The Last Of Us Season 2’s Key Video Game Change To Joel Moment Addressed By Tommy Star

Gabriel Luna opens up about the major video game departure in Tommy’s The Last of Us season 2 arc, revealing his thoughts on his character’s drastically changed place in a pivotal video game moment. The second season of the hit HBO drama adapts the second game in Naughty Dog’s beloved video game franchise, exploring the next chapter in Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) story. In The Last of Us season 2, episode 2 “Through The Valley,” Joel, Ellie, and their friends are divided when infected and old foes descend upon the settlement of Jackson Hole.

As The Last of Us season 2 finally adapted the fatal encounter between Joel and Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), Luna opened up to Esquire about the television series’ decision to remove Tommy from the scene of his brother’s bloody demise. Luna admitted that he had doubts since season 1 about Tommy being reckless enough to reveal Joel’s name in this scenario. However, he was ultimately pleased with how the change enhanced Dina’s (Isabel Merced) role and gave Tommy his own standout moment. Check out Luna’s full response below:

The truth is, back when we were doing the first season, I talked to [showrunner] Craig [Mazin] and [game creator] Neil [Druckmann] about it. Would Tommy be that careless to reveal Joel’s identity? As a seasoned veteran, somebody who had to protect this city and keep it safe, would he be so trusting of strangers? And then to walk into this ambush and be knocked out for that moment, unable to use any of his strength and skills to protect his brother, it always pinged in my mind—I wouldn’t say false, but I don’t know if Tommy would have been that trusting to walk into that trap.

Craig turned to me and he’s like, “Don’t worry, I have an idea.” Before the strike, he was starting to break the stories. He sent me this Bible-long text about where Tommy is and what he’s doing instead. And it floored me. I was so excited. I’m getting goose bumps now thinking about it. The idea there would be this role reversal where it would be Dina rather than Tommy, that works for her to be there. Somebody who still loves Joel and sees him as family, and would be devastated when this all goes down. I’m reading this text Craig sent. It said, [I’m] going to be in Jackson, there’s a massive horde, and [I’m] going to fight them with the town. I was like, “This is amazing.” Then I find out Mark Mylod is directing. We’re in the lineage of amazing, blockbuster-movie-quality battle scenes. We were already referencing “Battle of the Bastards” from Game of Thrones as inspiration for what we were doing.

What This Means For The Last Of Us Season 2

Tommy’s New TV Backstory Affects His Trajectory

Within The Last of Us Part II, it is Tommy and Joel who encounter Abby and hope to get her to safety while on patrol, while Ellie and Dina cover their own route, with the infected attack on Jackson Hole being a show-original element. Furthermore, while Tommy’s television post-breakout day journey matches what was seen in the game, his time in the military is also a new addition to the television continuity. Instead, Joel and Tommy’s mistakes can be attributed to different circumstances in the source material.

Within the video game, Joel and Tommy’s lack of suspicion about Abby’s group can be attributed to Joel asserting that he had left no Fireflies alive, while their relatively peaceful lives since the events of the first game had left them desensitized to threats from fellow survivors. Nevertheless, each scenario will lead Tommy on the same path. With Joel taken by Abby’s quest for vengeance, Tommy and Ellie will be left grappling with whether they will continue the cycle of violence.

Our Take On The Last of Us Season 2’s Tommy Change

Small Details Are Being Kept In Mind

While Tommy’s arc in episode 2 differed from his in-game story, Luna’s comments still show the care surrounding the production of the show. Though seemingly a small off-hand detail in season 1 to explain his post-Outbreak Day motivations and military expertise, both Luna and Mazin took it into consideration when allowing this background element to play into the series’ later events. As such, many may be left wondering if other smaller changes may play a part in future changes for The Last of Us season 2.

Source: Esquire

The Last Of Us

8/10

Release Date

January 15, 2023

Network

HBO

Showrunner

Craig Mazin

Directors

Craig Mazin, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Ali Abbasi, Mark Mylod, Stephen Williams, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, Nina Lopez-Corrado

Writers

Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin