The Last of Us Co-Creators On Creative Choices & The Show's Ending

The Last of Us season finale aired on Sunday breaking yet another viewership record. In anticipation of the final episode, the show co-creators, Niel Druckmann and Craig Maizin, had an interview with GQ where they discussed the creative choices and deviations of the HBO series from the source material, their approach to adapting the game's ending for television, and their plans for the future of the series.

Warning: If you haven't played the game or watched the series yet, be aware that this article discusses key moments from both the game and the series, and may contain spoilers.

Speaking of parts of the game that didn't make it into the show, Maizin recalled the hotel basement scene. He explained that it is much more difficult to create solo sequences in a passive medium, such as film or television, where there is only one character on screen and the focus is primarily on action and atmosphere.

According to him, action sequences are better appreciated when viewed through the reactions and interactions of the characters. As an example, he brought up an episode where Tess, Joel, and Ellie are in a museum and encounter clickers, and how the character magic happens through their interactions with each other during the action sequence.

Druckmann, meanwhile, shared that the game's scene where Joel falls on the rebar is actually one of his favorites, however, even despite this, the showrunners decided not to include it in the series as in this case "the show would have suffered" because, according to Naughty Dog's co-president, "Joel falling on the rebar is less realistic for the show."

The co-creators of the series also spoke about the final episode of The Last of Us where Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, goes to extreme lengths to save Bella Ramsey's character Ellie, resulting in the doom of the remaining world to a prolonged post-apocalyptic existence.

This scene is what both co-creators and interviewer refer to as a "John Wick moment" for Joel, which closely recreated the ending of the game itself. 

"When it's time for Joel to rise to the occasion and show us what he's made of, to save Ellie, we don't shy away from it. We show it in all its awfulness and awesomeness," Druckmann said.

"John Wick does live in a slightly heightened world. With this, we're trying to be a bit more grounded. But when we get to the very end, we do give him his John Wick moment," Maizin added. "The one thing that gives him the god mode powerup to not get shot and to shoot everybody else is saving Ellie. Because that's where we want to see overpowered Joel and we understand that he's fueled by this love that is beautiful and dark at the same time."

Additionally, Druckmann and Maizin discussed the potential changes to the ending of the series. Maizin shared that director Ali Abbasi suggested a longer and sadder version of the ending in which Ellie says "okay" before turning away from Joel, who watches her walk towards Jackson, and the two of them are then seen walking separately, not truly together. This caused the creators to question how fans of the game would react.

"There was something beautiful about it. Everybody was like ‘what do we do?’ And there was that meta-discussion of, are the people that played the game going to be more annoyed that they didn't get it just the way it's supposed to be, or are they gonna be more annoyed that they only got what they had before? And then how will everybody else feel?" Mazin said.

Speaking of the future of The Last of Us series, the show's co-creators reiterated that Part II will be split into multiple seasons, although they haven't specified whether it will span two or more seasons.

You can learn more by reading the full interview here. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform, our Reddit page, and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.