showrunners

The wait between seasons one and two of The Last of Us was brutal, but at least that story had ended. We wanted to see what was next for Joel and Ellie, but it wasn’t absolutely necessary. That’s not the case for season two, though, which ends right smack in the middle of the story, with a cliffhanger that’s sure to frustrate many viewers. It’s all but assured that the wait for season three will be worse.

In the meantime, you are probably wondering a few things about not just the end of season two, but what’s to come in season three. And, thankfully, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann were happy to talk about that. Below, we’ll tell you what The Last of Us team had to say about the season two cliffhanger, whether that was always the ending, how things might be changing for season three, and some of the questions you should be asking as you wait.

Season two of The Last of Us ends in the middle of a key moment between Ellie and Abby before flashing back a few days to Abby. The implication, much as it is in the video game, is that we are about to see Abby’s story moving ahead, and that’s absolutely the plan.

“We often talk about what are we promising the audience going forward?” Druckmann said in a press conference. “So, for example, it was important for Craig in episode five that we show Joel in that last scene, because then there’s a promise of where we’re going to next. And had we ended the season somewhere else, maybe like a few moments before, I think that we wouldn’t be making the right promise of what this is about. And we’re telling you next season, well, one is that there’s just an epic nature to what’s about to happen. But this other story is going to be really important coming back to Joel and Ellie and everything that you’ve seen so far.”

In the game, though, the audience has a natural pain and discomfort when the point of view shifts from Ellie, a character you have been playing as, to then playing as her sworn enemy, Abby. Mazin admits it’s one place a show comes up short compared to the video game but they hope they did as good a job as possible to duplicate it.

“We can’t… reproduce the shock of becoming another person,” he said. “In games, you are Joel. You are Ellie. You are Abby. And when that shift happens, it is jarring because you have been someone. But here we are watching everybody equally on a screen. We may identify with them from time to time in different ways, and we may be conflicted, but we’re not them. So when we go to a scene where we’re somebody else, there’s the normal thing of, ‘Whoa, I’m suddenly with Jeffrey Wright in a weird, creepy kitchen. And I’m watching him torture somebody.’ That’s a little jarring, but it’s never going to be what a video game can do when you shift perspective in a massive way like that. So I think what we do, and what we’re doing correctly, is honoring the notion that there is a time period where one person experiences it one way, and another person is experiencing it so wildly different, and yet they converge. It’s a convergent storm… And that’s what matters. But can we reproduce that gut-punch feeling? No. And I think if we had chased it, we probably would have fallen on our faces.”

Abby and Joel. – HBO

So if the show couldn’t match that moment in the same way, was there ever a discussion of changing things? Maybe ending it differently? There was, but not for long.

“Honestly, we were open to a different ending,” Mazin admitted. “We talked about it a lot. We considered everything. Of course, you want to play around. Like maybe we should just interlace the stories. Maybe we should just go back and forth. Maybe we should try this. Maybe we should try that. And then in the end, I just remember saying, ‘Isn’t this part of the genetics of how this story functions?’ It’s just part of the genetics. Now, what it means is we have to take risks as a television show and HBO has to back us taking risks. But then again, we did just kill Pedro Pascal. They understand that this show is going to be a different show every season, which is sort of a tricky thing to do when you’re a hit show. You keep asking people like, ‘I know you love this. We’re taking it away and giving you this now.’ And then hopefully they go, ‘Oh, well, you know what? We actually really like this.’ ‘Oh, that’s nice. Now we’re giving you this now’ because that’s how the story works.”

And so, in season three, the point of view will certainly shift to Abby. But, does that mean Bella Ramsey’s Ellie won’t be in season three?

“I remember when people were asking about season two, they were like, ‘And what about Joel and when he dies?’ I’m like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean ‘When?’ ‘If!’” Mazin says. “The [third] season will arrive, and it will do what it does. Even if I thought I knew now exactly how it was going to go. I’m experienced enough to know that two weeks from now, we may have a different idea of how it should go. All I can say is we haven’t seen the last of Kaitlyn Dever, we haven’t seen the last of Bella Ramsey, we haven’t seen the last of Isabela Merced, and we haven’t even seen the last of a lot of people who are currently dead in the story.”

Druckmann added, “Whether you will see them on screen or not, their presence will be there throughout.”

Isaac is looking for Abby too. – HBO

Finally, season two may have focused on Ellie’s story, and season three might focus on Abby’s, but so much else is happening too. There’s Isaac and the WLF. The Serephites. Their war. And Mazin wants fans to be aware of all of that.

“I think [all those other stories] bode well for next season,” he said. “I have so many questions and I think and I understand that the audience does too. I sort of want to assure them that those questions are correct and will be answered. ‘What is going on? How did that war start? How did the Seraphites start? Who is the prophet? What happened to her? What does Isaac want? What’s happening at the end of episode seven? What is this explosion? What is all of it?’ All of it will become clear.”

When specifically? We don’t know. In 2027 perhaps? Either way, the wait has begun. Watch all seven episodes of The Last of Us season two on HBO Max now.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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