The Last of Us creators debated letting [REDACTED] survive Episode 5

The latest episode of The Last of Us, “Endure and Survive,” was a powerful thrill ride that ended in tragedy. After narrowly escaping mercenaries and infected in Kansas City, the show hit us with the shocker reveal that Sam (Keivonn Woodard), one of the new characters at the heart of the episode, was bitten during the chaos. Sam’s older brother Henry (Lamar Johnson) is forced to kill him in order to save Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) life, and is so horrified by what he did that he commits suicide.

Losing both Henry and Sam under such tragic circumstances after it seemed they had finally made it to safety is exactly the kind of heart-rending twist that makes The Last of Us so compelling. But it was still a lot to digest.

Henry almost survived Episode 5 of The Last of Us

“I was really nervous about this ending,” showrunner Craig Mazin revealed on the latest episode of The Last of Us Podcast. In the original Last of Us video game from Naughty Dog, the story skips forward from the instant that Henry commits suicide; we don’t see the aftermath like we do on the show.

"In the game, it was so shocking and so brutal. But I also knew, like…I remember the screen goes black, and then we move ahead, and it’s a different season. And I go [deep inhale], and I’m just breathing, but I’m watching [Joel and Ellie] in a different moment, a different time and place, and then I can keep kind of going."

As someone who only played the game for the first time recently, I remember the exact feeling Maizin is talking about. Henry and Sam’s death is just as shockingly awful as it was on the show, but since The Last of Us is a game designed to keep pulling the player along, it thrusts you into the next chapter while you’re still reeling from the horror you’ve just witnessed.

However, the TV show faced one significant challenge that the game did not: it has to cut the story up into episodes, leaving viewers hanging for a week before they see what happens next. And this, as it turns out, very nearly had huge ramifications for Henry. “And so the question is, ‘Should Henry kill himself or not?'” Mazin mused.

The Last of Us has hewed very closely to the story of the source material. Henry and Sam’s deaths are an iconic part of the game, so it’s hard to imagine what the response might have been if the series had decided to keep Henry alive. But there could have been wiggle room. Neil Druckmann, who created the game and serves as co-showrunner on the series, revealed that Henry’s fate wasn’t cut and dry even in the video game.

"We had a lot of long conversations. I don’t know if we should get into the alternatives because people might get mad at us that there were alternatives. But…it’s almost an identical process to what we went through in the game, because in the game, initially, Henry didn’t die. But again, it’s like if you’re trying to reflect the worst possible outcome for a parent, I felt like we had to take it all the way to show, like, then you have nothing left. There’s nothing left."

It’s hard to deny the result. The shadow of Henry and Sam’s death will loom over the story from here on out.