The Last of Us writer Neil Druckmann has explained which scene from HBO’s hit tv show impacted him the most while filming the game’s adaptation.
As writer and creator of The Last of Us game series, Neil Druckmann also played a critical role in the production of the new HBO adaptation. Directing his own episode, and overseeing changes in others, Druckmann has had a major stamp on the overall franchise.
Neil Druckmann spoke, in Sony’s Creator to Creator, about what moment had him extremely nervous and even brought him to tears. While discussing episode 8, Druckmann confessed that one specific scene worried him.
Spoiler warning: contains spoilers about The Last of Us Episode 8
Ellie’s scene that brought Druckmann to tears
As fans of the game already know, one of the most impactful moments is Ellie’s confrontation with David. There are major stakes for both herself and Joel in their fight. Druckmann shared that the live-action performance for this sequence was a huge worry for him.
“So I was very nervous for that sequence specifically,” Druckmann admitted, sharing his hopes for the TV episode, “because I wanted it to be at least as good as the game or better.”
Druckmann then compared the show to the game. He illustrated how the HBO series is more intense during the final moments of Ellie’s battle with David.
“The David sequence is more brutal than in the game, it’s more disturbing, it’s harder to watch.” revealing the interaction between Joel and Ellie is what broke him, ”the way you reach forward and hug him, I was in tears.”
Full clip starts at: 6:33
Another reason this scene is so emotional is that, up until the sequence with David, Ellie and Joel hadn’t been long separated since they met. This made the moment of reunion much more intense and further strengthened Ellie and Joel’s relationship.
The scene was also bolstered by strong performances from Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, who revealed an interesting detail about that scene, explaining that, she had filmed Ellie reunion with Joel, before shooting the altercation with David.
“The interesting thing about that scene” the former Game of Thrones actress added, “is that we shot the bit where we reunite, we shot that before I killed David”.
Druckmann wasn’t the only one who felt the weight of this sequence, new and old fans of the franchise were quick to share what they thought about the episode online. Many even declared it as their favorite of the series so far.