When it comes to brutal, shocking death sequences on television, a few notable ones come to mind. There's the time Negan killed Glenn and Abraham in The Walking Dead, or when Hank was killed in Breaking Bad, or perhaps most famously, the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones.
This year featured a particularly poignant death scene in the form of The Last of Us season 2, when Joel (Pedro Pascal) was brutally beaten to death by Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), all while Ellie (Bella Ramsey) was left on the floor watching, unable to help. The moment captured the immense emotion from the video game with ease. Fans were left distraught as Joel, the show's protagonist, was taken so early in the season.
While Joel would later return sporadically throughout the season in various flashback sequences, his exit had a massive impact on not only the trajectory of the story but also how his co-star Bella Ramsey continued their journey.
"I had felt the effects of him not being there,” Ramsey told the LA Times.
Ramsey also recollected the moment they had to film the pivotal scene. “I was really trying to get loads of energy in me before that scene to be able to do it,” they said. “I was dancing and getting hyped up. When we actually did it, I had to live in it for a little bit … At the end of the day you feel this exhausted satisfaction and catharsis. But seeing his little face on the ground was pretty awful. I’ll never forget it.”
In addition, Ramsey also revealed one of the hardest stunts they had to endure while filming, which involved on-location filming in the ocean late at night. “The bit where [Ellie is] crawling out of the ocean was at the actual ocean in the middle of the night, which was freezing,” they explain. “I had just recovered from bronchitis. I had a wetsuit on underneath the costume and the water collected in the wetsuit and my backpack, so it was so heavy. I had to summon everything I had to be able to do it.”
The hard work certainly paid off. The Last of Us season 2 was another successful installment, and Ramsey has since been nominated for the Emmy Award for Lead Actress in a Drama for the second time running.
“It’s nice to be seen,” Ramsey concluded. “I feel like that’s what people like me have been searching for: to be seen for who they are. It’s a lovely thing for that to happen on a large scale, and hopefully it will help other gender-nonconforming people to feel seen as well. I’m just existing, which is the point. I feel so grateful to have this accidental impact on people.”
The Last of Us season 3 isn't expected to begin filming until 2026. This puts our release estimate to around 2027, so, yes, unfortunately, it's still some time away, folks!
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