[Editor’s note: The following interview contains spoilers for “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 2.]
Still reeling from the latest developments on “Severance,” “The White Lotus,” and “Yellowjackets”? Spring TV is already a doozy in 2025, but “The Last of Us” isn’t letting up. For Season 2, Episode 2, “Through the Valley,” HBO’s wildly inventive mushroom/zombie apocalypse pulled a classic watercooler move and stunned audiences with an unforgettable loss.
“He dies believing he deserves to die, and that’s a truly wretched way to go,” writes IndieWire’s Ben Travers. Reviewing the episode, Travers described the attack at its center as “astonishing” — with a slew of TV fans agreeing that the sudden demise of Pedro Pascal‘s hero is among TV’s most shocking deaths to date.
Yes, Joel — the beloved hunky loner, who drove much of Season 1, and became a father-figure to Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who must now lead Season 2 — is gone. It’s a scene so horrifying you might forget it adapts a video game released in 2020. Speaking with IndieWire, knowing this particular character loss has brought rage to the internet before, series co-creator Craig Mazin had already anticipated the fans’ grief.
“That’s OK,” Mazin said. “I think they might think they’re angry with me. That’s fine. I think they might just be angry, which is also OK. I mean, this show is designed to provoke some pretty intense feelings, and wherever those feelings go is fine. The most important thing is that they feel something. The worst thing would be if they went, ‘Eh!‘ Then, I would’ve really failed.”
But making viewers feel “angry,” “sad,” or even “confused”? That’s an artistic win for the showrunner. Mazin stressed the importance of processing Season 2, Episode 2’s horrific clincher with patience. He also offered hope that “The Last of Us” could surprise even the most outraged in the end. HBO has already renewed the show for Season 3, expanding the narrative beyond the two-part source material.
“Give yourself time to see how you feel about it a week later, two weeks later,” Mazin said. “And I will say, give the show time. You may think it’s going this way, and it ends up going that way.”
Watch the interview in the video at the top of this story.
“The Last of Us” Season 2 airs new episodes on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
