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Fans suspect huge twist was revealed in 'The Last of Us: Part II' trailer

Gabe Gurwin
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The Last of Us Part 2 Reveal Trailer - Playstation Experience 2016
Sony and Naughty Dog have shown only a tiny morsel of what The Last of Us: Part II will offer players, but
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a number of fans believe they’ve already figured out the game’s big twist.
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Warning: Potential spoilers for The Last of Us: Part II to follow!

In the game’s first teaser trailer, we see Ellie sitting alone in a room, playing guitar and singing after what appears to have been a particularly nasty fight. The building she’s playing in is filled with corpses, and blood runs down her face — she doesn’t seem to care. Original protagonist Joel then enters the room.

“You really gonna go through with this?” Joel calmly asks Ellie.

To Reddit user “nerveonya,” this line is particularly important. By only addressing Ellie and not himself as well, it’s implied that Joel will not be taking part in the killing spree that Ellie is about to begin. Why won’t he be taking part?

He could actually be dead.

The user believes that this scene with Joel is simply a vision, and that after his death, Ellie will learn about her rescue at the end of The Last of Us — an event that ultimately saw Joel doom the human race as he chose to keep Ellie, the only known person immune to the fungus wiping out the human race, alive.

“She literally snaps,” the user said. “So she might do things like slaughter an entire house of people, and then just start strumming a guitar while one of the bodies bleeds on the floor next to her, ignoring the gash on her forehead.”

Creative director Neil Druckmann explained at PSX last weekend that The Last of Us: Part II is a story about “hate,” and is played from Ellie’s perspective. Joel’s death could very well be the event that sparked Ellie’s murderous spree.

Both “nerveonya” and other Twitter users also make mention of Joel’s physical appearance in the trailer. He first appears as a dark silhouette, with the warm light of the outside world surrounding him.

Of course, this could all be a bunch of nonsense, and Joel could very well be alive and kicking in the sequel. Other fans have already voiced their opposition to the fan theory. BWestworld writer Halley Gross has been brought on board to help Druckmann with the story, and if you’ve watched the series, you know that almost anything is possible.

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Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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HBO viewers were rocked Sunday night by the finale of The Last of Us, which brought the iconic ending of Naughty Dog's critically acclaimed game to life in live-action. It was an extremely faithful adaptation, with no huge deviations from the source material. However, a key change was made that will help the show more gracefully transition into its adaptation of The Last of Us Part II.
Note: Spoilers for The Last of Us TV show and The Last of Us Part II video game to follow.
At the climax of The Last of Us Season 1's final episode, we see Joel annihilate most of the Fireflies and doctors at the Salt Lake City hospital as they prepare to operate on Ellie to get a cure, which would have killed her in the process. It's a chilling sequence that hits the same dubious, morally horrifying notes as it did in the game, and little is changed.
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The finale further teases what's to come with a smart bit of casting. Eagle-eyed fans may notice that one of the nurses during the scene is played by Laura Bailey, who portrays Abby in The Last of Us Part II. It's likely just the show paying tribute to the game's cast (as it did in episode 8 with Troy Baker, who voiced Joel in the video games), but it's also another way to tease what's to come in the next season. Abby is coming for Joel. Prepare your golf balls.
Of course, when Naughty Dog released The Last of Us in 2013, it didn't yet know that this doctor would play such a pivotal part in the sequel's story, so not as much focus was put on him in the game. The developers retroactively tried to correct this with a retelling of the sequence from Abby's perspective in The Last of Us Part II and updated models in the game's remake.
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The Last of Us is available to stream on HBO Max.

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