Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Last of Us game and HBO show storyline and ending.
While some would argue that there is no Last of Us without Joel Miller, we could probably say the same about his ward Ellie Williams. The duo essentially makes The Last of Us, so it would be almost inconceivable to imagine the narrative without either of them. That being said, what do we know about Joel’s fate from The Last of Us video games on PlayStation, and will the HBO adaptation remain faithful to it?
As mentioned earlier, Joel is essentially one of the two pillars that bring The Last of Us to life in all of its rich poignancy. That sense of emotional depth and existential dread wouldn’t be the same if the gun-toting protagonist wasn’t there to prepare his protege for the perilous wasteland of the post-apocalypse.
At the same time, The Last of Us on HBO has proven that the story is willing to rack up quite the body count to make sure audiences never feel safe about the characters, so does that mean Joel is going to succumb to such a terrible fate in the future?
Does Joel die in HBO’s The Last of Us?
While episode six of HBO’s The Last of Us would seem to suggest that Joel’s days are over, you’ll be pleased to learn that this stab wound isn’t likely to kill him.
If the show is to follow the game’s story as it has so far and is said to continue doing, then Joel has some fight in him yet. It seems likely that season one of HBO’s show will closely tell the story of the first game, so you don’t have to worry about Joel dying during this time.
How does Joel die in The Last of Us Part II
Naughty Dog could’ve chosen a hundred ways to progress the Last of Us narrative, but they ultimately decided on the most audacious way forward by determining Joel Miller’s fate as early as the first hours of the second game. In The Last of Us Part II, Joel finds himself in a trap set by Abby Anderson, whose father Joel killed in the final moments of the original game.
Abby is out to get revenge, so he brutally murders Joel as Ellie watches helplessly from a corner. This fills Ellie with resentment and fury beyond any hope of reconciliation, so she sets out to kill Abby. That quest for vengeance comprises much of The Last of Us Part II‘s narrative, though whether it ends on a hopeful or sour note is another matter.
The HBO adaptation will probably remain faithful to the narrative, in which case Pedro Pascal’s Joel will probably be killed off in the first half of season two. That doesn’t mean we won’t see him again, though, as The Last of Us Part II featured a ton of flashback sequences that brought the character back for more scenes between him and Ellie.
In fact, one could argue that the last flashback is Joel’s most important moment in the story, so we can’t wait to see it in live-action when the time comes.