Warning: This article contains major spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 episode 2.
The Last of Us season 2 just delivered one of the most crushing moments from The Last of Us Part 2. The scene, involving Joel and Abby, created a somber mood on-set, and Pedro Pascal remembers a legitimate sense of shock washing over everyone during filming.
In a moment fans of the games have been waiting for since the TV show was announced, Abby murders Joel in the second episode of season 2. The huge twist left us gobsmacked at the beginning of Part 2, and it’s no less shocking on television. Pascal found the whole experience completely unique in terms of the vibe while cameras were rolling.
“I’ve never experienced anything like I did that day where I stepped onto set in full makeup and then killed the vibe completely as soon as anyone set their eyes on me,” he recalled for Entertainment Weekly. “This kind of shock and heartbreak… it was weird to be on the receiving end of that.”
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Everyone knew what was about to happen. Abby takes revenge on Joel for his rampage at the end of the first game and season. When Joel shot through the Firefly hospital in Salt Lake City, he killed Abby’s father. Now a part of a militia based in Washington, she tracks down Joel and decides an eye for an eye is the only suitable recourse.
The day of the shoot, there wasn’t much excitement, and when Pascal arrived from hair and makeup covered in blood with some damage to one of his eyes, the time had come to commit the scene to digital celluloid. “It’s like the extreme version of, ‘Is there something on my face?’ I really could see this sort of grief take over everyone’s look in their eyes,” he adds.
It’s all to be expected, since the scene itself is so hand-hitting: a brutal execution, exacted by someone who’s spent years waiting for their moment. Not only that, it ends Pascal’s role as lead of the series, handing the narrative reins over to Kaitlyn Dever, who plays Abby, and Bella Ramsey, who portrays Ellie.
The Last of Us will be different from here on out, and everyone behind-the-scenes knew that. Our guide to The Last of Us season 2 release schedule will help you keep up to date as things keep moving on the horror show.
