Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Last of Us season 2
It’s a whole new world for HBO’s The Last of Us, and while things had already gone to sh*t due to the Cordyceps outbreak turning most of the human population into bloodthirsty mushroom monsters, that’s arguably nothing compared to the horrors that Bella Ramsey’s Ellie has been facing. While the events of 2020’s The Last of Us Part II had already foreshadowed some serious heartbreak for Ellie, fans weren’t sure exactly when the writers would deliver that big moment. Although some thought they’d save it for some The Walking Dead-inspired season cliffhanger, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann got a major character death out of the way early.
Just two episodes into The Last of Us season 2, and Pedro Pascal’s Joel Miller has officially kicked the bucket. While Part II similarly delivered his shock demise early into the game, Mazin and Druckmann made it even more brutal. Whereas Joel’s fatal blow at the hands of video game Abby Anderson happens off-screen, Kaitlyn Dever’s live-action version jabbed a broken golf club into his throat as Ellie watched on in horror. Much like Ellie, we weren’t given much time to mourn Daddy Joel before episode three rolled around. Joel might be gone, and according to a tragic Easter Egg, he might be forgotten.
The Last of Us Season 2 is already erasing Joel
Just watched ep3 s2 of The Last Of Us and noticed this in the credits… 😢 pic.twitter.com/1WYvRme478
— 𝔾𝕚𝕝𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕥 (@RamsesNibblick) April 28, 2025
HBO is no stranger to changing credits, and like how House of the Dragon’s credits evolve over the course of the season, The Last of Us is here to remind us that Joel is very much dead. Previously, The Last of Us credits included a sombre shot of Joel and Ellie walking side by side while the tendrils of the Cordyceps infection crawled in from the edges. Following Joel’s dramatic death, Ellie is left to walk this road alone. April 27’s “The Path” not only takes Joel out of the credits, but Pascal’s name is also pulled from joint billing with Ramsey. Ellie isn’t totally alone thanks to support from the likes of Gabriel Luna’s Tommy and Isabela Merced’s Dina, but with Joel being the one who saved Ellie from her unfortunate fate way back at the start of season 1, his loss is sure to be felt for a long time.
If you thought Joel’s big death episode had you reaching for the tissues, the credits change had us weeping all over again. Over on Reddit, one distraught fan wrote, “I LOST IT when I saw this. How could they do this to us.” Another mourned, “I knew they prolly would do this but actually seeing it. God a whole nother pain. And Pedro’s name gone ughghh,” while a third said, “Quite literally choked when I saw it, I had seen rumors but actually seeing happen was a total gut punch.” Others were glad that the show is acknowledging Joel’s passing and enjoyed the nod to fans. Despite having had big deaths before, like Anna Torv’s Tess, Storm Reid’s Riley, and Bill and Frank (Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett), this is a truly major departure of a top-billed member of the cast.
Even though Joel is gone from the credits and from Ellie’s life, his spirit will still be felt. After all, it’s Ellie’s own revenge arc that sees her now setting off to find Abby’s Washington Liberation Front in Seattle. Of course, none of us are buying that Pascal is really done with The Last of Us. Away from fanciful pitches for Outbreak Day spin-offs or Cordyceps origin stories that could weave in Joel like Keanu Reeves’ John Wick in Ballerina or Bryan Cranston's Walter White in El Camino, there’s already chatter about how else Joel could return. It’s clear that Joel’s death is going to stick, and he’s not set for some miraculous resurrection like Jon Snow; he could appear as a spectral guide to Ellie, stop by in a dream, or go down the easy route of more flashback episodes. House of the Dragon made the return of Milly Alcock’s young Rhaenyra Targaryen make sense, so we’re sure the writers can do the same with Joel.
More than just hopeful fans trying to come up with their own storylines for standalone flashback episodes, Mazin has already spoiled Pascal’s season 2 return when he told The New York Post that Joel and Ellie “spend quite a bit of time together in this season… more than people might think.” Screen Rant reports that Pascal appears in four of season 2’s episodes, meaning we have two more left. As this is an abridged seven-episode season, it means there shouldn’t be many Joel-free episodes. This neatly marries up with Part II, which also featured numerous Joel flashbacks after he’d taken his last breath. We also know that the story of Part II will at least spill over into a third season, with a potential season 4, suggesting that Joel taking a golf club to the jugular is far from Pascal’s final time beating up Bloaters as TV’s ultimate danger dad.