Fans compare shocking The Last of Us plot twist to Red Wedding as episode grips internet
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for The Last of Us season two, episode two 'Through the Valley'
Grab your tissues and get ready, because The Last of Us moment you've all been dreading has finally arrived.
Anybody's played The Last of Us Part II or isn't able to help themselves when it comes to reading spoilers online will be very much aware about the inevitable moment which would be coming in the second series of the HBO adaption.
And anyone who wasn't aware of said major plot twist will have most likely spent last night screaming at their TV as they watched the series' most devastating and brutal plot twist unfold.
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This is your final spoiler warning, so look away now if you haven't watched the latest The Last of Us episode.
We are, of course, talking about the horrifying moment where Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) avenges her father by brutally murdering our beloved Joel (Pedro Pascal) in-front of Ellie (Bella Ramsey).
I'd imagine that most people, game players or not, were aware of Joel's inevitable fate from the moment Pascal signed on to play the role.
However, you probably weren't imagining it to happen so soon and in such a chilling, gruesome fashion.
Fans tuning into the episode were quick to compare Joel's death to the infamous Red Wedding episode from Game of Thrones, which saw the fan-favourite Stark family cut down at a wedding reception.
Because HBO clearly loves nothing more than breaking our hearts with a faithful adaptation of source material.
The harrowing comparison was made by several fans on social media, with one person writing on X: "HBO deciding one Red Wedding wasn’t enough."
"Can I say that Joel’s death scene in the last of us both game and live action is basically as equivalent to what I felt when I watched the red wedding in game of thrones for the first time," penned a second, while a third added: "I imagine this weeks The Last Of Us episode is the equivalent to the red wedding for people who didn’t play the game."
"Not sure what was worse: 'Red Wedding' of GOT or 'Through the Valley' of Last of Us," a fourth viewer wondered.
Pascal - who, unlike his character, is still alive and kicking - has since weighed in on the episode, explaining that he was very much aware of his character's ultimate fate.
"It's not like they said, 'Hey, we kill you at the beginning of season two'," he explained to Entertainment Weekly, adding: "But it was always an understanding that it would stay true to the source material in a specific way and that the, let’s say, practical and exclusive obligation would be for season one.
"It was just a matter of how and when."
Meanwhile, Ramsey revealed the script had left them in tears after reading. "I knew that Joel was going to die but reading it in the script I was dreading getting to that bit," the 21-year-old said in HBO's aftershow.
"It’s the first time I’ve cried from reading a piece of writing."
One can only hope Pedro Pascal will stop taking on roles which see him killed in such a brutal fashion.
Brenna Cooper