IF you’re worried that Joel’s gone for good after The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 2, don’t stress.
Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel, might not be on screen as much, but he’s definitely not done with the show. Here’s everything you need to know.
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The Last Of Us Part II video game shocked its legions of loyal fans by killing Joel, the protagonist from the first instalment—right near the start.
And Joel didn’t heroically fall victim to a fearsome fungus-fuelled zombie in the console versions.
He was beaten to death with a golf club by a young woman named Abby.
Here we take a look at what happens to Joel in the highly-rated HBO adaptation.
Does Joel die?
Yes. Joel does in fact die in The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 2.
This pivotal and shocking event occurs when Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), a new character introduced this season, brutally kills Joel in front of Ellie.
The episode titled Through the Valley builds up to Joel’s death with a series of converging storylines.
Abby, driven by a personal vendetta, is revealed to be the daughter of the doctor Joel killed at the end of Season 1, when Joel rescued Ellie from the Fireflies, dooming the potential for a cure but saving her life.
Abby and her group of former Fireflies, now hardened by years of military training and sacrifice, track Joel to the outskirts of Jackson.
After a harrowing sequence where Joel saves Abby from a horde of infected, she leads him and Dina to a lodge where her group is hiding.
Revenge
Once inside, Abby’s group subdues Dina and prepares for their true purpose: revenge.
Abby confronts Joel, demanding he admit to killing the Fireflies and her father.
After he does, she shoots him in the leg and tortures him, mercilessly beating him with the golf club — all while Ellie is forced to watch, restrained and helpless.
Seeing he’s not making out alive, Joel tells Abby to get it over with rather than begging for his life.
Unlike the game, where Abby caves Joel’s head in with the golf club, in the TV show she stabs him in the neck with its broken and jagged shaft.
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The brutality and emotional impact of the scene are heightened by the show’s refusal to soften the moment or offer any hope of survival — Joel’s death is final.
Is Joel really dead?
The sequence is not a dream, hallucination or fake-out.
It is a definitive, irreversible moment in the series, mirroring the infamous scene from the video game.
Pedro Pascal’s portrayal of Joel ends here, with the character only expected to appear in flashbacks in future episodes.
The character’s murder marks a turning point for the show, ensuring that the consequences of Joel’s actions in Season 1 of The Last of Us reverberate throughout the rest of the second series.
It was always an understanding that it would stay true to the source material in a specific way and that the, let’s say, practical and exclusive obligation would be for Season 1. It was just a matter of how and when.
Pedro Pascal
It is a seismic moment for the series, fundamentally altering the trajectory of the story and the motivations of its characters.
For Ellie, witnessing Joel’s murder becomes the catalyst for her own journey of vengeance and grief, setting up the core narrative for the rest of the season.
Has Pedro Pascal left the Last of Us?
Nope, Pedro isn’t leaving The Last of Us.
He’ll still be showing up as Joel in flashbacks throughout Season 2, and it sounds like Season 3 will have more of those too.
Who knows, maybe the show will even bring Part II’s reveal trailer to life, with Ellie promising Joel’s ghost that she’s going to “kill every single one of them.”
And Pedro knew exactly what he was signing up for as he was fully aware of Joel’s fate when he joined the project.
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He told EW: “It’s not like they said, ‘Hey, we kill you at the beginning of Season 2.’
“But it was always an understanding that it would stay true to the source material in a specific way and that the, let’s say, practical and exclusive obligation would be for Season 1.
“It was just a matter of how and when.”
Season 1 had a pretty intense production schedule, with a big focus on Pedro and Bella Ramsey.
But things shift in Season 2 and after Episode 2, Bella really takes the lead, which freed up Pascal to take on other roles (like Fantastic Four and The Mandalorian & Grogu).
So even though he might not pop up in every episode after Joel’s death, Pedro’s still very much part of the show.
As for when Joel might show up again in Season 2?
It’s a bit of a mystery right now, but based on what Neil Druckmann has hinted, Episode 6 seems like a good possibility.
He told Variety: “That episode is really special because it really gets into the heart of what the show’s about with characters that we love so much… both fans of the show and fans of the games are going to be really moved [by it].”
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