The Last of Us Producers Explain Why Season 2 Is Only 7 Episodes

Naughty Dog's highly praised video game inspired the masterfully produced American drama series The Last of Us on HBO and the unique story follows Joel and Ellie as they face danger, loss, and survival in a world devastated by a fungal invasion. The series effectively blends suspense and emotional depth, as seen by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey's great performances.

While Season 2 focuses on their new life in Jackson, Wyoming, Season 1 covers their journey across the United States. The show, which was filmed in Canada, is praised for its superb plot, production value, and near simulation of the original game's primary concepts.

Joel lied to Ellie and killed the Fireflies to save her at the end of Season 1 of The Last of Us and producers prioritized content above episode count for Season 2, selecting seven episodes to highlight significant plot points.

Neil Druckman, one of the show's creator said:

"Pretty early on, maybe day one, we were like, 'Oh, it’s too big to fit in one season.' But we like working with an ending in mind. We need to know the destination. That destination allowed us to make the correct creative choices as we did set-ups and payoffs, and slowly, over time, moved towards that destination. So, that meant we had to break the whole story, ignoring seasons or a number of episodes, all the way to the end. And then, we had to start working backwards and say, 'Okay, what’s enough material for a season? And with that, where’s a good break point?'... That process gave us the seven-episode count."

More about the reason why The Last of Us season 2 has 7 episodes

Joel made a tough and contentious choice at the end of Season 1 of The Last of Us and killed a lot of people to save Ellie after he found out that the Fireflies intended to sacrifice her in order to develop a cure for the Cordyceps sickness.

He then lied to Ellie about what had actually transpired, claiming that the Fireflies had discovered a large number of immune people but were unable to provide a remedy. After years of suffering and grief, Joel's love for Ellie—whom he now considered a surrogate daughter—led him to make this choice.

However, this falsehood resulted in a convoluted and emotional season, leaving Ellie puzzled and distrustful. The Last of Us Season 2's creators stated why the program has just seven episodes, which is less than the first season.

In an interview with Collider, executive producer of The Last of Us, Neil Druckmann stated that the team started with knowing where the tale will conclude and worked backward to find the proper moments to add.

Naturally, this method led to seven episodes instead of a larger season. Druckmann stressed that schedule or network pressure had no bearing on the choice, which was made solely on the basis of storytelling requirements.

Halley Gross, a co-writer, went on to say that HBO allowed them complete creative control over the number of episodes. She said:

"We don’t want to thin it out and we don’t want to pad it out just because there’s some expectation of an episode count. We want to make every episode meaningful and make every episode impactful. If that’s 10 episodes, if that’s six episodes, if that’s eight episodes, that’s something that we’ll discover as we break the season. But we’re not bound to a number."

Season 2 of The Last of Us covers nearly half of the events of the second game and concludes with a huge cliffhanger. The producers are already preparing future seasons, but they have yet to determine how many episodes or seasons would be required to complete the plot.

Druckmann stated that, while they know the big moments are still to come, the actual duration of the plot remains uncertain.

"So, we know what has to happen after this season. We know all the major stops and we know the final destination. But as far as how many episodes or how many seasons it would take to get there, we don’t quite know yet. That’s something we’re gonna have to figure out when we get back in the writers’ room," he said.

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