Why The Last of Us Part II Can't Be Adapted 

One thing we all forget as people who play these games is that a huge numbers of people who will watch the tv show will not have played the game. The tv version doesnt have to cater to the gamers.

I have faith Part II will be well adapted. For starters, Druckman and Mazin said Part 2 will likely be split into multiple seasons. This tells me that there will be plenty of character development. Hopefully, there will be some time away from Ellie and Abby so that we can relate to the supporting cast; that way, certain deaths will hit more when they occur.

In the first episode of the show, they did a great job adapting the prologue, and it was because they used the language of TV to do the same thing that the game used the language of gaming to do. In the game, Sarah is "on stick": because you're controlling her, you feel like you ARE her, you identify with her instantly and she becomes the protagonist. The show introduced Sarah and followed her through her day, which did the same thing: it used the language of TV to say "this is the main character" to make it more shocking and painful when she died. I'm confident they'll do what they need in S2's adaptation not to lose too much from the change in medium!

I always laughed when the last WLF soldier says kill me if you got the nerve when there’s like nine bodies laying around

idk as someone whose never played the game but was impacted greatly just by watching the story, I feel like they can adapt it well and still hit all the right points

can't wait to see how this vid ages: like fine wine or milk.

smth im wondering is how bella ramsey will play tlou2 ellie, she was literally chosen because she sounds and looks like a teenager/child 😭

The moment I realised the dog you play with as abby is the one ellie killed at the aquarium 😭

I think they should keep Joel's death at the beginning of the season. They might lose viewers, but I feel changing that would be compromising on the art and playing it safe. Episode one could end with Jessie telling Ellie and Dina that Joel didn't check in.

This is a long, but good read, trust me. One simple change they could've done to the game to make it resonate more wit players (which is something I think they'll do in part 3 and season 2). Is that we should've played Abby's side first. BUT! It styll happens, but kinda skip over or move around the whole "Abby meets Joel & Tommy in the snow" part. Start the game wit Abby & co leaving the mansion & going to Seattle & continue up until Abby n Lev sneak into the theater. (All the while, us getting to learn who these new characters are, how they've been handling the pandemic, BUT not yet show how they link up to our characters, until we get to Abby's backstory and then Ellie's side.) But do it in a way where we don't kno who it is that's killing all our new friends in Seattle (that we think it's cuz we abandoned the WLF or something). Then, right BEFORE seeing that we run into Tommy at the theater, we switch to Abby's backstory. We see that her dad was the one Joel killed. Now we feel for Abby & everything she went throo. THEN, we finally get to Ellie's side of the story. (Yes, it would take quite a while, but this way, not knowing Joel dies yet & knowing what Abby went throo, we actually would feel for Abby.) Now we play as Ellie's story like normal. When we get to the mansion, we hear screaming and bust in to see Joel being murdered. Now we put 2 & 2 together and go "Ahh! THAT'S why Abby & co. were running away from the mansion in the beginning and tryna get outta there." Then we go on the hunt for Abby & co. Now, our emotions for Abby become conflicted wit new disdain for Joel & for some, may jus jump straight to hate for Abby. And both are fine and perfectly reasonable. Then, let the story play out how it does. It would flow better, IMO. Way better than how they did it. And the leaks... (which I never looked at myself. I jus heard ppl were laughing at a golf club for some reason. Lol I didn't get it and didn't want to get it at that time.) ...didn't help the game at all, since a lot of ppl knew what happened in the beginning. But yeh, I personally understand what Naughty Dog was tryna do, I jus think that the way they executed it was backward. Taking away the option for players to feel diff emotions. Instead, they jus had everyone pissed as we're forced to play as Abby for half the game, this character who jus offed our main guy from part 1. The way I would've done it styll gives dramatic reveals, possibly more reveals tbh, and gives the player their own chance to feel whatever way they want to about Abby & Joel, now that we already played her side, got to kno her, went throo trials wit her saving Yara & Lev. Then, finding out her dad was the surgeon at the end of the last game. Then, understanding why she wanted to hunt Joel down. Now that we have the full picture, we can feel and judge the way we want to. But don't jus take out one of our fav and main characters at the start and force us to play as the killer jus for shock value. What? Lol There's a diff way to get the same shock value, like in my version.

I am very curious how they intend to approach Part II. A lot of the impact certainly came from the way it was formatted with you playing Ellie for the first half, and then switching characters and jumping backwards 3 days. Will they try to follow kind of the same format where the focus is Ellie's perspective through 3 days, then switch? Or will they try to tell their stories in parallel?

tv shows take a lot of liberty with source material, such as the bloater showing up in the wrong place, tess being frenched by infected instead of dying to fedra soldiers.

Really good point raised. I love both TLOU games, but I understand the fatigue of the violence, for Part3 I’d love to see a story of helping people and redemption. Either HBO are going to get some great actors to make the audience feel pity and remorse for the kills, or the problem will show.

one thing about bill in the show, hes too in love with frank. in the game he said "FUCK UM" in the show he couldnt live without him but in the game he didnt hesitate to live. frank also didnt get sick at all. he got so fed up with bill and his rules that he left, tried to steal that battery and died trying... in the show bill wouldve never left franks side, but in the game we see a whole different set of characters who would make entirely different choices. and before you say "as long as the story is there its okay" listen, im there for the CHARACTERS, and if the characters arent recognizable to the eye they at least should make the same choices.

i've never played the games myself... i have watched my son play both of the games, and i have also watched a lot of playtroughs of different man and woman playing the TLOU part 2 and i love the experience of watching other people struggle with empathy the game wants you to experience... i love the games... i love the story... i also loved how they adapted it and expanded in the tv series... what I'm trying to say is... you can definitely get that feeling of hate/empathy just by watching.... i want to point out that i've been a gamer since atari in 1986... so yeah trust me when i say that you dont really need to experience it by gaming, you can apreciete this one by just watching.

I feel like the change for things to be realistic kinda killed it for me but still was good in some aspects

I think season one was able to get away with having very little in the way of action scenes because ultimately the whole point was ellie and joels relationship which can be conveyed through character moments & dialogue alone. However, part 2 relies heavily on violence & action to make its theme so im curious to see what they cut and how they adapt certain gameplay sections since obviously we won't see everything or even probably most things due to budget & time

I’m highly convinced that one of the episodes are gonna start up with the scene of the bank robbery that we read about as Ellie that took place on outbreak day. It would awesome to see more flashbacks and I think we will get an episode all on the scars and their island and an episode about Tommy which we all wanted to be DLC. They have so much they can do like flashbacks of outbreak day in the Seattle hospital and the last days of FEDRA versus the Wolves

Great video man! Really well done and thoughtful. I agree with your point of view here...hearing the names, pleas, and screams definitely adds to it. You've earned a sub man!

My thought was that it’s going to be hard to adapt it due to the storytelling structure of the game more than anything.

If they flesh out the flashbacks more that could help with the pacing a lot and if they have abbys story simultaneously playing to ellies then we'll get to know the characters before we know what happens to them as abbys friends so people who only watch the show will be forced to get more invested and be surprised and it'll also force people to see the parallels between ellie and Abby more as if their stories are played more simultaneously then they can directly cut out parallel scenes back to back so it can be adapted the pacing is just gonna need an overhaul

Hi bro just watched all of your newest vids i love your content it's so invested and rich Keep up man.❤

It can be adapted. It will need to be handled carefully. I trust the team who adapted the first season perfectly in my opinion

DAMNNNN you articulated all these thoughts so well! Fantastic video essay, my friend :)

All they really need to do is tell the story linearly. That could mean a lot of things, like Ellie discovering the truth about the fireflies being the climax of season 2, with season 3 starting off at Joel’s death. I don’t know, that’s what I keep thinking they’ll do. They’ve got lots of material to flesh out what were just flashbacks in the game, possibly enough to fill up all or most of a season. More Pedro Pascal, more time with Ellie and Joel, more time with Dina and Jesse and Tommy in Jackson, and more chance to flesh out Abby before we get to the pivotal moment of Joel’s death and the beginning of Ellie’s quest for revenge.

One part that I think is going to be incredibly difficult to adapt is the physicality and brutality that accompanies the second parts story. Much of the violence was cut from s1 of the show, which, I think served its purpose in showing the aging of Joel but also utlizing it to make a point of being visceral (Joel's rampage at the end, the Infected Swarming Kansas Suburbs). Bella Ramsey and Kaitlyn Dever are fantastic actors and I think much of the scenes around their relationships with Jackson and Seattle and their respective tribes are certainly going to be elevated from this adaptation- but with the violence of the Rat King, taking on a literal Army of WLF, the Scar's brutes, it might come off as unbelievable or, like the bloater in S1, making the horrors + death appear as a background/ from a distance to where the characters themselves "live vicariously around" akin to a stage play rather than engaging in the acts itself. In a story that tries to ground itself as much as possible in a world that is bleak and desperate this is an incredible challenge, and I can see already with how the first season was adapted they are going to do a sparing, more selective approach to the violence rather than a full-on descent. Its not what I would have preferred (I would have wanted something akin to Blood Meridian, showcasing the brutality of violence, and a mad spiral towards the cyclical nature of the conquering of the west, but that book has been proven to be famously unadaptable) but its a journey that is constrained by needing to appeal to the mass market and a live action television medium.

Sick video cant wait to see season 2. Subscribed!

Your logic is unlogical.

one aspect of Part II that in my opinion cannot be adapted was the effect the first Abby vs. Ellie fight had on me... that moment, when we, the player, catch up to the moment the two women faces eachother once again, and we remain in control of Abby... never in my life had a game made me feel the way I felt there... every bullet I shot, every punch I made, I felt my very soul being damaged... it was absolutely harrowing and brutal

TLOU2 heavily relying on using player dissonance as a storytelling tool is a huge issue. It's like asking someone to adapt Shadow of the Colossus into TV/film. It won't hit half as hard without having control

Hopefully this season does poorly honestly. I cant wait for newcomers who havent played the game to see Joel get brutally killed in episode one, and then see all of Abby's backstory for half the season and then end with no resolution whatsoever lol

Beautiful video and well said. I have faith that the creators are taking into consideration all the great points you made. And similar to season one, find a way to make it work through the medium of television.

Leaving a comment to say that the video is great and to help this amazing video face the algorithm :)

I wish they would’ve made TLOU as a cartoon instead of live action. They could’ve done so much more and can keep it going so much longer

this was a really good video. Good job

This is a well thought through video; you really highlight how the video game format makesThe Last of Us Part 2 special. But I think it’s foolish to doubt Druckmann and Mazin have shown they have such a strong understanding the strengths of each medium and the themes that generate the experience you speak of. I think most people forget that the creators of the last of us started with themes and then figured out how to integrate that into gameplay and narrative, not the other way around. I for one am really excited to see how they will take on that challenge again in the TV format.

No I don’t want to see my boy Pedro Pascal play Golf

This Is a really good video, good job👍

Dude yeah that last part when you wanna put the controller down kinda hits

they fucked up adapting the first one, and that one has an easier structure to translate to a series, so of course the second season will be terrible

They could do one season doing the first part of ellie story until joels death, while showing what happened to abby and then thr season ending on both ellie and abby on the house were abby kills joel

i think the key to a good part 2 will be switching between ellie and joel in jackson living a normal life with a strained relationship, and a long series of abby flashbacks to her normal life just before joel killed dr anderson, and a finale of abby killing joel, interwoven with her dreaming of her dad alive interrupted by a flashback of her breaking down in the hospital. season three can be about ellies decent into madness, although i hope they structure it differently than in the game. while heartwarming, the final flashback with ellie and joel noting how theyre on the path to reconciliation cheapens ellie’s motivation. her grief turned mania would make sense if she were still on the outs with a loved one recently passed. either way, she knows joel would want whats best for her; would want her to live and not be consumed and corrupted by vengeance because of him, and she’s known it the whole time! was even on the road to recovery for a while at the farm, so why did she go back for abby?! why did tommy do a complete 180 in terms of motivation in the story? why did his wife who was characterized in the first game as running a tight ship, let so many of them still raw and reeling with emotion, leave on a revenge trip? i feel like this a story meant for episodic television; as you said the tv show does wonders fleshing out the story and honoring the characters,even in vignettes entirely separate from joel and ellie. i hope the writers iron out some of the contrivances

As a person who agrees with you about the quality of Part 2, I loved it, one of the best stories a game has ever bothered to tell me, I disagree that this can’t be adapted. They just have to adjust the rate at which the story plays out. For instance, I don’t think that Part 2 will play out 1 for 1 like the game. I speculate that most of season 2 will actually cover a lot of the flashbacks that happen in Part 2. Show Joel and Ellie falling apart because of Joel’s lie. Wether I’m right about that or not, because this isn’t a game, it’s a show, I think we will be able to watch Abby’s scenes in the same way we did with David. Hate her or not, over time, viewers will sympathize with the human parts of her that get shown to us in the games. Feeling the dread with Ellie is all on the acting and the writing. Essentially, I hope you’re wrong, because I want to love this as much as I love the games. But yes, they have a high bar to clear.

Considering the walking dead completely changed key characters Fate compared to the comics this show can as well

The thing is. Story of TLOU Part II was already adapted during the first season of the show (Henry subplot)

It just so happens that I was one of those people that jumped on the bandwagon of boycotting Part II after the leaks made it clear that "You know who" was going to die. In the moment it felt tlike the studio wanted to prove a point to "gamers"...that inclusiveness and diversity was going to be put above great storytelling. We all saw this play out before...and every single time virtue signalling was pushed to the fore, the games it was done in suffered. It pained me, and I wanted no part of it. Then...I watched the documentary of the making of Part II last night (maybe why this video ended up in my recommendations). As a fan of the first series I kind of knew that the second would have challenges if they purely jumped the years to where Part II got going. Backtrack to the documentary I watched. I felt shame... for not giving the game a chance. I could see how much the death of "Youknowwho" affected those writing, directing, and acting it out. Including all the technical staff. But there was a massive buy-in from everyone involved as it would have been the best mechanism to fuel Ellie to the lengths she had to go to, while delivering the gut-punch when you had to play the game as Abby. I thus ordered a physical copy of Part II immediately...to right the wrong I committed to myself, and Naughty Dog. Now...Part II of the series. I am familiar with the first 20 to 30 minutes of the game because I watched some YT videos. In that opening scenes a lot is said and done to show you, the player, that things have not been rosey for the years they have been in that camp. With clever writing they can fill out an entire season 2 without having to go anywhere near killing off "Youknowwho". But will it be any good? Maybe... But it wont be able to surpass the heights of the first season. And if you want to retain viewership you cannot have a dull-ish second season. So if they do go the depths they have to for season 2, I will be more open to it than I would have been up until 2 days ago. There is a strong morality lesson to lean into for season 2. The same themes were briefly touched on in various seasons of The Walking Dead TV series. What if the killing we do to rpotect our community is not as riteous as we believe it to be? What if the killing THEY commit is for the same reasons we kill? IS this the world we chose? Is this the world we enherited? Or is this the world as it evolved? OR perhaps...is this world even capable of being saved?

The first game at the time was considered massively violent. Yet the adaptation to TV survived really well, despite removing most of the infected and the gameplay. I too feel hopeful that Craig and Neil can pull this off and I think they can do it. :)

Your average gamer doesn’t comprehend this game at all. You really do and in a real human sense. Good job you.

Well that is why movie makers are movie makers, they are smart and they think out the box to make something happen and make sense. They will do a great job and you will like it!

Glad you said episode 3 it was great but the completely screwed it up by taking away the interaction we went on to see after those sequences in game.

I have been saying this since i played LOU2... no matter how they space it out 1 or 2 seasons no one is going to sympathize with Abby. I watched the first season with 2 guys that didn't play the game and they had a lot less connection to either Joel or Ellie than I did. They did not feel any sort of maternal connection to Bella that I did and Joel was just Oberon for half the season. They came to liking the characters and rooting for them but didn't feel the attachment I felt after hours of gameplay.

So I agree with you for the most part. I think acting in violence is part of that but I think they can capture some of that in film making but I think there’s other reason it won’t work. I expect them to change a substantial amount of the story for that reason. Ellie will probably only kill the Salt Lake Crew on screen and hopefully they can convey the participation with those kills because she’s not going to go around killing hundreds of people. I think the format of the game isn’t going to be able to translate. There’s no way they will do all of season 1 with Ellie then season 2 with Abby. They are either going to have to alternate episodes or do a substantial amount of cross cutting. Your point is valid but I’m not as worried about that as I am the format of the story. Part of the power in the game is that you get to the half way point and see the other side of the story.

They’ve got to tell Abby’s story first. I think that was problem with game in Part 2. They could have made it seem like it was Ellie mother’s story or something rather then Joel enters the same room as her. As a game player you’d go, “wait, I thought…”?! And BOOM every time Joel is hit, you’re given a flashback of what Joel did in the previous game and you put it together. Then it switches to Ellie’s point of view.

Start with 1 episodes in Jackson. Introduce Cat, Dina and Jessie . Eli and Joel on adventures and Eli finds out the truth about the hospital Next 2 episodes- Abby introduction and Episode 4 the night before Joel’s death ending of episode is when Joel saves Abby 5 Dina and Eli with the snowballs end of episode Joel is killed 6 7 8 Eli’s revenge journey,Dina is pregnant , Lev is introduced and so as the wlf and rattlers essie dies Owen and Abby sleeping together The others die Eli’s losing it 9 final battle but starting on the farm with JJ and Dina .

its gonna be the same reaction as when that guy dies in walking dead.

I’ve already seen multiple test screenings (I’m a lead SFX artist for HBO) and it’s been very good so far.

All it would take is a flip in the sequencing. Abby first, Ellie second. Or interlocking narrative: one episode following Ellie, then one with Abby. You answered your own question talking about Ep.3 of Season 1. The wider narrative can be fleshed out rather than follow one specific character or arc. It's naïve to think that it can be adapted or it will fail based on the way Season 1 was handled.

Something i love about this game is that you it makes you feel exactly like ellie, at the end of the game you don't want to kill abby, you don't want to fight but you forced to. That's exactly how ellie feels, she's gone to far, she has to do this but she doesn't want to and thats beautiful about this game

Fantastic video!

I think it may work if they introduce and follow Abbey first. Get a whole bunch of people (both those who have and haven't played the games) to fall in love with her/her story by creating depth of character, then bring back Ellie half-way through and create/reveal the conflict between them.

10:30 you are way to nice. I didnt think twice about it but was in awe at the ending being so somber and desolate

The fact that Ellie tried to make Sam immune in S1 could make the line in Pt2 where she says to Dina, "I can't make you immune either" so much more depressive.

I think you can mostly say the same thing about part 1 like the David section of the game.

my gripe with the tv show is that they spent too much time on the side characters that had no impact on the overall plot. it took away time from ellie and joel, making their relationship feel rushed. Two whole episodes were wasted on side characters that you never heard about again. (the kathleen episode was especially pointless) This made the ending feel unsatisfying and abrupt, whereas in the game the ending was really earned, had so much more impact and you could feel the sting when joel betrays ellies trust.

If Marvel can adapt One More Day, one of their worst stories ever, into No Way Home, then Last Of Part 2 as a show can happen.

I think you have some great points about the Abby narrative, and I think a major flaw in the narratives structure will be, like you said, creating sympathy for her character and her decisions. This said, I think the writers can create the dread and horror we felt playing as Ellie in part 2. If you look at the last episode of the first season, the showrunners do create a taste of this when Joel goes through the hospital and kills everyone to save Ellie in the montage sequence. However, this was one sequence at the end of the story creating the feeling for one small point of time. So their challenge would be creating a feeling of remorse for us to feel for Ellie through the multiple days in Seattle. This is no easy feat, but, if they created it for the Joel sequence it isn't impossible to say they could create it for Ellie's character throughout LOU part 2. Like I said earlier though, I don't see a way for them to effectively do it for Abby yet. Her story will be so much more difficult to capture the same feeling we had in the game for an on screen audience. Wonderful video essay!

Solid video, good points, but I have faith they will adept it in some clever way. With the game devs involved of course.

You make a lot of great points and I was worried that the first season was going to be trash for almsot the same reasons. However, they did a great job retelling it with a new medium and even made it better. What really made me happy was that my brother who doesnt play games and never heard of The Last of Us watched it, loved it, and came to me asking if I had seen it. To which I laughed and explained that of course I had, and played the game too. So it was nice that they did such a great job that it brought new audience members to a story that I already had a lot of love for. Yea, I have no doubt that S2-S3 will bring out the best of TLoU part 2 and make it even better.

I believe that most people who watch the show, play the game, and will get the same feelings. Neil did say too that season 2 might have to be broken up into a 2 parter since there's so much to be covered.

Tom Clancy's The Division 1 also had enemies shout their friends names upon you killing them.

I mostly want to see the Scars in the live action show. If they give them more depth during the cold openings and expand the lore a bit, it’ll be great.

Having just played Part II again with the release of the Remaster, I am confident with the adaptation of Part II to HBO. I think we'll get an entire episode with the aquarium family (Ricky and Max) similar to how we got an entire episode with Bill and Frank in Season 1. Probably also an entire episode with Yara and Lev with the Seraphites before they meet Abby. I'm looking forward to it.

The title of this video made me think it was going to be ridiculous and whiney but damn you got some really good points that I hadn't considered. I'm hoping season 2 is good and I agree with you that Neil Drukman and Craig Maizon have earned the benefit of the doubt but man you gave me a lot to think about. Great vid dude

As someone looking forward to season 2, I agree wholeheartedly with this video. It won't work the same way. If people don't like Abby, they have the ability to just skip all of her scenes and her storyline if they want to and still "finish" the show. But if they do it that way they will not have experienced what the story is trying to convey. I really don't know how they will adapt it... I have high hopes but there is no way they can make it as impactful as the game.

i feel like it’s gonna be well adapted they said from the start once season one came out if they do season two it will be a much bigger scale and have to be more than one season to tell its story. i think it’s safe to say it’s in safe hands

I disagree, people said this about the game when the show was first announced and people loved it.

In the tv series the zombies are not a threat anymore so it will be interesting how they will explain why we would care for Abby's motivation.

Valid concerns but I dont think any of this makes it impossible to adapt. You mention how easy we watch violence using John Wick as an example, but not all cinematic violence is like it is in John Wick. The show makers can make the same choices the game does (minus the controller part) to emphasize the bruality by holding on the reactions of the victims, giving everyone names, scaling up the gore, etc. It's the difference between something like violence in the Godfather or a horror movie and violence in a Jason Statham or Marvel movie. They could also decrease the overall violence which I imagine they'll do like they did for season 1, both to make it feel more realistic because the suspension of disbelief is harder for cinema and to avoid fatigue.

Well explained. I totally agree.

I do agree to some of what you say in this video but I have zero doubt of how the actors will carry this

Craig Mazin gonna cook don’t worry y’all

I didn’t think the first season was all that tbh

Let me set the scene for you, the year is 2016, AMC's The Walking Dead is on that evening. Everyone terrified their favorite person is going to be chosen to bat the head in. The hype is insanely palpable. The show up til this point, has been pulling in 15-18 MILLION viewers per episode in season 6. Season 7 premieres fully introducing us to someone who has been perfectly built up for two seasons, his name whispered and spoken of like a boogeyman legend. Now we are face to face with *Negan*. He explains that this is revenge for his people. People of which Rick Grimes slaughtered by the dozens. And for a selfish desire too. So Negan takes Abraham Ford out, a man who was probably the physically toughest. Then one of Rick's group retaliates, Daryl Dixon (fan favorite and invented specifically FOR the series.) Takes a swing at Negan, and instead of him being Lucille'd. He takes Glenn Rhee out. I know not many people now recall this, but Glenn was SUCH a beloved character. People called out of work the next day, some dropped the show never to come back, people mourned him like Steven Yeun actually DIED. So to put it to meaning with TLOU, the gal who plays Abby will be hated on, JDM who plays Negan still gets hate to this day from ppl who loved Glenn and that's where the adaptation of TLOU has fucked themselves pretty hard, Joel Miller as portrayed by Pascal (who already has a cult like fanbase) is more like Glenn Rhee. He's not the merciless killer from the game. Even the hospital thing was made to make him look more innocent with Marlene admitting THEY DON'T KNOW if the cure will work. So, TLOU better buckle up, its going to be a bumpy ride and they don't even have a likeable and charismatic villian like Negan to fall back on.

you have a very great point there

I remember really wishing at the time ellie would stay at the farm.

ND is really loose with what is canon in gameplay. On easier difficulties, the game gives you some ammo for killing folk, but on Grounded they don't drop anything (which makes no sense) and avoiding fights is preferable. And since it's the most "realistic experience" they want you sneaking around and running away. Besides Abby gets to find the only hospitable community in the country and gets saved by the people she meets. How many people would she have slaughtered if she infiltrated the town? On the reverse, all WLF are murdering war criminals. They kill women, children, elderly, sick, and manipulate dogs so they can make sure to kill EVERYONE. Ellie almost never has the power in any situation and is forced to kill to live. Give Abby the power and she tortures a dude for hours and makes his loved ones watch as she kills him. "I'm sure they won't come for me, even though I waited 5 years for revenge." Another huge thing I feel most people don't talk about is the travel. In TLoU 1 traveling was a hard, brutal experience and part of the game. Now in 2, everyone teleports back and forth across hundreds of miles, and months of time. If I walked to California from Wyoming to kill someone, I'm doing it.

You articulate and format what i was telling people so much better than me. You are so right though for the story to be as impactful and compelling and the themes to hit the way they need you HAVE to be the one doing all the killing. As an observer you can understand the themes sure but you won’t feel them.

I think the entire first episode of season 2 should be from Abby’s prospective, go from where you first see Abby and end just as she finds out who Joel is and the episode ends with a flashback where Abby finds her dads body. It creates an oh fuck moment for the viewers and suspense since they don’t know what she is gonna do. Then the next episode is all Ellie

I get your point but in the last episode of season one, when Joel killed that guard who dropped his weapon and surrendered, I felt more remorse than any game i played. I have hope they will do a great job

I have a strong feeling that they will somehow "twist" the next season into something special! They can take the Revenge story and transform in a way where we as viewers can FEEL the impact and want Ellie to stop her journey of revenge and just settle down.

This is EXACTLY what I love about the form of video games. It’s so specific about this art form. Lovely topic. I always tell people that Far Cry 3 did this perfectly

Druckmann said part 2 will be multiple seasons, Part 2 i think will be split into 2: one season taking place in between the two games, and the next during the main events of Part 2, meaning those constant flashbacks will be taken care of by season 2, for Ellie AND Abby. The season will have extra time to Characterize every character introduced in game 2, and the climax will be Abby Killing Joel. Season 3 would be Part 2 but swapping between Ellie and abby without the Flashbacks. Obviously none of that is confirmed, (besides Part 2 being multiple seasons) It’S jUsT a FiLm ThEoRy

Seeing how much action and gameplay elements the TV show cut and opted for more drama, i imagine the adaptation of part 2 will do the same

we all know game adaptations pale to the gaming experience the same way adapting a book to movie is a different experience, you wont know what's in the characters head or imagine environments yourself. all a movie or show can do is adapt the story.

I think they are going to do a good job with it, I liked how season one came out, yeah it's not a 1x1 remake of the game, I wouldn't want it to be as it'd be boring. Most of the main people from the game staff are working on it, which is why the HBO Series was soooooo good in re-telling a story we all grew to love. Game 2 will be adapted well I am sure, and I can see it being split between two seasons. The series is NOT about interactivity, but supplementing and adapting the source material. I think Season 2 and possibly 3 will be done well because Part Two is a very thematic game and by far darker which could translate very well.

I was someone who watched the show before playing the games. So in a way when I first saw Bella’s “Ellie” kill David it only gave me that kind of rage you were talking about when Abby killed Joel. So who knows maybe after people watch season 2 they will also feel this sense of revenge and would want to take matters into their own hands. Either way we have now come to know Pedro as Joel and Bella as Ellie as another adaptation of characters we love so much. It will be interesting to see where they take these characters from a TV POV.

Interesting to see this video reccomended not long after hearing another take that TLOU2 would actually end up better AS a show. Only time will really tell, it's all up to the talents working on the next season.

This is a great point about adaptations ffor part II... except.. oddly enough. that last leg ironically comes off as a moment that's a better adaptation for a movie. Cause in a game.. we all were ready to stop participating

Good points were made, and they are valid from our pov as gamers who love the game. But like a movie will differ from a book where you only have your imagination a/o to a given cast and setting and condensed story in a movie, season 2 will just be something different than the game. Only the story will be the same, with as much of the spirit of the game and emotions of the characters but other than that, it will be a completely different piece of art which is alright to me.

Release Ellie’s grey sweater as a skin!! That be dope tho