[Editor’s note: The following interview contains spoilers for “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 2.]
Nonetheless reeling from the newest developments on “Severance,” “The White Lotus,” and “Yellowjackets”? Spring TV is already a doozy in 2025, however “The Final of Us” isn’t letting up. For Season 2, Episode 2, “Via the Valley,” HBO’s wildly ingenious mushroom/zombie apocalypse pulled a basic watercooler transfer and surprised audiences with an unforgettable loss.
“He dies believing he deserves to die, and that’s a very wretched solution to go,” writes IndieWire’s Ben Travers. Reviewing the episode, Travers described the assault at its middle as “astonishing” — with a slew of TV followers agreeing that the sudden demise of Pedro Pascal‘s hero is amongst TV’s most stunning deaths so far.
Sure, Joel — the beloved hunky loner, who drove a lot of Season 1, and have become a father-figure to Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who should now lead Season 2 — is gone. It’s a scene so horrifying you may overlook it adapts a online game launched in 2020. Talking with IndieWire, realizing this specific character loss has introduced rage to the web earlier than, collection co-creator Craig Mazin had already anticipated the followers’ grief.
“That’s OK,” Mazin mentioned. “I believe they may suppose they’re indignant with me. That’s advantageous. I believe they may simply be indignant, which can also be OK. I imply, this present is designed to impress some fairly intense emotions, and wherever these emotions go is ok. A very powerful factor is that they really feel one thing. The worst factor could be in the event that they went, ‘Eh!‘ Then, I’d’ve actually failed.”
However making viewers really feel “indignant,” “unhappy,” and even “confused”? That’s an inventive win for the showrunner. Mazin careworn the significance of processing Season 2, Episode 2’s horrific clincher with persistence. He additionally supplied hope that “The Final of Us” may shock even probably the most outraged ultimately. HBO has already renewed the present for Season 3, increasing the narrative past the two-part supply materials.
“Give your self time to see how you are feeling about it every week later, two weeks later,” Mazin mentioned. “And I’ll say, give the present time. Chances are you’ll suppose it’s going this manner, and it finally ends up going that manner.”
Watch the interview within the video on the prime of this story.
“The Final of Us” Season 2 airs new episodes on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.