HBO’s second season of The Last of Us adapts the hit 2020 video game The Last of Us Part II, the long-awaited sequel to the 2013 PS3 game that ended up being as divisive with fans as it was critically and financially successful. Whereas the first season of the series was tailored to adapt the entirety of the first game, the dual narrative of The Last of Us Part II warranted multiple seasons in the eyes of showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. With that decision also came numerous narrative changes from the game, some of which were especially evident in the Season 2 finale. One of the massive changes came towards the end of the season 2 finale, in which Ellie (Bella Ramsey) makes it to the aquarium in Seattle, where she believes Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) is hiding. Instead, she finds Owen (Spencer Lord) and Mel (Ariela Barer) hiding out, where a tense confrontation ensues. The scene plays out entirely differently than in the game, with Owen dying a quick death, and Ellie inadvertently killing Mel, as opposed to her original hateful killing of both characters in the game.

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A new behind-the-scenes video posted on social media platforms shows an alternate take of the scene that was filmed, and it’s much more accurate to the game. The video, which can be viewed below, shows Bella Ramsey and Spencer Lord engaging in intense fight choreography reminiscent of their characters’ struggles in the game. However, Mazin had his reasons for going with a completely different version of the tense confrontation.

Craig Mazin’s Changes to ‘The Last of Us’ Continue to be Divisive

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According to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Mazin would end up going for an alternate version of Ellie and Owen’s fight, due to the height difference between Ramsey and Lord. Ramsey is just over five feet tall, whereas Lord is well over six feet, making any struggle between the two feel slightly unrealistic. However, some fans on social media were vocal about their disappointment with the change made in the series. One user on X would say they “don’t care about the show being realistically grounded,” instead preferring to see a version of Ramsey’s Ellie that is “brutally violent like in the game, even if her doing so at her smaller size doesn’t make sense.” Another user would point out the inconsistency in the changes made, saying that they “would have preferred this. Wasn’t the point of showing Ellie fight the big dude in Episode 1 to show that she can handle fighting bigger people?” Overall, the choice to make Ellie’s actions less brutal has remained divisive. Despite becoming less physically violent in the show, Mel and Owen’s deaths could arguably be considered a lot more heartbreaking if not as dark as some fans would have wanted them to be. The result was a compelling season 2 finale with an exciting cliffhanger to help get viewers excited for season 3, which has yet to begin production. With plans for a fourth season, it will be interesting to see how much more the next batch of episodes will cover the story of the second game. Source: X, The Hollywood Reporter