Neil Druckmann Retcons The Last of Us Again, Undermining Part 1's Ending

Say what you will about The Last of Us Part 2 or the series' TV adaptation, there's no denying that the OG 2013 The Last of Us was a once-in-a-generation masterpiece.

Aside from the obvious elements that made the game so great – like its standout gameplay and engaging story – one of its strongest aspects was the moral ambiguity of its ending, which, for those who, 12 years later, still aren't aware, was whether Joel was morally right to stop the Firefly doctors from killing Ellie in hopes of creating a cure for Cordyceps.

What made the ending so memorable and thought-provoking was – besides the obvious "save the (de facto) daughter vs. save the world" dilemma – the uncertainty over whether or not Fireflies would even succeed in producing the remedy, fueling years worth of speculation and pages upon pages of discussion between those who sided with Joel and those who believed his decision doomed humanity.

And while healthy debate and differences of opinion are always welcome and should be celebrated, it's no secret that Naughty Dog's current Studio Head and The Last of Us Part 2 Director, Neil Druckmann, has his own ideas about how you should think. Since taking control of the franchise, he's consistently pushed the idea of Joel as the bad guy – most notably by killing him off in Part 2, something many fans still haven't forgiven and likely never will.

Now, with HBO's The Last of Us Season 2 facing the same backlash Part II did in 2020 – reflected in lower viewership compared to Season 1 and dismal review scores – Druckmann has come forward with a bombshell retcon many perceived as a last-ditch effort to frame Joel as the villain, answering a rhetorical question no one wanted answered and revealing that yes, Fireflies would have succeeded.

Credit where it's due, Druckmann did acknowledge before revealing the intent that, however you interpret the ending, if that's your takeaway, he can't question it. That said, the very fact that he gave a definitive answer on Joel's guilt or innocence sparked heavy criticism on social media. Fans on Joel's side slammed Naughty Dog's shot caller for retconning his own opinion into canon, and even those not necessarily siding with Joel argued the reveal undermined the experience, contradicted in-game lore, and was, in general, unnecessary.

A reveal similar to that – as in, detracting and not needed – occurred in 2023 with a franchise even bigger than The Last of Us, when Tim Cain, co-creator of the original 1997 Fallout, stated that it was China who launched the nukes first and triggered the atomic war that created the Fallout wasteland, thus destroying the decades-old mystery of who pressed the button first even before that mystery was, no pun intended, nuked by Amazon's Fallout series and its nonsensical claim that Vault-Tec itself was responsible. Remaining silent is indeed a dying art.

Don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.