Nico Parker, who played Joel's daughter in The Last of Us season 1, shares her thoughts on Pedro Pascal's character's death and why she hasn't watched that devastating Joel scene in season 2. Parker, who made her feature film debut in 2019's Dumbo, appeared as Sarah Miller, Joel's daughter, in two episodes of The Last of Us season 2. She has since appeared in movies such as Suncoast and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, and is set to appear in the upcoming How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake as Astrid. Parker has a small but significant role in TLOU season 1.
Parker, who is not featured in The Last of Us season 2, explained in her most recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Myers on June 10, 2025, why she hasn't brought herself to watch the latest TLOU season. While promoting her latest movie, How to Train Your Dragon, which also stars Mason Thomas, Gerard Butler, and Nick Frost, Parker revealed, "I haven't watched the second season because the idea of seeing him die is so deeply distressing. But I'm a huge fan of Bella, Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela, and Gabriel... so I do want to watch it because I want to see them, but Pedro dying is just a lot."
How Nico Parker's Comments Compare To Joel's Death Scene Reaction
Parker Echoed Many Viewers' Sentiments That Joel's Death Scene Was Too Hard To Watch
Many fans and viewers share Parker's sentiments about Joel's gruesome death scene, which was an absolutely brutal watch in The Last of Us season 2. Although Craig Mazin recently reminded viewers that Pedro Pascal is "still alive and is in literally everything else," it's impossible to separate Pascal's moving and fantastic performance from the character of Joel Miller. The main characters of major TV shows are rarely killed off so early and in such a brutal way, which also contributes to the shock value of Joel's death. While those who played TLOU video games knew it was coming, many viewers were still blindsided.
Even though Parker reveals that she hasn't seen the second season of The Last of Us yet, she was aware of Joel's death scene and likely had heard just how disturbing it was to sit through. Even though the scene was a fairly loyal recreation of what happens in the video game, watching that happen to Pedro Pascal's portrayal of Joel is different and, in some ways, even more upsetting, since it looks more real. Parker added that she watched Pascal's character in Gladiator II, Acacius, die, and she "was totally fine." This highlights just how gruesome Joel's death scene was, even though, after all, it's only fiction.
Our Take On Joel's Death Scene Deterring TLOU Season 2 Viewers
It Was An Inevitable Yet Brutal Development That The Video Game Called For
The sharp decline in viewership for The Last of Us season 2 following Joel's episode 2 death says a lot about how fans reacted to him no longer being alive in the series and how violent the scene was. Mazin is right to remind viewers that it's just a fictional story, but regardless, I remember being incredibly bothered sitting through Joel's torture and death scenes to the point where I wondered if that degree of bleak violence was necessary or entertaining.
On one hand, you can give TLOU season 2's creative team credit for not sugarcoating the tragic event. On the other hand, their loyalty to The Last of Us' game portrayal contributed to a decline in viewership in what ended up being a divisive season 2.
