Major spoilers for The Last of Us episode 2 ahead!
We’re only on episode 2, and The Last of Us has broken us emotionally more times than we can count.
Plus, there’s plenty more to come!
The series, based on the wildly popular games and starring The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal as Joel and Game of Thrones legend Bella Ramsey as Ellie, has viewers hooked, with some even dubbing it the best video game adaptation of all time.
It also features a sensational cast, led by Pascal and Ramsey and including Nick Offerman (Bill), Anna Torv (Tess), Nico Parker (Sarah) and Gabriel Luna (Tommy).
However, not all of our heroes are set to make it through the series. Episode 1 saw Parker’s Sarah die in tragic scenes, with Joel left heartbroken.
Meanwhile, episode 2 has its own share of heartbreak…
Does Anna Torv’s Tess die in The Last of Us episode 2?
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Tess, played by Anna Torv, is a hardened survivor, joining Joel and Ellie on their journey.
However, episode 2 sees her sacrifice herself for the pair, after she’s bitten by one of the infected.
She decides to buy Joel and Ellie more time and draw hordes of infected in, before blowing them – and herself – to high heaven.
But Tess’s death gets a little more gruesome – before she can light the place on fire, an infected gets to her, giving her a kiss of death and causing tendrils of cordyceps fungi to pass into her.
She finally gets her lighter working, with Joel and Ellie looking back at the building exploding.
Showrunner Neil Druckmann told EW of the gruesome moment: “These things don’t have to get violent unless you’re fighting them from spreading [the infection] further. That is realised in this beautiful, yet horrific way with Anna.”
How does Tess die in The Last of Us game?
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Tess also dies in the game, but it all plays out a little differently.
Instead of sacrificing herself to save Joel and Ellie from the infected, she saves them from FEDRA (Federal Disaster Response Agency) soldiers.
FEDRA, determined to capture Ellie, catch up with the group and, after being bitten, Tess stays behind to buy them more time and dies off-screen.
Explaining the change, showrunner Craig Mazin said on HBO’s The Last of Us companion podcast: “Why would FEDRA even be here? What are they doing? There’s nothing there for them to police, really. It didn’t make much sense to me to have FEDRA all the way out there.
“We wanted a chance to show a different result of being infected, which was not one of mere violence or horror, but rather a sick kind of community. Now, at the end, we had an opportunity to show how connected they were.”
The Last of Us is exclusively available on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW – find out more about how to sign up for Sky TV.
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