The Last of Us Could Struggle In Season 3 If Pedro Pascal Leaves

With The Last of Us Season 2’s April 13 release date drawing closer, fans are nervously anticipating ‘that scene’ with Joel and Abby. As devastating as that scene was for players of the game, the sight of Joel’s tragic death on the TV screen should be even more frightening for HBO themselves. Pedro Pascal’s portrayal of Joel in Season 1 was very faithful to Troy Baker’s Joel in the games, and in some scenes, Pascal even showed more of an emotional side to Joel, having him tear up when talking to his brother Tommy. Beyond Pascal’s impressive acting skills, he is also an A-list celebrity and a widely beloved character in online culture.

Season 1 of The Last of Us undoubtedly owes a lot of its commercial success to Pascal’s name and likeness, which HBO incorporated heavily into their marketing. This has also been the case for the marketing of Season 2. Joel is seen in all the trailers, and there seems to be even more of an emphasis on his character arc. The audience gets a look at Joel sitting down with his therapist and an unknown child from Jackson who he is teaching how to read a map. Neither of these characters are featured in the game, and their inclusion seems to be to give Joel’s character even more emotional depth in this retelling of the story.

So, it’s clear that HBO is aware of Pascal’s star status and is utilizing it as much as possible. However, it has been all but confirmed by the show’s creator, Craig Mazin, that The Last of Us Part II will be told across multiple seasons of television. Very sadly, this likely means Pedro Pascal’s Joel will not make it out of Season 2, leaving HBO with a potential problem in their upcoming seasons of The Last of Us unless they come up with a way to continue featuring the character.

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The Joel And Ellie Flashbacks Are The Emotional Core Of The Story

Joel’s tragic death occurs very early in the game, and the character only reappears when Ellie stops to reflect on her time with Joel between the first and second games. The player gets to experience these memories as playable flashbacks. For the most part, they served as wholesome breaks in Ellie’s gruesome revenge quest, where the player gets to see Joel and Ellie interact with each other like they did in the first game.

This was a way for the game to keep players particularly engaged with Joel to keep playing after his death. The TV show could also similarly use flashbacks for them to be able to continue using Pedro Pascal in their future marketing. However, the released trailers seem to be using a lot of the content from these flashbacks, implying that they will be told in this upcoming season. Audiences have already been given a peek at Ellie’s birthday trip, the scene where Ellie discovers the truth about the fireflies, and even the very final scene of the game where Joel is sitting on his porch playing guitar.

The inclusion of this final flashback suggests that HBO is planning on burning through all the potential flashback content in Season 2. However, it also implies that we will see the final scene of the game and, therefore, the end of the story, which, considering what Craig Mazin has hinted, is very unlikely. So the TV series may just show the flashbacks in a different order or even create new ones to keep Joel fans engaged.

Bella Ramsey Could Be The New Face Of The Franchise

The choice to give Joel’s character more depth and focus in Season 2 may be a way of paying respect to the character before the franchise passes over the torch to Bella Ramsey’s Ellie. Despite The Last of Us Part II featuring Ellie as the main playable protagonist, she isn’t featured in the trailers as much as Joel. This is a surprising decision. However, it is important to remember that all audiences have been shown is marketing at this point. The actual content of Season 2 and the characters it will prioritize and focus on are yet to be actually confirmed.

Bella Ramsey’s portrayal of Ellie in Season 1 impressed fans of the game. They seemed to perfectly encapsulate Ellie’s defiant and youthful spirit. Ramsey was also a recognized name before featuring in The Last of Us (they also appeared in Game of Thrones), but this was the appearance that gained them the most recognition. So it’s possible that Ramsey’s stardom will grow even more through their performance of Ellie in Season 2 and will be on a similar level to Pedro Pascal, solving HBO’s potential marketing problem.

Whatever way HBO decides to tell the events of The Last of Us Part II, it is important they use the flashback scenes sparsely and effectively to keep audiences engaged, whilst also making sure they have enough content to use across multiple seasons of television. It’s also crucial that they don’t focus too much energy on Joel and develop Ellie’s character so that Bella Ramsey is able to develop as the new face of The Last of Us franchise.