Is Joel really dead in The Last of Us?

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers from The Last of Us season 2, episode 2 The Last of Us served up a tragic gut punch this week with the brutal murder of Joel Miller (played by Pedro Pascal). Fans of the Naughty Dog video game knew it was coming and braced themselves, while non-gamers were hit with a huge shock. Some viewers are wondering if this really is the end for Joel, or if, through some miracle, he may have survived.

Here's the lowdown on everything surrounding Joel's death and his possible return. The former smuggler was murdered by Abby Anderson (Kaitlyn Dever) in a prolonged and brutal attack involving a golf club. Joel had just saved Abby when she turned the tables and carried out her act of vengeance, believing it would lessen the grief of her father's death.



Joel was horrifically tortured and then killed, with her comrades watching on in sheer terror and disgust. Abby had vowed revenge on Joel after he murdered her surgeon father, who was going to carry out fatal brain surgery on Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to cure the Cordyceps virus. Joel carried out a massacre at the hospital after discovering he could lose Ellie if the operation went ahead.

Despite Abby finally killing Joel, she didn't seem to find any solace in the act. The Last of Us' co-creator Craig Mazin told The Hollywood Reporter: "We felt that the point we needed to get across was that Abby was not in control of herself. That despite her reasoned, carefully articulated point to Joel, that this is not rational.

She’s going too far. "There is a rage in her that I think we should understand is not the kind of anger that goes away simply because you killed someone. That’s the irony, or, I guess, the tragedy really of being consumed by something like this — there is no way to fix it except to somehow make your peace with it and let it go.

"Killing Joel isn’t going to fix this for her. She’s doing something wrong. And we needed to show how lost she was and we needed to show that other people in the room are horrified by this.

" Yes, is the simple answer. Much like in the computer game, Joel is very much dead. The focus is now on Ellie's vengeance arc and if she will continue with her own toxic revenge path like Abby or whether she can do better.

However, fans of Pascal will be pleased to know this isn't the last viewers have seen of Joel in the drama. As shown in the season two trailers, Joel will be appearing in flashbacks. Audiences will also witness what exactly happened between Eugene and Joel, which resulted in the smuggler killing him.

Those still traumatised by Joel's death and in desperate need of a palate cleanser can enjoy Pascal in several new projects, including The Mandalorian and Grogu, Materialists and The Fantastic Four. The Last of Us season 2 airs on Sundays on HBO in the USA and on NOW and Sky Atlantic on Mondays in the UK.