In a recent podcast, the author of The Last of Us 2 said that the alternative ending scene was originally intended to be a little different. Because a certain sequence was too clear to the developers, they decided to remove it.
Spoilers Warning: If you haven’t seen the end of The Last of Us 2, you should stop reading from here.
The ending scene of Naughty Dog’s critically acclaimed action-adventure title, The Last of Us 2, left players with a few questions. After Ellie has spared her opponent Abby, she returns to the idyllic farm where she lived with Dina and her adopted son until she left.
She only finds abandoned premises. After a flashback to the past, Ellie accepts Joel’s death and moves on alone. From the window we see her leaving the farm. What exactly Ellie is up to and how things will go on with her and Dina cannot be seen in the final scene.
In a recent podcast of Script Apart, co-author Halley Gross shared what the ending was supposed to look like. This is not a completely different outcome, but a slightly modified final sequence: Ellie was supposed to find a toy from little JJ in the abandoned farm building, which she puts in her backpack and only then sets off.
But because this took away the space for fan speculation, they decided to remove this scene. They have now probably achieved this goal: the end of the game was discussed diligently on various online portals.
For example, when Ellie returns, you can see that she is wearing Dina’s bracelet. This led to the theory that she had previously returned to Jackson and reconciled with Dina there. In addition, she doesn’t seem particularly surprised that Dina and JJ have disappeared. It has been suggested that she only returned to the farm to deal with Joel’s death.
On the other hand, we also found out in the podcast why The Last of Us 2 Movie failed and that a rough plot for a third The Last of Us Part 3 has already been made. Whether this will one day be implemented is, however, not known yet.
The Last of Us 2 was released on June 19, 2020, exclusively for PS4.