Breaking news
Ninety-nine percent of the time, this sentence would appear free of any hidden meaning: “Pedro Pascal has done filming The Last of Us season two.” Every day actors start filming initiatives and then they accomplish filming initiatives. When it happens it’s rarely, if ever, significant. In this case, though, of us began to freak out about it—and although that statement was later reported to be inaccurate, that it caused a ruckus at all is a fairly fascinating tale.
Thanks, Last of Us. Thanks a Lot. | The Last of Us Episode 7 Review
The rumor of Pascal finishing his filming started earlier this week. On one level, it raised eyebrows because The Last of Us season two has reportedly handiest been filming a few weeks and is predicted to continue by means of the summer. He’s one of the main characters on the hit HBO sequence, so his potentially being completed appeared unfamiliar for that reason alone.
Aside from, it didn’t, whereas you happen to had some additional context. The Last of Us season two is adapting the game The Last of Us Part II, and for anyone who has played the game, the rumor of Pascal’s schedule felt appreciate the indirect answer to a ask fans have had for a whereas. Earlier than we accept to that though, it’s important to present that after the rumor began to circle, HBO advised IGN that the rumors of him being completed with filming had been “no longer accurate.” Does that mean he is calm filming? Does that mean he done a block of filming and is going back? And, finally, why is that this meaningless part of information being reported on with such passion?
The last ask we can answer, but it certainly requires discussing events in The Last of Us Part II game and, potentially, season two of the HBO sequence.
This has been lined over and over again but, to reiterate, Pedro Pascal’s character, Joel, is no longer any longer a large part of The Last of Us Part II. In the game’s first act, he’s murdered by a woman named Abby as revenge for him killing her father, a doctor at the hospital Joel where went on a killing spree to save Ellie. Ellie doesn’t know that part though and goes on a revenge mission to search out and break Abby.
So! A sentence as clear-slash as “Pedro Pascal has done filming The Last of Us season two” implies, to a fan of the game, that season two of the repeat will probably be following that legend and construction explicitly. That Joel is handiest in a few scenes or episodes and then WHAM. Dead.
Which, in phrases of a major TV sequence, always felt appreciate something that wouldn’t happen. Even earlier than The Last of Us aired, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann played coy about how they had been going to handle this in-game resolution. Basically, they didn’t want game players to break that Joel may die or to easily give up such a game-changing station level willingly. Plus, there’s no guarantee they have to follow the game. Their repeat is headlined by one of the greatest stars in the realm. To jot down him off for any reason is a major resolution on each level.
Information that the game’s legend can be split over at least two seasons then changed the conversation. It then appears that you can contemplate of Joel would die, but maybe no longer except the stay of season two. (To explain that even further, although Joel dies at the starting of the game, it’s the heart of the overall legend, with the first half following Ellie’s revenge after his death and the second explaining Abby’s pickle earlier than his death.)
If Pascal was actually completed filming, it may well counsel he’s no longer in the repeat as much and that Mazin and Druckmann had been taking the most effective path by factual following the game to the letter. But, now, we know those rumors are “no longer accurate.” Which, whereas you happen to want to accept all conspiracy theory about it, is a very particular alternative of words. It doesn’t say he has months left of filming. It doesn’t even say that he’s calm filming. For all we know he may lag back at a later date for a single day and they can be telling the reality. HBO is handiest saying it’s no longer accurate that Pedro Pascal has accomplished filming on season two. The ask of if Joel dies in season two of The Last of Us, or when, remains a thriller.
And now, almost 700 words later, we’re calm factual talking about and explaining probably the most basic fact imaginable: a individual done work. It wants to be meaningless. But when it’s how long Pedro Pascal was on the place of The Last of Us season two, it’s a window into your entire scope of the season and sequence. Something we’ll be talking about and debating into subsequent year when The Last of Us finally returns with its second season.
Want more io9 information? Examine out when to interrogate the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Ride releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on film and TV, and every part it’s important to understand about the future of Physician Who.