The Walking Dead star Steven Yeun describes playing the ending of The Last of Us Part 1 to Pedro Pascal, and Pascal is amazed. Yeun’s TWD broke new ground when it brought zombie horror to series television in 2010, going on to become a pop culture phenomenon. Just as TWD was proving that zombies could be huge on basic cable, The Last of Us hit gaming consoles to prove that a zombie-centered video game could deliver more than just mindless first-person carnage. Now a decade after The Last of Us first blew the minds of gamers, it has blown the minds of TV fans with its HBO adaptation, starring Pascal as complicated hero Joel.
As viewers eagerly await more mind-blowing in The Last of Us season 2, TLOU’s Pascal and TWD's Yeun sat down as part of Variety’s Actors on Actors series, and at one point Yeun described to Pascal what it was like to play the original game’s ending, causing Pascal to express amazement. Yeun first tells Pascal that he played The Last of Us compulsively while working on The Walking Dead, then takes Pascal – who has never tried the game himself – through the feeling of playing the game’s ending passage, which plays out much like the final scene of The Last of Us season 1’s ninth episode. Check out what Yeun said in the space below:
YEUN: I don’t remember what season it was, but when the game came out, I remember I played it 12 hours straight, down to that last...where you just push the characters forward as they’re having that last beautiful scene you have.
PASCAL: Are you serious?
YEUN: Nothing happens. You just walk through the forest.
PASCAL: You’ve told me more about the game than the creator of the video game.
Is The Last Of Us About To Experience A Walking Dead-Like Fan Revolt
A central The Walking Dead character from the first episode, Yeun’s plucky and adventurous Glenn didn't take long to become a fan favorite. That fan favorite status is exactly why so many TWD fans bolted from the show when, in the first episode of season 7, Glenn met a brutal demise at the hands of the villainous Negan. Indeed, ratings for The Walking Dead began sagging after Glenn’s death, and the show never really recovered.
Those who’ve played The Last of Us Part II know that a shock similar to the one inflicted by TWD on Glenn's fans is coming for fans of HBO’s TLOU adaptation, as Joel dies in the early stages of the second half of the game. It’s of course not confirmed that the show will play out exactly as the game did, but it would be surprising if the series deviated so far from the games’ plot, meaning Pascal is likely in for a brutal departure fairly early in The Last of Us season 2.
If The Last of Us fans react to Joel’s death as TWD's fanatics reacted to Glenn’s, there could be a massive backlash in store for the HBO hit. On the other hand, the storytelling on The Last of Us is by and large stronger than the storytelling on The Walking Dead, so perhaps HBO’s series can execute the shocking death of a fan favorite character with enough finesse to not cause a mass exodus of angry viewers. Though Pascal hasn’t played The Last of Us games himself, he likely has been warned about his character’s impending demise, and if not, he has more mind-blowing in store for him when someone finally fills him in.
