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

What would have happened if Henry had lived on The Last of Us?

Knowing that both the show and game versions of The Last of Us nearly kept Henry alive is very intriguing, because it leads to an obvious question: what would have happened to Henry if he hadn’t died? What if Joel had actually gotten the gun from him and he’d had a chance to calm down?

This isn’t something that either Druckmann or Mazin have addressed, so we can only speculate. Here’s my guess, with a warning that it will contain very minor spoilers for the story ahead.

Following the tragic escape from Kansas City (Pittsburgh in the game), Joel and Ellie continue their quest to find Joel’s brother Tommy. This leads them out into the wilds of Wyoming where they eventually arrive at a settlement in Jackson. We’ve seen that settlement in the trailer for next week’s episode, so we know it’s on the way.

We won’t discuss the details, but suffice it to say that Jackson is a major location for the series. If Henry had survived the death of his younger brother, my guess is that he would have traveled with Joel and Ellie to Jackson, only to decide to stay and join the community there. This would have given Henry a different sort of closure and a clean way to write him out of the story.

Or perhaps Henry still would have parted ways with our heroes after the death of Sam, continuing off on his own like Bill did in the game. Again, it’s all just speculation. But now that we know that Henry nearly had a different fate, it’s fun to imagine.

The Last of Us premieres new episodes Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.

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