The Ending of The Last of Us Part 2 was Going to be Darker

The Last of Us Part 2 was going to have a darker ending compared to the conclusion we saw in the final product. Druckmann and Gross planned on Ellie getting her revenge. Due to plans with other characters and looking at the themes that the game tackles resulted in the ending we got on release.

The Last of Us Part 2 ending was going to be different

Spoilers ahead as Naughty Dog planned on a darker ending for The Last of Us Part 2. That is hard to believe when you have beaten the game and experience the dark and cold conclusion. In an interview with GameInformer, director and co-writer Neil Druckmann and narrative lead Halley Gross revealed what could have happened during those final moments.

“When I signed on a lot of it was very similar,” Gross told GameInformer. “We did a lot of iterations on what that last act looked like, but the final beat was that Ellie would kill Abby. About halfway through production, we changed that and had Ellie let go at the last second to [illustrate] that some little part of the old Ellie, the Ellie with humanity, the Ellie that is impacted by Joel, still exists within this character who has been so overtaken by her quest for revenge.”

Much of this decision was on how Yara and Lev’s character arcs would be rounded out. Ideas floated about whether who would die or live between the brother and sister, Druckmann went down the path of Ellie letting go of her revenge once the narrative team planned on Lev to live.

“Letting Abby live felt wrong thematically initially,” Druckmann said. “But at the end of the day, it felt more honest for the character. The theme [and] what we’re trying to say shifted a little bit, but our top priority always is are we being honest to the character? There’s certain things we are trying to hit but they can only work if we’re consistent with the character we’re writing.”

The Last of Us Part 2 ending and the overall story was controversial. You can see that in the comments of our review. Even the KeenGamer staff are torn between feeling that the story was flawed or thinking the ending was perfect. What do you think about Naughty Dog’s long-awaited sequel to its 2013 hit?

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