The latest episode of The Last of Us had Joel taking out the character of Eugene (Joe Pantoliano), and while it has been teased that his death was a major story moment, it was originally conceived as a scene from the game which would have something to do with a character that would have been Ellie’s ‘Step-Mom’.
In a recent talk with Collider, series writer Halley Gross reveals that she and Neil Druckmann had originally conceived the character of Esther for Part II, who would have been Joel’s girlfriend in Jackson. Gross describes the scene:
“… that sequence where Joel and Ellie happen upon somebody who they love, who’s already been infected, was a really old idea that we had for the second game. Instead of Eugene, Joel had a girlfriend, and her name was Esther. They were arriving at an electric dam because things weren’t working, and they found everybody dead but Esther. She was reconciling with the fact that this was it. She was bitten, and she was facing down her own death, and Joel sat with her while she reconciled with that, knowing that she couldn’t come back in.”
The scene was supposed to drive home the point of Ellie feeling guilty about being immune and how Joel would still have Esther if there was some kind of cure, but they ultimately decided to scrap the concept and bring it back for their new treatment for Eugene.
If anything, the series did make a lot of relevant story changes. Besides pushing the reveal of Joel and Ellie’s final talk forward in the story, they also included Joel’s confession about what really happened at Salt Lake.
If anything, I am curious about how they’re going to treat the story moving forward since there is still the question of Abby and how the game treats her, but hopefully everyone will be onboard by the time Season 3 rolls in.
Catch the finale of The Last of Us Season 2 when it premieres on HBO Max on Sunday.
