The Last of Us: Why Joel Got Killed Off In Season 2 Episode 2 (Confirmed)

Joel's fate was finally decided in Season 2, Episode 2 of HBO's The Last of Us series. 

Since his introduction as one of the series' main characters back in Season 1, Pedro Pascal's Joel Miller has gone from hardened survivor to 'trying his best' father figure, as he welcomed a lovable teenage girl into his life during a quest across the country. 

However, just because Joel's icy-hard exterior was broken down by Ellie does not mean he left his ruthless survival instinct ways in the past. Season 1 saw Joel essentially commit mass murder to 'save' Ellie from some scientists looking into the young girl's viral immunity, an action that will surely have consequences.

Joel Met His Maker in The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 2

Fans have been waiting in guarded anticipation for what was sure to be one of The Last of Us Season 2's most controversial moments, and in Episode 2, it finally came. 

Season 2, Episode 2 (titled "Through the Valley") saw Pedro Pascal's Joel Miller face off against Kaitlyn Devers' Abby, a teenage survivor who was teased to be on a warpath toward Pascal's series protagonist.

This culminated in one of the franchise's most heart-wrenching scenes in which Abby enacted her revenge on Joel, brutally killing him with a few swings of a golf club as Bella Ramsey's Ellie watched in horror. 

This results in Joel's death, which was pulled right from the game the show is based on, The Last of Us Part II—read more about whether Joel is really dead here. 

While devastating for TV viewers (and video game players before them), Joel's death is a necessary evil. With Joel dead, the rest of the Season 2/Part II story is set in motion, sending Ellie (Joel's adopted daughter) on her quest for revenge. 

Why Joel Had to Get Killed in The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 2

According to both The Last of Us showrunners and game creators, Joel's death had to happen, despite how hard it may be for fans. 

Series creator Craig Mazin called the decision the "most confident thing [to do]," praising the writers of The Last of Us game for their decision "to begin to end a story by breaking the things they have built" (via The Hollywood Reporter):

"We were planning the show, and Naughty Dog was putting the finishing touches on the second game. I got to play an early release. So I experienced that as I was still building season one, and it made [the first season] harder and more beautiful to me, in a way. What ['The Last of Us Part II' game writers Druckmann and Halley Gross] did I think was the most confident thing — which is to begin to end a story by breaking the things they have built."

Mazin posited that the idea of "how we deal with...the most specific of human suffering" was something of a thesis for the second season (and second game):

"This is how things end. We break all relationships, all the great loves of our life. The connections we have with our parents, our children—they break. And how we deal with that is the most specific of human suffering. I just thought it was so profound to take this girl—who had been literally born in blood, who had been an orphan—who was then handed off to this guy and give her a chance at this [experience]. It takes what’s maybe the most beautiful connection—the great bond between a parent and a child—and then breaks it. What does that do to her? And that is, to me, why it was important to do."

One of the sticking points with Joel's death since it first appeared in Naughty Dog's 2020 PlayStation classic has been the sheer brutality of it, as it lingers on every violent swing of Abby's golf club colliding with her victim's face. 

Mazin posited that this brutality was necessary, especially in the show, to convey that Kaitlyn Dever's new character "was not in control of herself" and that "despite her reasoned, carefully articulated point to Joel, that this is not rational:"

"We felt that the point we needed to get across was that Abby was not in control of herself. That despite her reasoned, carefully articulated point to Joel, that this is not rational. She’s going too far. There is a rage in her that I think we should understand is not the kind of anger that goes away simply because you killed someone. That’s the irony, or, I guess, the tragedy really of being consumed by something like this — there is no way to fix it except to somehow make your peace with it and let it go. Killing Joel isn’t going to fix this for her. She’s doing something wrong. And we needed to show how lost she was, and we needed to show that other people in the room are horrified by this."

Co-showrunner on the series and director of both The Last of Us games, Neil Druckmann, told The Wrap that this moment serves as the "act one break" and "carries the rest of the season," so it was something that had to happen as early as possible:

"This is the act one break, the incident that then carries the rest of the season that we needed to move it as early as possible. And as early as possible turned out to be Episode 2, because we needed to reestablish Jackson and our characters, set up some of the relationships and dynamics that now are all interrupted and thrown into disarray because of what Abby did to Joel."

For those who felt it may have been a bit early to kill off such an important character, Mazin called his fate "an inevitability" and that The Last of Us is ultimately "a show that confronts people dealing with the hardest emotion" (via Deadline):

"It does hurt tremendously when it happens. It hurts, of course it does, because we love Joel, and more importantly, because Ellie loves Joel, and we’re experiencing her heartbreak, and we’re all going to grieve the loss of this person that we’ve come to love. But in terms of the narrative, yes, it felt like an inevitability because this isn’t a show that goes on and on. This is a show that has an ending. We are a show that confronts people dealing with the hardest emotions. Watching Bella in that moment was heart-wrenching."

In a conversation with Variety, Druckmann addressed possibly changing the events of the games and moving Joel's death to later in the season, admitting that "the later it got," the more it "just felt we were kind of dragging our feet:"

"It needed to be early enough, because this is the inciting incident for this 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."

Now, with Joel off the table (at least outside of flashbacks, of which there will be plenty), the brunt of The Last of Us Season 2 can start, sending Ellie on a collision course with Abby once again.