The Last of Us co-creator says one of the franchise's darkest moments was cut from the season 2 finale because violence is more "graphic" in live-action: "It's not like there's an animation between you and it"

The Last of Us season 2 packed in plenty of dark moments from the game across its seven-episode run, but one in particular was left out of the finale.

Warning, spoilers ahead for The Last of Us season 2 ending! Turn back now if you're not up to date!

In episode 7 of season 2, Ellie goes to an abandoned aquarium on her hunt for Abby. She ends up accidentally killing two of Abby's friends – one of whom, Mel, was pregnant, to Ellie's horror. But, as those who've played the game will know, in The Last of Us Part 2, there's one more casualty: Alice the dog.

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Alice doesn't make an appearance at all in the show (so far), but in the game, Ellie kills the good pup, who you actually play alongside for a while as Abby.

"You get one dog murdering episode a lifetime," co-showrunner Craig Mazin said in a press conference attended by GamesRadar+. Mazin also created the show Chernobyl, which saw multiple dogs culled in the aftermath of the nuclear tragedy. "There are two cardinal rules in Hollywood. One, don't spend your own money. Two, don't kill the dog."

But, there's a more serious reason, too. "We had a situation where a number of horrible things were happening. Plus, because it's live action, the nature of violence becomes much more graphic. It's more graphic. Because it's not like there's an animation between you and it; it's people. And it's very disturbing."

Plus, with how dark the rest of the episode was, it just ended up being overkill.

"Sometimes adding something that was cut from the game requires you to remove something that was in the game," added Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann. "So here, that sequence where Ellie drifts to the Seraphite island and almost gets lynched herself was something we used to have in the game and cut it for just production… purposes. And then now we had three horrible things in a row. We had that sequence, Alice, and then Mel. And in our conversation, we're like, this is probably one one too many."

For more on the show, check out our The Last of Us season 2 review, or see our guide to all the most exciting upcoming shows still to come in 2025.