Ten years before The Last of Us became a hit HBO series, the original game ended on a bleak note as Joel made a decision about Ellie’s future that left a lot of blood on his hands. Joel’s actions have been the subject of a lot of fan debates, and a major catalyst for the story of The Last of Us Part II and The Last of Us Season 2. Now, The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann is weighing in on one of the ending’s unanswered questions: Could the Fireflies really have created a cure by sacrificing Ellie?
“Could the Fireflies make a cure? Our intent was, ‘yes, they could,'” said Druckmann during his appearance on the Sacred Symbols podcast (via IGN). “Now, is our science a little shaky that now people are now questioning it? Sure. Our science is a little shaky and people are now questioning it. I can’t say anything. I can say our intent was that they would have made a cure. That makes the most interesting philosophical question for what Joel does.”
The reason why Joel didn’t allow the Fireflies to create the cure is that they would have had to euthanize Ellie, whom he loved like a daughter. Rather than let that happen, Joel slaughtered all of the Fireflies in the hospital–an action that came back to haunt him in more ways than one.
During the same interview, Druckmann reiterated that The Last of Us Part 3 could still happen, if the developers at Naughty Dog come up with a “worthy” story. As for the HBO series, Druckmann and his co-showrunner Craig Mazin have indicated that Season 3 will tell the story of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), the young woman whose father was murdered by Joel during the incident at the hospital. Mazin also recently shared his opinion that The Last of Us Season 4 is essential to finishing the story they’ve begun. But for now, HBO has only confirmed that Season 3 will go forward.
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