Troy Baker Revealed How Naughty Dog Changed Important Moment from The Last of Us Part II Ending

The Last of Us Part II, widely seen as one of the best games of its generation, went through quite a few changes during development. As it is known, Naughty Dog even experimented with the ending, and, as one of the actors recently revealed, a key moment in the finale might have ended up in a completely different place.

This is the final flashback scene between Ellie and Joel, where she states she’ll probably never be able to forgive him but will at least try. As it turned out, the developers originally planned to put this scene at the very start of the game, before Joel meets his tragic end. Troy Baker, the voice of Joel, revealed this in a recent Party Chat interview. He also added that the studio made the right call by moving the scene to one of the final moments, which made the story arc more cohesive. You can check out his comments below:

“We spent all day on that scene... Originally, Neil Druckmann had scripted that Ellie hugs Joel, and Ashley was like 'I'm not there yet, I can't.' It's not that she was right, but it's better that they don't get that hug, that we leave it in the tense, we leave it unresolved.

And originally, that scene was supposed to play right before everything goes down, and to put it at the end, it's just like, 'Oh god,' it's so good.”

Not long ago, Neil Druckmann, the creative director of The Last of Us Part II, also revealed the studio wanted to put more emphasis on open-world-style areas where Ellie could go on raids to gather supplies. Ultimately, the idea was dropped because, according to Druckmann, it didn’t fit the main character’s personality.

Additionally, last week Naughty Dog confirmed they’re developing new games set in The Last of Us universe. The number of projects hasn’t been shared, but according to Druckmann, they will “expand the canon beyond the first two games.” You can also check out possible directions for The Last of Us Part III or other spin-offs.