The debut of Season 2 of The Last of Us on HBO featured a intense therapy session between Joel (played by Pedro Pascal) and Gail (played by Catherine O’Hara), the one and only therapist in Jackson. The key tension arose not just from Joel’s refusal to confront the truth behind his strained relationship with his surrogate daughter Ellie (portrayed by Bella Ramsey) but also from the revelation that Joel was responsible for the death of Gail’s husband, Eugene.
“You shot and killed my husband,” Gail says. “You killed Eugene. And I resent you for it. No. Maybe a little more than that. I hate you for it.”
Gail goes on to admit she knows Joel “had no choice” and she should forgive him, but she can’t, because of “how” he killed Eugene.
Who is Eugene? Why did Joel commit such a drastic act? Below, we delve into the details surrounding Eugene in HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2…
Eugene is a character who is referred to but never actually shown in the popular video game The Last of Us II, upon which the HBO series is based. Season 2 of The Last of Us takes the opportunity to explore his character more deeply, following the example set in Season 1, which provided further depth to the characters Bill (portrayed by Nick Offerman) and Frank (played by Murray Bartlett).
Without getting into spoilers, DECIDER can confirm that we will meet Eugene later in the season and he will be played by Joe Pantaliano.
Now, The Last of Us is being deliberately coy at this point about what exactly happened to Eugene and how Joel killed him. However, we can confirm why Joel killed Eugene. Eugene was bitten by one of the infected, ergo he would have been turned by the Cordyceps virus. Joel had to kill him to prevent him from spreading the disease further.
The Last of Us Season 2 premiere ends with a few haunting developments for our heroes. Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her friends are closing in on Jackson, which means they are close to their goal of finding Joel. Elsewhere, Ellie has come into contact with uniquely smart infected who can stalk their prey. Oh, and it looks like there’s some Cordyceps sneaking into Jackson via the water pipes. They might want to take care of that.
Time will tell exactly how HBO’s The Last of Us tackles what went down between Joel and Eugene and what it means for the season overall…
The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 2 premieres on HBO and MAX on Sunday, April 20.
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