- The second game’s fatal twist has now aired
- Pascal has revealed what it was like to shoot
- He’s said he was “in denial” about at first
*Spoilers for The Last Of Us season two follow*
The dust has settled on The Last Of Us’ massive early season two twist, and Pedro Pascal has had his say.
One particular event early in The Last Of Us: Part II was always a point of controversy for fans. It’s a particularly shocking moment of violence that those unfamiliar with the story are unlikely to see coming.
This twist has now aired, occurring in the second episode of the second season. Within it, Joel (Pedro Pascal) meets a brutal end at the hands of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), the daughter of the surgeon he killed in the previous season. The surgeon was meant to operate on Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to develop a vaccine for the Cordyceps virus, but doing so would have killed her.
Read more: Why is The Last Of Us’ Abby so controversial?
Now, Pascal has shared his reaction to the dramatic turn of events that led to his exit from the show.
“I’m in active denial”
Pascal admitted to Entertainment Weekly that he was in “active denial” about his involvement in the project being over.
“I realize this more and more as I get older, I find myself slipping into denial that anything is over,” he said. “I know that I’m forever bonded to so many members of the experience and just have to see them under different circumstances, but never will under the circumstances of playing Joel on The Last of Us. And, no, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it because it makes me sad.”
Read more: The Last of US set to run for four seasons
He continued: “I was always sidestepping how I really felt, that in a big way my experience was coming to an end on the show,” Pascal reflects. “I guess that was the strangest thing to step through because I felt so bonded to everyone in the show after going through the gauntlet of season 1 together, not just with Bella, but with the entire cast and crew. So to have this goodbye was very sad for me, and I had such a physical manifestation, a violent mirror of how sad it was for Joel to die. To be honest, it was quite dreamlike.”
“I really could see this sort of grief take over everyone’s look in their eyes”
The moment suddenly became real when Pascal appeared on set in his makeup and prosthetics for the death scene. It emulated a swollen left eye, blood stains, bruises, and cracked limbs.
“[I] killed the vibe completely as soon as anyone set their eyes on me,” he said. “This kind of shock and heartbreak… it was weird to be on the receiving end of that. It’s like the extreme version of, ‘Is there something on my face?’ I really could see this sort of grief take over everyone’s look in their eyes.”
To make Joel’s death all the more galling, Abby kills him in front of Ellie. As he dies, he moves his hand towards her, knowing she needs help but is physically unable to provide it.
“I have no idea if it’s captured on camera, but [there’s] a subtle sense that Joel can hear her in the last breath of life that he has left in him,” he explained. “He can hear her calling for him and hear that she’s in danger and wants to help her and is unable to lift even a finger to do so. I remember playing that, and that was really devastating.”
