‘The Last of Us' Season 2 Ending Explained: Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann Explain Why They Made [SPOILER'S] Death 'Worse'

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The Last of Us Season 2 ended with violence and horror, as you'd come to expect from the bleak HBO hit. Ellie (Bella Ramsey) continued her hunt for Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), alienating her from Jesse (Young Mazino) and putting her briefly in the clutches of the blood-thirsty Seraphites. However, what's probably really sticking out in your mind is either the moment where Ellie seemingly realizes that this endless cycle of violence is useless or that final, shocking, awful showdown.
**Spoilers for Season 2 Episode 7, now streaming on MAX**
The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 7 follows Ellie as she heads into a battle between the Wolves and Seraphites to find Abby. After nearly dying at the hands of a Seraphite executioner, Ellie manages to sneak into the aquarium where Abby's friends are hiding. There, she walks in on Mel (Ariela Barer) and Owen (Spencer Lord) debating Abby's latest orders. Ellie pulls her gun on them and demands they show her on a map where Abby is. Owen instead reaches for his gun. Acting on instinct, Ellie shoots him before he hits her. Not only Owen dies, but Mel is killed after a second bullet clips her jugular.
Here's where the horrible reality of never-ending vengeance finally crushes Ellie. Mel is pregnant. The dying woman begs Ellie to perform a makeshift Cesarean delivery before she bleeds out, but the shellshocked Ellie is frozen in fear. After Mel dies, Ellie is discovered by Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and Jesse. They shepherd her back to the theater where Dina (Isabela Merced) is waiting. Ellie's quest for revenge is over. They're going to go home.
Except they're not! Ellie and Jesse hear Tommy scuffling with someone in the theater lobby and they run, guns ready, into the fray. Abby is there and she shoots Jesse, killing him. Holding Tommy at gunpoint, she demands Ellie come out with her hands up. The sequence ends with Abby pointing her gun at Ellie, complaining that she let the girl live only for her to waste it, and then seemingly shooting our heroine. The gun goes off, the show cuts to black, and then we flashback three days earlier, to the W.L.F. HQ.
So what the heck is going on? Is Tommy really dead? Is Ellie dead? How is Mel's death different from the video game? Why are The Last of Us showrunners so brutal? Here's everything you need to know about the end of The Last of Us Season 2 on HBO…
DECIDER recently sat in on a virtual press conference with The Last of Us showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann in which they answered for their crimes — er, explained some of those brutal decisions.
Much of the violence we see in The Last of Us Season 2 finale is pulled directly from the video games. Jesse is also killed by Abby in The Last of Us II and the showrunners brushed off the suggestion that they might have spared his life in the HBO show. 'His fate was always sealed,' Druckmann said.
Mazin added that Jesse's death is going to have a major impact on Ellie's romance with Dina. 'It's an interesting situation because Jesse dies in part because of Ellie,' Mazin said. 'But Ellie doesn't pull the trigger. Abby does.'
'So now the question is, who does she blame? I'm a big believer that once you start asking, 'Who do I blame?', you're already down the wrong path,' Mazin said. 'Jesse's death is going to change things for her, but how we play that out, we have to wait and see.'
Mel's death, on the other hand, plays out quite differently from how it does in the video game. In The Last of Us II, she attacks Ellie and Ellie kills her in self defense. In the show, Mel's death is 'a true collateral damage moment,' according to Mazin. 'And then I decided to make it worse.'
Everything with the reveal of Mel's pregnant belly as she dies is new to the HBO show. It's designed not only to break Ellie, but force the audience to reappraise what we think of the heroine. 'If you're rooting for Ellie, it'll make you feel dirty,' Druckmann said.
When asked why they ended the season on a cliffhanger, the showrunners revealed they hashed out different endings, but Druckmann said, 'Whatever we entertained didn't stick for very long. This always felt like the natural end point for the season.'
But it's not the natural end point for the show…
Yes, HBO has already confirmed that they will be making The Last of Us Season 3. In fact, The Last of Us Season 3 will continue to adapt the events of The Last of Us II. That video game not only follows the story of Joel and Ellie, but puts the player in Abby's shoes.
'There is another side to this story that we have yet to really delve into,' Craig Mazin said during the press conference. 'There's no question that Abby is the hero of her story. Kaitlyn Dever is the hero of a story always, you know? I mean, if you have Kaitlyn Dever, you use a Kaitlyn Dever.'
The final sequence in The Last of Us Season 2 flashes back to Seattle Day 1, but we're seeing Abby's version of what happened. The Last of Us Season 3 will tackle Abby's story.
The showrunners also teased that they will provide answers to several questions fans might have. 'What is going on? How did that war start? How did the Seraphites start? Who is the prophet? What happened to her? What does Isaac want? What's happening at the end of Episode 7? What is this explosion? What is all of it?' Mazin said. 'And all of that will become clear.'