This weekend, HBO aired the season 2 finale of its post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us, and things were looking pretty bleak for Ellie (Bella Ramsey), Dina (Isabela Merced), and the rest of their friends. All season long, Ellie has been on a bloody quest for revenge against Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), the young woman who murdered her surrogate father Joel (Pedro Pascal) in front of her. In the finale, Ellie and Abby finally come face to face, after Ellie carved a bloody path through all of Abby's friends over the course of three violent days in Seattle.
Abby doesn't waste much time returning the favor, gunning down Jesse (Young Mazino) as he runs through a doorway to confront her. "I let you live, and you wasted it," Abby snarls at Ellie, before a gunshot rings out and the screen cuts to black.
When the scene fades back in, we're back to Day One of the Seattle storyline, except this time events are playing out from Abby's perspective. We see her standing on a catwalk in a stadium where the WLF forces have holed up, giving us a tease of what's in store for season 3.
So what gives? Did Abby actually kill Ellie? And what happens next? Beware MAJOR SPOILERS from The Last of Us Part II video game ahead.
What happens to Ellie in The Last of Us?
The cliffhanger with Ellie and Abby followed by the perspective shift is lifted directly out of The Last of Us Part II, right down to that seemingly fatal encounter in the theater where Abby holds Ellie at gunpoint. After that scene happens in the game, you then relive the same three days in Seattle from Abby's point of view, discovering that it was a very chaotic time for the WLF. We learn more about their war with the Scars, culminating with a huge battle on their island that we caught a glimpse of in the season 2 finale, when explosions drew the cultists away just before they could gut Ellie.
Those three days are also highly personal for Abby. After murdering Joel and getting the revenge she sought so dearly, Abby begins to have a redemption arc in Seattle, helping a young Scar child named Lev who escaped the cult under traumatic circumstances. Lev and Abby develop a relationship reminiscent of Joel and Ellie from the first season, as Abby risks life and limb to save Lev and get him to safety.
This all leads to the showdown at the theater, after Abby discovers all her friends have been killed. She takes Tommy prisoner, shoots Jesse, and prepares to do the same to Ellie. But when we finally see these events play out from Abby's perspective, we see what happens next. As she pulls the trigger. Tommy leaps up off the floor and barrels into her, causing her to miss Ellie. Lev and Abby shoot Toomy to subdue him (he survives), and then Abby chases Ellie down. The two have a brutal fight in the abandoned theater, where the video game paints Ellie as the terrifying villain by forcing the player to face her as Abby.
Abby ultimately defeats Ellie. Dina tries to come to her aid, but Abby beats Dina as well. As she prepares to kill Dina, Ellie tells her that she's pregnant. Abby makes the choice to spare their lives, turning her back on the cycle of violence that led them all to that pivotal moment.
That caps off the bulk of the game, which occurs in Seattle. There is an extended third act sequence where players once more play as Ellie sometime later, as she backslides into one last quest for revenge against Abby. But I don't expect we'll see that in season 3; more likely the show will save that final mission for a fourth and final season, bringing this bloody tale to a close.
The first two seasons of The Last of Us are currently streaming on HBO Max. Season 3 is expected to begin filming sometime in early 2026, which means we probably won't be watching it until 2027 at the earliest. Buckle in for the long wait to see what happens next for Ellie and Abby on television.
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