While speaking with GQ, Luna shared that Tommy originally had a lot of other dialogue during this scene. Much of the original dialogue focused on how Tommy was concerned about Ellie (Bella Ramsey), but that he would take care of her moving forward. This dialogue was later cut, with Luna explaining that the lines were less about Ellie and more about the show's focus shifting to other characters, and that in the end, "Give Sarah my love" was all that really needed to be said. Check out Luna's comments below:
No, we did it. The more I was doing it, I had a sense, like, "No, I don't think we need any of this." I didn't bring it up at the time as I was performing it. There was something cathartic about it because a lot of what we left out was about Ellie, me telling him what happened to Ellie. At the time, it wasn't even really about the scene for me, as it was this weird double meaning in the scene of saying, "She's hurt, she's hurt bad, but she'll be all right. I'll take care of her," which needs to go unsaid because of course I will. Who else does she have? At the same time, it was less about Ellie in that moment than it was the show itself. There was this weird sense of the passing of the torch from Pedro's great leadership to Bella's, Kaitlyn's, myself, and the people who were going to be carrying this story forward from here — Isabela, Young [Mazino], and everyone. It still was beneficial in some way. In the moment, it was very cathartic to say out loud [for] the reality of the production that we were going [into]. In the end, I mean, what more do you need to say than, "Give Sarah my love."
What This Means For The Last Of Us
Tommy Said Everything He Needed To Say In This Scene
Luna's comments emphasize how The Last of Us season 2, episode 3 opted for a "less is more" approach when it came to Tommy saying goodbye to Joel. All the original lines that Luna mentioned would have made sense and would also have helped to signal how the show was moving forward, but will be forever impacted by Joel's legacy. At the same time, all of those lines are things that the audience already knew, and they might have felt unnecessary and taken away from the emotional weight of the scene.
"Give Sarah my love" being Tommy's only line in the scene was a more concise and powerful creative choice for the show to make. This line better spoke to how Tommy was feeling in that moment and how the deaths of his loved will forever weigh on him and influence the choices he makes moving forward. The quietness in the rest of the scene also spoke volumes in a way that Tommy's other lines would not have been able to achieve.
Our Take On Gabriel Luna's Comments
He Captures Why The Scene Worked So Well
I am glad that the show took a more minimalist approach when it came to this scene. Too much dialogue focused on where the show was headed would have taken away from this one final moment where both Tommy and the audience got to spend time with Joel before the story moved forward. A little more time to sit in that grief and to process it was needed before jumping three months later to Ellie in the hospital. The Last of Us continues to impress me with its smart narrative choices that never lose sight of the show's heart.
