This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 1 finale.
Season 1 Our last Last night ended its incredible run on HBO with an emotionally devastating finale that stayed true to the ending of the original game that thrilled fans years ago. Despite all the changes Neil Druckman and Craig Mazin used to enhance and expand the game for television, this ending is largely unchanged, and for good reason. When it comes to the infamous hospital scene, Joel (Pedro Pascal) made his fateful decision, Mazin couldn’t resist making a few changes. Keen listeners could hear a certain track when Joel picked up Ellie (Bella Ramsay) in the game serves as a sad backdrop for his attack on the Fireflies in the show.
Our last was able to save the composer Gustavo Sataolalla has brought back its brooding, brooding music that lifted the tone of the original game. It also gave Druckmann and Mazing room to work with him to rearrange, create new tracks, and figure out how to improve the original soundtrack. In the game, Joel’s massacre of firemen is largely silent, leaving room for the gameplay as players immerse themselves in the horrific context of Joel’s actions. However, the track cuts to a moment after he takes Ellie out of the room, which is devastating for how it has destroyed humanity and left Joel forever scarred.
In A virtual press conference Last week, Mazin spoke about using the track to highlight the dichotomy between love for Joel and disdain for his heinous actions. He said:
“We had one option that I think we did in the hospital attack sequence with Joel. And that was to get very different music for what happens later in the game. going out together – and taking that and putting it under that sequence. In the game, that sequence is basically a game. But here’s a beautiful, sad, sad cello piece. It gave us a chance. It’s almost heartbreaking what Joel is doing, what he’s ruining, and how he’s betrayed something that Ellie knows he doesn’t want to do. The brilliance of Gustavo is that sometimes taking a piece of that and putting it under him is magic.”
Mazin understood how Our lastCompleting work on TV
With this small change, it’s another demonstration of how Mazin understood the assignment when he came to help adapt. Our last for a new tool. The scene makes full use of Santaolalla’s track, starting with Joel dropping his first two Fireflies. This is made even more distinct by the sound of gunfire being muted during his fight through the hospital. In contrast to the game, after Joel enters Ellie’s room and kills the doctor, she goes silent and knocks him out.
At that conference, Druckmann expressed his confidence in Mazing because of how well he mastered the source material. The Chernobyl Druckmann won over the creative with many changes over time, like variable Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank’s (Murray Bartlett) is over for good. Even if it was Mazin’s idea to change this wonderful ending, one would have heard Druckmann explain:
“If Craig had come in and said, ‘Hey, I’ve been thinking about this ending,’ I’m sure I would have been a little tense at first and just heard the volume. But our process would be, ‘Okay, let’s talk.’ We’re going to go back all season long and say, ‘Could we potentially have had this other ending?’ And we look at it, and often the answer is, “Yeah, it doesn’t work that well,” or “It changes a lot,” or “It’s changed a lot now.” And then we’ll go back and undo Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Z until we’re back where we were.”
All episodes Our last Season 1 is streaming now on HBO Max. Stay tuned to Collider for more on Season 2 and check out the trailer below.