Last of Us’ Pedro Pascal in ‘Active Denial,’ Bella Ramsey ‘Sobbed My Little Heart Out’ Over Shocking Twist

(Spoiler Alert: This post will absolutely reveal and break down that huge moment in Sunday night’s episode, so if you haven’t seen it stop here — go watch it and then come right back!)

Fans of the hugely successful video game series that the show is based on have been carrying a pit in their stomach since the first season premiered. Deviations from the source material have given them a glimmer of hope that maybe … just maybe.

It was a huge shock when it happened in the second game, The Last of Us: Part II, and then it was a huge shock when it happened again on Sunday night. After all, what show kills off the person who is arguably its main character so early — other than Game of Thrones.

Well, it happened, and in many ways it happened just as it played out in the video game. That only made it worse for fans of the show — those who have and have not played the games. Not since the death of Glenn on The Walking Dead or Thrones’ “Red Wedding” has a moment felt so painfully visceral on the small screen.

Making it even more painful, the shocking death came as a result of actions viewers saw play out in the first season. The Last of Us Season 2 picked up five years after the events of the Emmy-winning first season.

In that run, Pedro Pascal’s Joel killed an unarmed doctor who was performing an operation on Bella Ramey’s Ellie that could have possible saved humanity from the cordyceps infection. In doing so, it would have killed Ellie, though, which is why Joel made the decision he did — and lied to Ellie about it.

The doctor’s death was one of many as Joel decimated a group called the Fireflies in his attempt to save Ellie and escape the hospital where the procedure was taking place.

That decision came back in a brutal way Sunday night as that doctor’s daughter, newcomer Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), tracked Joel down and then beat him to death with a golf club — all as a watching Ellie could do nothing but scream and watch a man who’d become a father-figure to her die.

In a video shared by HBO that takes fans inside the episode, Ramsey admitted that she “sobbed [her] little heart out” just from reading that moment in the script. And she was one of those who “knew Joel was going to die right from Season 1.”

“I knew it was coming as I was reading the episode, and I was dreading getting to that bit,” she said. “It was the first time I ever cried from reading a piece of writing.”

Pascal added that this reaction is a testament to the creatives behind the series. “I think that if it’s incredibly painful for people, that’s obviously an incredible achievement of the storytelling,” he said.

The actor said that he also had an idea of his character’s ultimate fate when signing on.

“It’s not like they said, ‘Hey, we kill you at the beginning of Season 2,'” he told Entertainment Weekly. “But it was always an understanding that it would stay true to the source material in a specific way and that the, let’s say, practical and exclusive obligation would be for Season 1.”

“It was just a matter of how and when,” he added.

“Part of what makes The Last of Us relevant to those of us who aren’t living in a fungal apocalypse is that it portrays the shattering nature of loss,” said co-showrunner Craig Mazin. “It talks about what is left behind when somebody is torn away from you. Then you start to wonder what price we all pay in our lives — all of us — for caring about people that much.”

“So many times adaptations don’t, and you can’t recapture that moment. Here, I feel so lucky that we did,” added Neil Druckmann, Mazin’s fellow co-showrunner and co-creator of the video games. “Honestly, knowing now Pedro and Bella, I had no doubt that we would, because I know how they act and what they throw into it. The fact that it still works just speaks to the magic of these incredible actors.”

Dever, who brings Abby to life — and ends Joel’s — said it was “heartbreaking” for her to see it play out, as well. “I watched you guys in season 1, and your relationship was so beautiful. And watching the end of you guys was really, really hard for me, as a viewer,” she admitted in a group interview with Pascal and Ramsey for EW.

While that moment did happen, the show’s creators allowed Ellie one final moment with Joel. “That was in there from the very beginning,” Mazin told Variety. “She has no reason to think she’s going to survive. She’s not crawling over there just to say goodbye. She’s crawling over there so she could be with him in death.”

“That’s where she wants to be, and it’s when she takes his hand,” he continued. “We’ve seen her do it before. Bella Ramsey, geez.”

And while Joel’s story appears to be over in the present, there are still plenty of opportunities for Pascal to feature as the TV series has dived even deeper into flashback and dreams than the video games. With five years between seasons, there are even likely plenty of moments between Joel and Ellie that could be shared.

In the meantime, fans are processing what just happened — those who had some idea it was coming, and those who were completely blindsided.

Fans will get to see how the new normal plays out as The Last of Us continues Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.