The Last of Us: Famous Ending almost got changed for the series

All speeches about the end of The Last of Us. Not only in 2013, when the game was first released for the PS3, did the last few seconds spark a debate. And for the series, too, the ending was implemented almost exactly the same. Now, for the first time, people experiencing Joel and Ellie’s journey for the very first time could feel how emotional and at the same time worthy of discussion this ending was and is. However, according to a recent interview with series creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, that much-discussed ending would have been very different for the TV adaptation. For the following lines, of course, there is a fat spoiler warning for all those who have not yet seen the end of The Last of Us!

The final scene was almost altered

The Last of Us (buy now) ends in violence and dishonesty. Unwilling to allow the Fireflies to sacrifice Ellie in their search for a cure, Joel rampages and kills anyone who stands in his way to save Ellie from death. After rescuing her, he lies about everything he just did and tells her a completely false story about what really happened at the hospital.

After the events, Joel and Ellie face each other alone just before Jackson. When Ellie asks if everything he told her really happened, Joel swears his made-up story is true. And Ellie replies with an ambiguous “Okay” before both the game and series abruptly end and the credits roll. But according to series co-creator Craig Mazin, the episode’s director had a slightly different plan for those final moments…

This plan wouldn’t have changed the ending itself at all, it would only have added something to it, as Mazin reveals in the interview: “Ali Abbasi, our director, played around with this slightly longer and sadder version where Ellie says ‘okay’ and herself then turns and walks away. And Joel watches over her. We see the two of them, not really together but separately, walking towards Jackson. The camera lingers for a moment and then fades. There was something nice about it.”

Of course, the abrupt end that it finally came to leaves us viewers thinking. But the alternative ending would have had its good points as well. For example, a longer hold on the two protagonists could have indicated the growing distrust between Joel and Ellie and ultimately their distance in the second part.

Mazin also reveals that there was internal discussion about an alternative ending, but in the end they went with the original ending: “Everyone was like, ‘What are we going to do?’. And there was this meta-discussion about whether the people who played the game, will they be more annoyed that they didn’t get it the way it’s supposed to be, or will they be more annoyed that they only got what they had before, and how will everyone else feel then In the end, there’s something very specific about ending with this close-up of Ellie. Not knowing what’s coming next. Not knowing what she’s doing. Is she walking away from him, is she walking with him, how does she feel ?”.

The second season influenced the ending

It is of course also to be considered that in 2013, when the first game came onto the market, no one could have guessed that there would be a second part and that Ellie’s story would be continued. Mazin also has something to say about this: “When we made the game, and [Spieler] When we saw that ending, no one knew if we were going to make another game. I think it was easier for people to accept that it’s not a cliffhanger but a fitting ending. This is where they might be like, ‘Oh you left us with a cliffhanger’, knowing season two is coming. So it will be interesting to see if that means people are different [auf das Ende] react”.

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