HBO has dropped the primary trailer for “The Final of Us” season 2, and followers of the present are naturally hyped — however there’s some rigidity within the air as properly. “The Final of Us Half II,” the online game upon which this season is predicated, was hotly anticipated within the lead-up to its launch in 2020. But even followers who’d embraced the cruel post-apocalyptic world of the primary sport had been left devastated by the occasions of the second.
For essentially the most half, the sequel was extremely praised by critics and avid gamers alike regardless of their heartbreak. “It is unbelievable, and I by no means need to play it once more” was a standard sentiment, and /Movie’s personal overview describes it as a “depressing masterpiece.” However a major share of gamers really loathed the sport’s story decisions, and a few of these followers took the backlash approach too far.
“The Final of Us” season 2 will introduce a brand new key character: Abby Anderson, performed by Kaitlyn Dever (“No One Will Save You”). Abby was the lightning rod for the controversy over “The Final of Us Half II.” She’s really the playable protagonist for half of the sport, however she’s not buddies with the unique protagonists. Fairly the other.
From Abby’s perspective, Joel and Ellie are the villains of the story — and given the murky ethical greys of “The Final of Us,” she’s not totally incorrect to really feel that approach. However relating to fictional tales, audiences do not essentially want protagonists to be good folks to be able to root for them, they usually do not want ethical justification to hate a personality who’s getting within the protagonist’s approach. Some “Breaking Unhealthy” followers loathed Skyler White a lot that their hate spilled over into actual life and was directed at actor Anna Gunn. The identical factor occurred to Abby’s voice actor within the online game, Laura Bailey, who was bombarded with abuse and even loss of life threats on-line. (HBO employed extra on-set safety for Kaitlyn Dever as a precaution whereas filming “The Final of Us” season 2.)
So, what did Abby do this stirred up a lot poisonous sediment on the fandom riverbed? Warning: main spoilers forward for “The Final of Us Half II,” and possibly for “The Final of Us” season 2 as properly.
Abby is out for revenge, and he or she will get it
No, Abby did not f**okay Ted – however she did kill Joel.
“The Final of Us Half II” begins with Joel and Ellie dwelling a comparatively settled existence, which is violently torn aside by Abby’s arrival. Joel saves her from a horde of the contaminated and helps her get to security, however when she learns his identify Abby shoots him within the leg with a shotgun. She then slowly and brutally beats Joel to loss of life with a golf membership. Ellie arrives in the course of this and tries to avoid wasting him, however she’s pinned to the ground by Abby’s allies and might solely look helplessly into Joel’s eyes as Abby delivers the loss of life blow.
In “The Final of Us,” gamers had break up their time between taking part in as Joel and taking part in as Ellie, permitting them to construct an empathetic reference to each characters. Many followers naturally anticipated the same set-up in “The Final of Us Half II.” However not solely did they not get to play as Joel in any respect in the primary story marketing campaign, Joel was killed off proper in the beginning. And so as to add insult to extreme golf membership harm, his assassin was the brand new playable protagonist and the main target of half the sport’s story. “The Final of Us Half II” pressured gamers into the sneakers of the final character on the earth they’d need to empathize with.
It was an extremely ballsy transfer, and it delivered actual penalties for Joel’s actions on the finish of “The Final of Us.” Because the TV present faithfully tailored on the finish of season 1, the primary sport ends with Joel studying that the Fireflies intend to kill Ellie in order that they’ll take away her mind, examine it to search out out why she’s resistant to the Cordyceps virus, and use that data to create a vaccine. Joel would not like this plan, so he places an finish to it by killing the surgeon who’s about to function on Ellie. That surgeon, “The Final of Us Half II” reveals, was Abby’s father.
So far as Abby’s involved, Joel is not a gruff-but-lovable loner with a coronary heart of gold. He is the person who killed her dad and destroyed humanity’s greatest hope for survival within the course of. Therefore, the golf membership incident.
“The Final of Us” season 2 will premiere on HBO and start streaming on Max in 2025.