April 21 (UPI) — The Last of Us actor Pedro Pascal says he is “in active denial” over the twist that occurs for his character, Joel, in Season 2, Episode 2, of the video game adaptation.
Spoilers Ahead
Based on the games The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II, the HBO series follows Joel (Pascal) and teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they try to survive a post-apocalyptic world where people are transformed into zombie-like creatures by a rampant fungus.
In the Season 1 finale, Ellie, potentially the only person who is immune to the disease, is slated to undergo a surgery that would potentially yield a cure. But when Joel discovers that Ellie would be killed during the procedure, he kills the surgeon and the faction known as the Fireflies.
Season 1 concludes as the pair arrive safely in Jackson, Wy., but, because Ellie had not been conscious during Joel’s killing spree, she is unaware of what occurred.
Kaitlyn Dever attends the 31st annual SAG Awards in February. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
Season 2 introduces viewers to Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), whose father was the surgeon killed by Joel, and who is seeking to avenge his death.
In “Through the Valley,” which aired Sunday, Abby enacted her revenge by killing Joel in front of Ellie.
Pedro Pascal arrives on the red carpet for the Met Gala in 2023. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Pascal said he was “in active denial” about his time on the show coming to a close.
“I realize this more and more as I get older, I find myself slipping into denial that anything is over. 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,” he told the outlet.
Bella Ramsey attends the 29th annual Critics’ Choice Awards in 2024. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
He added that he “was always sidestepping” his feelings over his character’s death and subsequent absence from the show.
“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 said it was for Joel to die. To be honest, it was quite dreamlike.”
Actor Pedro Pascal arrives for the Golden Globe Awards in 2024. File Photo by Chris Chew/UPI
In addition, series showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann spoke with Variety about deciding when Joel would die.
“Ultimately, I think we needed just to settle back into the show,” Druckmann said. “Because even in the game, there’s like an hour or something before you get to this moment. But we also knew it needed to be early enough, because this is the inciting incident for the story. So yes, we always pick every permutation, but the later it got in the season, it just felt we were kind of dragging our feet instead of just getting to the meat of what the story is about.”
Mazin added that they didn’t want to torture fans.
“If people know it’s coming, they will start to feel tormented. And people who don’t know it’s coming are going to find out it’s coming, because people are going to talk about the fact that it hasn’t shown up yet. Our instinct was to make sure that when we did it, that it felt natural in the story and was not some meta-function of us wanting to upset people,” he said.
Pascal shared an on-set photo with Dever on Instagram following the episode.
“Blizzard Buddies,” he captioned the post. “Thank you, scene partner. You little miracle.”
Pascal discussed his bond with Dever in an “Inside Episode 2” featurette released by HBO, saying “it’s very ironic that something so violent and tragic between its characters can immediately bond you to the actor.”
The Last of Us airs Sundays at 9 p.m. EDT on HBO and also streams on Max.
