There Might Be A Way Joel Returns To ‘The Last Of Us’

I fear I will never fully recover from the second episode of The Last of Us season 2. I know, I know, all you video game people knew what was coming, but I’m a blissfully ignorant show-only viewer, and so I did not expect to have to watch Joel die… in such a brutal way… in just episode 2 of this season. It was a lot for my tender little heart, not to mention how I was nearly destroyed when Ellie showed up just to witness Joel’s final moments. Suffice it to say, I was not prepared.

Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel, knew his character would end up dead when he first signed on for the role, so at least he was prepared. “It’s not like they said, ‘Hey, we kill you at the beginning of season 2,’ but it was always an understanding that it would stay true to the source material in a specific way and that the, let’s say, practical and exclusive obligation would be for season 1,” Pedro told Entertainment Weekly. “It was just a matter of how and when.”

So, does this mean it’s it for Joel? Well, maybe not totally. All hope isn’t lost, because there is a possibility that Joel will return to The Last of Us.

Theories And Details About Joel’s Return To The Last Of Us

Image Credit: HBO

Okay, so I’m not fully delulu, I do understand that Joel is really dead; it would kinda be a miracle if he wasn’t after what Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) did to him. But, in both video games and TV shows, there’s a little magic we like to call: the flashback.

In the video game The Last of Us Part 2, Joel dies pretty early on, just like he did on the TV show. But, he still shows up throughout the game in various flashbacks, and my theory is that we’ll see some similar storytelling in The Last of Us season 2.

Neil Druckmann, who’s one of the showrunners of the TV series and one of the co-creators of the game, talked a little about this pivotal moment and what happens from here on the official Last of Us podcast. “This is where the story starts in earnest,” he said. “But I will say that we do know there are some mysteries here, some gaps, in Ellie and Joel’s relationships. And I think this is a spoiler because we put a trailer out there with lots of shots in it. This is not the last that we will see of Joel.”

You hear that, folks? Joel might be dead, but he’ll live in on our memories. And not only the audience’s memories, but the memories of the Last of Us characters who have flashbacks to him. It’s a good thing, because I have a feeling there’s a lot more of Joel and Ellie’s relationship we missed, so I’m eager for the series to go back and show us.