Bella Ramsey has issued a short, sharp message to the louder critics of The Last of Us Season 2, insisting those who hate it can play the video game upon which it is based instead of watching Season 3.
Warning! Spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2 follow.
The Last of Us Season 2 has been and gone, and though most of us who played the second game knew what was coming, it seems many viewers did not. Showrunner Craig Mazin has said he’s still getting bewildered fans asking: “Why did you kill Pedro Pascal?”
“[Game creator and fellow showrunner Neil Druckmann] did a thing. Everyone lost their sh*t, and then I had to do that same thing, because he did the thing. I loved doing the thing, I thought it was great,” Mazin said of Joel’s death at a Variety panel.
“The big complaint that I’ve gotten is, ‘Why did you kill Pedro Pascal?’ And I keep explaining, we didn’t kill him! He’s a man, he’s alive. He’s fine. And he’s in literally everything else. So I don’t know what the problem is!”
“People had very strong reactions to whatever controversial story decision we made,” added Druckmann.
(Check out IGN’s The Last of Us Season 2 finale review to see what we thought of it.)
Speaking to The Awardist podcast (via GamesRadar), Ramsey began by dismissing the impact of Season 2’s online criticism.
“I tried to steer clear as much as I could, to be honest,” Ramsey said. “Because there’s nothing I can do about it anyway. The show is out. There’s nothing that can be changed or altered. So I’m like, there’s not really any point in reading or looking at anything.
“People are of course entitled to their opinions. But it doesn’t affect the show, it doesn’t affect how the show continues or anything in any way. They’re very separate things to me. So no, I just don’t really engage.”
Ramsey was then asked what they would tell the “louder critics” of Season 2 going into Season 3. “I would say, you don’t have to watch it,” Ramsey responded. “If you hate it that much, the game exists. You can just play the game again. You don’t have to watch it, but if you do want to watch it, then I hope you enjoy it.”
Despite the mixed response to Season 2 and the subsequent departure of Naughty Dog franchise creator Neil Druckmann, HBO boss Casey Bloys has backed showrunner Craig Mazin’s ability to continue on — and to do so successfully despite the series’ lead actors changing.
Exactly how long the series will continue remains uncertain. Mazin, meanwhile, has said Season 3 will be longer than Season 2. “We’re kind of fiddling around with that — it’s a little bit of a trade secret at the moment,” Mazin said when asked about pacing and episode count for The Last of Us Season 3. “But I will say that season three will be longer than Season 2. Season 3 will be more on par with Season 1. More bang for the buck.”
The Season 2 finale teased that, like the game, Season 3 will shift focus to Abby (Kaitlyn Dever). It’s unclear exactly how Mazin plans to retell the Seattle section of The Last of Us Part 2 through Abby’s perspective.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
