I Think I Know When The Last Of Us Season 2 Will End & It's Perfect

I think I’ve figured out when The Last of Us season 2 will end — and it’ll be the perfect stopping point for the TV series’ ambitious adaptation of Part II. Since HBO’s The Last of Us is confirmed to be splitting up the story of the second game into more than one season, there’s been a lot of discussion about when the TV show will take a break. There are a few options; if it follows Ellie and Abby’s adventures in Seattle simultaneously, it could break when they unwittingly cross paths at the hospital.

Now that The Last of Us season 2 has released a full trailer, the shape the adaptation is taking is becoming a little clearer. With a couple of tweaks aside, the TV show seems to be sticking as faithfully to the second game as it did to the first game in season 1. As an avid player of the games who’s sunk over 500 hours into this franchise, I’m delighted that the TV adaptation seems to be staying game-accurate as it dives into Part II. And one key shot from the trailer seems to suggest where season 2 will end.

I Think The Last Of Us Season 2 Will End With Abby's Backstory Reveal

The TV Audience Needs To Be Given A Reason To Care About Abby

Throughout the production of The Last of Us season 2, a handful of leaks and photos from the set hinted at how much of the game would be covered. There were set photos covering all three of Ellie’s Seattle days, from the battle on Capitol Hill with Dina to her journey to the aquarium with Jesse, and there were almost no photos featuring Abby actor Kaitlyn Dever. This suggested that the TV show would follow the same story structure as the game, covering Ellie’s entire journey through Seattle before going back to show Abby’s perspective of the same three days.

The natural stopping point would be when Abby arrives at the theater to confront Ellie. There’s even a built-in cut-to-black that would see out the season 2 finale. But the more I think about it, the more that seems like a dissatisfying place to end the season. It’s one thing in a video game, where the player can continue the story right away, but it’ll be a different experience when TV viewers have to wait two years for season 3. Since there are still no answers when Abby arrives at the theater, viewers would probably be disappointed by that cliffhanger.

Based on the trailer shot of Abby grieving at her father’s graveside, I’m convinced season 2 will end shortly after the theater confrontation with the series of flashbacks explaining Abby’s backstory. This is an awesome rug-pull in the game. You’ve spent hours as Ellie, relentlessly tracking down Abby and murdering all her friends along the way in the ugly pursuit of revenge, and then these flashbacks reveal that Abby had a solid reason for killing Joel. That’ll make for a more satisfying season finale (and drum up more excitement for season 3) than a standard cut-to-black after a shocking twist.

Why The Last Of Us Season 2 Shouldn't End At The Theater

The Shock Value Would Be Undermined By The Unanswered Questions

There would certainly be some shock value in ending The Last of Us season 2 at the theater. After Ellie has spent three days trying to find Abby, Abby comes to her. She knocks down Tommy, she kills Jesse, and she holds Ellie at gunpoint, eager to pull the trigger. It would make for a jaw-dropping cliffhanger, but the surprise factor would ultimately be undermined by the unanswered questions. At that point, there are still no answers to any of the mysteries — primarily Abby’s identity and why she killed Joel — so it might be a disappointing ending for season 2.

This disappointment would be made even worse two years later when the trailers for season 3 arrived teasing a full season of Abby. If season 2 ends at the theater and the audience still has no idea who Abby is beyond Joel’s sadistic killer, then they’ll have been given no reason to empathize with her, so they won’t be too thrilled that season 3 is mostly from her perspective. Instead, season 2 should use the flashback montage to explain who Abby is and why she did what she did.

Resolving the mystery of who Abby is before the finale is over would give season 2 a sense of closure that would be missing if it ended at the theater. Viewers who have been wondering who Abby is the whole time Ellie has been hunting her will finally get a satisfactory answer to that question. And when season 3’s trailers arrive promising to show Abby’s perspective of the Seattle days, viewers will be more excited to find out more about her.

Putting Abby's Zebra Scene In The Season 2 Finale Would Parallel Ellie's Giraffe Scene In The Season 1 Finale

These Two Animal Scenes Show That Ellie & Abby Aren't So Different

The first of the Abby flashbacks goes back four years to show her in a park with her dad, Jerry, trying to find a pregnant zebra that escaped from a nearby zoo to help her give birth. They find that the zebra already had her baby and got caught in a barb-wire trap, so they free her and follow her back to her baby, where their location is finally revealed: St. Mary’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. As it turns out, the zebra escaped from the same zoo as the giraffes that Joel and Ellie saw in Part I.

Joel and Ellie have just arrived at the hospital, and Jerry is the surgeon planning to turn Ellie’s immunity into a cure. Not only does this scene finally explain why Abby killed Joel (and with a good reason); it also highlights the similarities between Ellie and Abby. They both love their dad and want nothing more than to avenge him after he’s killed. To hammer home these similarities, Abby’s zebra scene draws a parallel with Ellie’s giraffe scene — and putting it in the season 2 finale would create a nice parallel with the season 1 finale.

Why The Last Of Us TV Show Mirroring The Game's Structure Is A Huge Risk

The Last Of Us Part II Has Been Criticized For Pacing Issues

Mirroring The Last of Us Part II’s disjointed nonlinear structure in the TV adaptation is a huge risk, because the game has been criticized for pacing issues, and for taking too much time away from Ellie. The TV show could’ve fixed the pacing issue by showing Ellie and Abby’s Seattle perspectives simultaneously, but that would’ve been much too conventional and taken away the unique power of this story. The whole point is to get the audience as singularly focused on killing Abby as Ellie is; that wouldn’t work if it kept cutting away to Abby’s redemption arc.

The break between seasons 2 and 3 might help in this case. In the game, it’s a drastic change of pace to go from Ellie sailing through a flooded city to murder her arch-nemesis to Abby eating a burrito in the safety of a sports stadium. But after a season break, it would make sense for The Last of Us’ season 3 premiere to slow down a bit after a climactic, action-packed season 2 finale.