The latest episode of The Last of Us season 2 adapts one of the most shockingly brutal moments of the video game, but star Pedro Pascal has a remarkably cheery response that softens the pain just a bit.
Right off the bat, before we even get into the details, I’m gonna warn you that we’ll be discussing spoilers from season 2 episode 2 of The Last of Us, so if you’re trying to stay completely spoiler free, turn back now.
Last chance to avoid spoilers!
Still with us? Great. Because once again I am forced to regretfully inform you that a beloved character played by the even more beloved actor Pedro Pascal has died, as his character Joel from The Last of Us has met an ignominious and brutally violent end.
In the episode, Joel is beaten to death with a golf club by Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby as revenge for killing her father in the first season. It’s not a surprise to anyone who played the games the show is based on, as Joel’s death is one of the most famous moments from the second game.
Pascal is taking his latest death well, jokingly comparing it to his gruesome Game of Thrones death in which his character Oberyn Martell had his head crushed by the bare hands of a massively outsized opponent.
“I think this is the best one,” Pascal jokingly tells Entertainment Weekly. “No, it’s in competition, I think, with Game of Thrones. It has to be. I love the golf club. I’m going to start golf.”
The death wasn’t a surprise to Pascal, who had plenty of time to prepare, as he was told right from the start that his character would die. Still, it was a moment that carried serious weight on set.
“It was part of the deal. They’re like, ‘Don’t worry, you’re going to die’ And I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll take it!’,” Pascal quips. “I just think that the series is based on very specific source material, and so that was always a part of the presentation of the idea that we would go all in on season 1, shoot for 11-12 months in Alberta, and then it would take a totally different shape the second season. And this is why it was like that.”
Pascal’s The Last of Us death comes hot on the heels of the season finale of Daredevil: Born Again, in which a character has his head crushed in a similarly brutal fashion to Pascal’s death in Game of Thrones, pushing the envelope significantly for a show set in the MCU.
The Last of Us season 2 airs weekly HBO and Max in the US, and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK. For more check out our guides to the best Max movies and the best Max TV shows to stream right now.
