given A Reason To Care About Abby
Throughout the production ofThe Last of Usseason 2, a handful of leaks and photos from the set hinted at how much of the game would be covered. There wereset photos covering all three of Ellie’s Seattle days, from the battle on Capitol Hill with Dina to her journey to the aquarium with Jesse, and there were almost no photos featuring Abby actor Kaitlyn Dever.This suggested that the TV show would follow the same story structure as the game, covering Ellie’s entire journey through Seattle before going back to show Abby’s perspectiveof the same three days.
The Last of Usseason 2 is set to premiere on HBO in the first half of 2025.
The natural stopping point would be when Abby arrives at the theaterto confront Ellie. There’s even a built-in cut-to-black that would see out the season 2 finale. But the more I think about it, the morethat seems like a dissatisfying place to end the season. It’s one thing in a video game, where the player can continue the story right away, but it’ll be a different experience when TV viewers have to wait two years for season 3. Since there are still no answers when Abby arrives at the theater, viewers would probably be disappointed by that cliffhanger.
Every Video Game Scene Teased In The Last Of Us Season 2 Trailer
The teaser trailer for The Last of Us season 2 has a few sequences that are practically shot-for-shot recreations of iconic moments from the game.
Based on the trailer shot of Abby grieving at her father’s graveside,I’m convinced season 2 will end shortly after the theater confrontation with the series of flashbacks explaining Abby’s backstory. This is an awesome rug-pull in the game. You’ve spent hours as Ellie, relentlessly tracking down Abby and murdering all her friends along the way in the ugly pursuit of revenge, and then these flashbacks reveal thatAbby had a solid reason for killing Joel.That’ll make for a more satisfying season finale (and drum up more excitement for season 3)than a standard cut-to-black after a shocking twist.
Why The Last Of Us Season 2 Shouldn’t End At The Theater
The Shock Value Would Be Undermined By The Unanswered Questions
There would certainly be some shock value in endingThe Last of Usseason 2at the theater. After Ellie has spent three days trying to find Abby, Abby comes to her. She knocks down Tommy, she kills Jesse, and she holds Ellie at gunpoint, eager to pull the trigger. It would make for a jaw-dropping cliffhanger, but the surprise factor would ultimately be undermined by the unanswered questions.At that point, there are still no answers to any of the mysteries— primarily Abby’s identity and why she killed Joel —so it might be a disappointing ending for season 2.
10 Ways HBO’s Last Of Us Game Changes Will Affect Season 2
The Last of Us season 1 made a few changes to the game’s narrative and lore that will have a ripple effect on season 2’s adaptation of Part II.
This disappointment would be made even worse two years later when the trailers for season 3 arrived teasing a full season of Abby.If season 2 ends at the theater and the audience still has no idea who Abby is beyond Joel’s sadistic killer, then they’ll have been given no reason to empathize with her, so they won’t be too thrilled that season 3 is mostly from her perspective. Instead, season 2 should use the flashback montage to explain who Abby is and why she did what she did.
Resolving the mystery of who Abby is before the finale is over would give season 2 a sense of closure that would be missing if it ended at the theater.
Resolving the mystery of who Abby is before the finale is over would give season 2 a sense of closure that would be missing if it ended at the theater. Viewers who have been wondering who Abby is the whole time Ellie has been hunting her will finally get a satisfactory answer to that question. And when season 3’s trailers arrive promising to show Abby’s perspective of the Seattle days, viewers will be more excited to find out more about her.
Putting Abby’s Zebra Scene In The Season 2 Finale Would Parallel Ellie’s Giraffe Scene In The Season 1 Finale
These Two Animal Scenes Show That Ellie & Abby Aren’t So Different
The first of the Abby flashbacks goes back four years to show her in a park with her dad, Jerry, trying to find a pregnant zebra that escaped from a nearby zoo to help her give birth. They find that the zebra already had her baby and got caught in a barb-wire trap, so they free her and follow her back to her baby, where their location is finally revealed: St. Mary’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. As it turns out, the zebra escaped from the same zoo asthe giraffes that Joel and Ellie sawinPart I.
10 Last Of Us 2 Flashbacks That HBO’s Season 2 Must Include (Despite The Game Criticisms)
Some critics have argued that The Last of Us Part II’s flashbacks hurt the narrative’s pacing, but they give the present-day storyline more impact.
Joel and Ellie have just arrived at the hospital, and Jerry is the surgeon planning to turn Ellie’s immunity into a cure. Not only does this scene finally explain why Abby killed Joel (and with a good reason); it also highlightsthe similarities between Ellie and Abby. They both love their dad and want nothing more than to avenge him after he’s killed. To hammer home these similarities, Abby’s zebra scene draws a parallel with Ellie’s giraffe scene — and putting it in the season 2 finale would create a nice parallel with the season 1 finale.
Why The Last Of Us TV Show Mirroring The Game’s Structure Is A Huge Risk
The Last Of Us Part II Has Been Criticized For Pacing Issues
MirroringThe Last of Us Part II’s disjointed nonlinear structure in the TV adaptation is a huge risk, because the game has been criticized for pacing issues, and for taking too much time away from Ellie.The TV show could’ve fixed the pacing issue by showing Ellie and Abby’s Seattle perspectives simultaneously, but that would’ve been much too conventional and taken away the unique power of this story.The whole point is to get the audience as singularly focused on killing Abby as Ellie is; that wouldn’t work if it kept cutting away to Abby’s redemption arc.
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Bella Ramsey nailed Ellie’s innocence and naivety in The Last of Us season 1, but the character takes a lot of dark turns in The Last of Us Part II.
The break between seasons 2 and 3 might help in this case. In the game, it’s a drastic change of pace to go from Ellie sailing through a flooded city to murder her arch-nemesis to Abby eating a burrito in the safety of a sports stadium. But after a season break, it would make sense forThe Last of Us’ season 3 premiere to slow down a bit after a climactic, action-packed season 2 finale.
The Last Of Us
Cast
The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic drama series set two decades after a global catastrophe. It follows Joel, a seasoned survivor, who is tasked with escorting Ellie, a teenage girl, across a desolated United States, transforming into a harrowing journey of survival and companionship.
