Will we see more of Joel in The Last of Us? Creator reveals future possibilities

The Last of Us Season 2 has notably been driven by Pedro Pascal's Joel's traumatic death in Episode 2 at Abby's hands as revenge for his murder spree in Salt Lake City. Since Joel's death, as deeply ingrained as it was in this season's theme, the showrunners have not been able to delve into anything other than the reverberations of this one big impactful action.

So, getting to see Joel again in the form of flashbacks in Season 2 Episode 6 was healing as well as heartbreaking at the same time. This episode covered all of the flashback scenes that were teased in the trailer and that are present in the source material, the game, leading us to believe that there might not be any more of Pedro Pascal in the cards for The Last of Us. Here's what the co-creators, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, had to say about the possibility of seeing Joel again in The Last of Us.

The Last of Us Creators on the possibility of Joel returning to the show

Recently, during the The Last of Us Season 2 finale press conference, the creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann were asked if there was a possibility for the show to explore Joel's past after Sarah was killed and before he met Ellie. This part of Joel's life has mostly been a mystery to the audience, as we only see him later as a man who is ruthless and is feared by all.

Initially denying any such plans to bring Joel back into the show, Neil Druckmann dispelled this particular possibility by saying:

"I think it’s… It’s always good to leave some things a mystery, to let the audience use their imagination to fill in the blanks. Obviously, every once in a while, we tap into those mysteries when they're important for the story we're telling"

He explains that Joel's returning for the flashback scenes was important to the story that they were trying to tell, but such things cannot be predicted or set in stone beforehand. He also explains that these off-track flashbacks that the creators were able to explore in the previous season, as the impact of Joel's death made it impossible for them to delve into anything other than the actions that led up to it and the actions that followed it, as explained by Craig Mazin:

"This season was tricky because it was so driven by this traumatic event: Joel dies. And once Joel dies, it is so big and impactful that you don't have quite as much room to sort of wander down some side streets, you really need to stick to what happens as a result of that, as well as what happened leading up to it. But I think next season, we probably will have a bit more flexibility. And you know, we love- we love a side trip to Indonesia, it's one of our favourite things to do, so maybe- maybe a side trip to, you know, Joel and Tommy terrorizing the countryside, we'll never know."

However, in the upcoming seasons of The Last of Us (rumored to be two more), they might have greater flexibility, and it cannot be predicted what the story will need at that point in time. According to Druckman, just as Joel's scene with his father in Season 2, Episode 6, was an addition to the story, only time will tell if any such possibility arises in the upcoming seasons.

"Look, I wouldn’t have guessed we would have a short story about Joel’s dad before we wrote the season, so there you go. You can’t predict these things."

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