One of the key benefits of adapting a video game to screen is the ability to go beyond the main characters. HBO's The Last of Us has already demonstrated this beautifully with the third episode of the series, dedicated to side characters Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett), and did so again to terrific effect with a barnstorming scene in episode six.
After Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) arrive in the town of Jackson, Wyoming, the pair part ways while Ellie goes off with Rutina Wesley's Maria, a town leader, who immediately takes to fussing after Ellie in a maternal way - including reaching out in a moment of "sisterhood" for the teenage girl. However, a simmering tension boils over during a routine haircut with the pair sniping at each other over Ellie's relationship with Joel, and ending in mutual admiration between the two as neither concedes any ground in the argument.
Speaking to host Troy Baker on HBO's The Last of Us Podcast, show creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin discussed why they had built in the scene to the story, as well as explaining why they felt it added a key "action scene" - without a single drop of violence.
This was a fun scene in that we didn’t get to see it in the game. Joel and Ellie part ways, Ellie is with Maria so she can be fed, and Joel goes with Tommy, which is where we go. Then you just see the aftermath where somehow Ellie learned about Joel’s daughter, so we brainstormed and came up with this scene. We wanted to take advantage of this scene, so we could take advantage of Ellie with a maternal figure again. We’d seen it with Tess, and now with Maria. She supplies with her new clothing. She provides her with a diva cup, because half our planet is women, and this [menstruation] is a huge thing you’d need to deal with in an apocalypse, and this is the second time we’ve come around to it on the show. Joel has no interest in helping out on that front, but here’s Maria thinking about it already. It connects to sisterhood, and womanhood. And Maria is giving her a haircut.
She’s just met Ellie and Joel, and she’s worried about Ellie. Both of them are extremely smart, she’s being challenged by someone as smart as her and sees it, and Maria is impressed. Joel’s intelligence isn’t expressed verbally but Ellie’s is, and so is Maria’s. I told Rutina Wesley and Bella, that this is a fist fight. We just aren’t punching. We will shake hands at the end, but this is a fight. This is our action sequence here. This is as captivating as the cul-de-sac beat in the previous episode. This is where we see how loyal Ellie is to Joel to the very end, even insulting Maria and her husband, because ultimately she sees Joel as her dad.
RELATED: 'The Last of Us' Episode 7 Trailer Prepares for the Arrival of Storm Reid's RileyThere are three episodes remaining of The Last of Us Season one, with the seventh episode "Left Behind" set to air on Sunday evening on HBO. Check out the episode preview below.
