One of 2023’s most acclaimed shows is almost over. After a terrific run of episodes, The Last of Us will conclude its first season with an explosive finale this Sunday night. In the episode 9 trailer, Joel (The Mandalorian season 3’s Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Game of Thrones’ Bella Ramsey) make their final trek to Salt Lake City to meet up with a group of Fireflies who may be able to create a cure for the Cordyceps infection. As Ellie says to Joel in the footage, “There’s no halfway with this. We finish what we started.”
Fans of the video games will notice a familiar face in the episode 9 trailer. Ashley Johnson, who portrayed Ellie in the video games, will play Anna, Ellie’s mother, in episode 9. The tense footage shows Anna writhing in pain as she tries to stave off an infected woman.
In The Last of Us episode 8, Ellie continues to care for Joel, who is recovering from his stab wounds received at the end of episode 6. While hunting for food, Ellie meets David, a preacher and leader of a group of settlers in a neighboring town. At first, David is polite and cordial to Ellie, offering medicine for Joel in exchange for deer meat. Ellie learns that the man Joel killed was a member of David’s settlement, and his followers want revenge for the murder.
David captures Ellie and places her in a cage while his followers attempt to kill Joel. Ellie is horrified to learn that David fed his followers human meat. When David offers her a chance to join the settlement and start a relationship with him, Ellie declines and breaks his finger. Before David and his sidekick James (Troy Baker, the voice of Joel in The Last of Us video games) can torture her, Ellie kills James and hides in the steakhouse. David finds Ellie and attempts to rape her, but the young girl grabs a meat cleaver and repeatedly stabs David to death. Joel, who killed the followers that went after him, eventually reunites with a startled Ellie, comforting her as the two leave the town.
The Last of Us episode 9 will premiere at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 12. You can watch The Last of Us on HBO Max.
