Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal discuss father-daughter relationship
“The Last of Us” stars Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal reveal they didn’t enjoy their character’s estrangement in season 2.
Spoiler alert: This story includes details from “The Last of Us” Season 2 Episode 2.
Pedro Pascal is ready to talk about the most upsetting game of golf in television history.
The “Last of Us” star, 50, is speaking out about the death of his character Joel Miller in the latest episode of the HBO series. In a behind-the-scenes featurette released on Max, Pascal acknowledged that fans would be shaken by the emotional moment that Joel is brutally murdered by Abby (Kaitlyn Dever).
“I have nothing but respect for the level of investment that people have in a video game or a television show or a movie or a book,” Pascal said. “I experience it myself, and I’ve flung books across the room because its impact is so profound on me in experiencing a story. If it is incredibly painful for people, that’s obviously a brilliant achievement of the storytelling.”
Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie, shared in the featurette that they knew Joel was going to die from the first season, though reading the scene where it happens was still quite upsetting.
“I knew that it was coming as I was reading the episode, and I was dreading getting to that bit, and I cried. I actually sobbed my little heart out,” Ramsey said. “It was the first time I ever cried from reading a piece of writing.”
Pascal also spoke to Entertainment Weekly about Joel’s death and admitted he is still “in active denial.”
“I realize this more and more as I get older, I find myself slipping into denial that anything is over,” he said. “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.”
Like in the video game on which the HBO series is based, Joel is murdered by Abby, the daughter of the doctor he killed when he massacred a hospital full of Fireflies to save Ellie’s life. The death, which was leaked online before the video game “The Last of Us Part II” was released in 2020, remains one of the most controversial moments in recent video game history.
Because the game “The Last of Us Part II” debuted more than two years before the HBO series began, Pascal was aware his character’s death was coming from the very beginning. Indeed, he told EW there was “always an understanding that” the show would “stay true to the source material,” meaning Joel’s death was “just a matter of how and when.”
But while Joel may be dead, that doesn’t mean Pascal’s time on “The Last of Us” is over entirely. The video game includes flashback scenes featuring Joel, some of which have been teased in the trailers for Season 2. Executive producer Craig Mazin confirmed to USA TODAY, “We have not seen the last of Pedro Pascal on ‘The Last of Us.’”
How did Joel’s death in ‘The Last of Us’ show compare to the game?
Joel’s death in the “Last of Us” TV series was relatively faithful to the source material, though with one major difference: In the game, it was even more out of left field because players were not aware of who Abby was ahead of time.
While the TV series revealed to viewers upfront that Abby was the daughter of the doctor Joel killed, the game saved this information until much later. As a result, players and Joel himself were unaware of Abby’s identity when he was killed in the game.
Joel was also attacked by Abby while with Dina (Isabela Merced) in the show, whereas in the game, he was with his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna).
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