Summary
HBO’sThe Last of Usburst onto fans' screens in 2023 to showcase how simple and easy it was to adapt a successful video game, and now, only 2 years later, its second season is already done and dusted. However, even though season one ofThe Last of Uswas a huge hit for the streaming network, its returningsecond season has seen some continuity errors due to its timeline changesthat haven’t sat well with some fans and now that season 2’s finale has aired, one big difference has stuck out like a sore thumb.
The series' creators, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, previously revealed that they would be including a game-changing detail when the HBO show returns, so it’s not a surprise to fans that these changes have taken place. Although the series followed the main narrative when it came to many of its plots and characters, itstimeline didn’t follow the exact layout ofThe Last of Us Part 2,even though it had stayed mostly faithful to the first game in season one. However, it seems as though placing a real-world location into the second series while factoring in timeline changes comes with its own challenges.
The Last of Us Season 2’s Finale Includes the Seattle Great Wheel, Which Shouldn’t Be There
As highlighted byComicbook, the Seattle Great Wheel, which viewers witnessed as Ellie made her way to find Abby at the aquarium, shouldn’t have actually been included in season 2’s finale due to its timeline change. In real life, the Seattle Great Wheel opened in June 2012, over a year before the Cordyceps brain infection reached critical mass inThe Last of Us Part 2, and due to the show continuing to follow its narrative as closely as possible, even with its timeline changes, the Ferris Wheel was included, which doesn’t make sense that the structure is there in 2003.
In the Naughty Dog sequel,The Last of Us Part 2,its storyline is much bigger and more complex than the first game, so this is likely why season one of the HBO show was relatively straightforward and didn’t change up too much. However, season 2 needed to besplit across multiple seasons of televisionbecause the sequel is divided into two halves, following the perspectives of Ellie and Abby over the same three days in Seattle, with Ellie’s timeline occurring first, followed by Abby’s. The timeline changes seem to benefit season 2’s flow as adapting the timeline directly as it is in the game could likely result in certain main characters being omitted in different seasons, which could run the risk of the show receiving backlash from the gaming community. Co-showrunner Craig Mazin previously said that “We certainly are going to mess around with time the way it was in the source material, but as Neil said, we messed around in ways that we felt were appropriate for the show.”
The Last of Usseason 2 has seemingly struggled to reach the lofty heights that season one did. In season 2’s finale episode, it only accumulated 3.7 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max in the U.S., 30% lower than the 5.3 million fans that tuned in forThe Last of Usseason 2’s first episode. Withseason 3 of the post-apocalyptic series on the way at some point, here’s hoping that those figures can make a steady increase as viewers get to explore Abby’s side of the story.
