Naughty Dog’s narrative lead explains the story of The Last of Us Part II – VentureBeat

The Last of Us Part II is one of the blockbuster games of 2020, with more than 4 million copies sold in its first three days starting June 19. That made it the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 release ever for Sony.
And while Naughty Dogs game is getting a lot of love from fans, its also getting a fair amount of hate for its positive portrayal of diverse characters, such as LGBTQ and minority characters. I loved that part of the game, and I loved seeing the evolution of characters from the original from 2013, The Last of Us, which is my favorite game of all time.
Warning: This story has spoilers about the games narrative. We recommend that you read this after playing Ed. This is one of three spoiler-based stories were doing.
But like other diehard fans of the original, the story of Part II had me reeling at first. (After we did the following interview, game director Neil Druckmann pointed out the team and the cast was getting hit with vile comments and threats from gamers who didnt like the story or outcome.)
Naughty Dog puts its characters in danger, as we know from adventures of Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series, where the main character always cheats death. But this time, the studio went with a much more controversial approach. I said in my spoiler-free review that the game went in a direction I didnt want it to go. In Part II, the main plot becomes clear early on when Joel, one of the heroes of the first game, dies at the hands Abby, a vengeful young woman. Ellie, who looked up to Joel as a father figure, hunts down Abby and her friends and exacts revenge for much of the story. While the first game was about the bond between Ellie and Joel, the second is a logical extension of the events of the first, said narrative lead Halley Gross in our interview.
Above: A rendition of bloody Ellie by Danielle Takahashi
Image Credit: Danielle Takahashi
Ellie becomes consumed with revenge, almost to the point where she is unrecognizable. Gross said it was a difficult story to tell, but one that tries to make salient points about violence, revenge, hatred, and the ultimate chance for redemption and pulling back from the edge. At a critical point, the story switches perspective, and you play as Abby. You see what she went through, and how, in her own journey for revenge, she shows signs of humanity and empathy, particularly as she takes in the outcast Lev and protects him from harm.
In our conversation, I respectfully brought up many of the points that have made players angry, and Gross told me the teams thinking from a creators point of view.
We covered many difficult topics, such as the fake scene that Naughty Dog created to throw off our expectations about the shock of Joels death, the studios refusal to give us choices when it came to killing defenseless characters, and what was going through Ellies mind in the final moments. Gross clarified a lot of my thinking, as she offered interpretations of the characters actions and thoughts that we didnt know for sure while playing through the 35-hour game.
Heres an edited transcript of our interview. (And heres a link to our post on the most memorable scenes of the game).
Above: Halley Gross was the narrative lead on Naughty Dogs The Last of Us Part II.
Image Credit: Luke Fontana
A shocking sequel
GamesBeat: As far as the reactions that stand out to you, whether theyre on the mark or off the mark or otherwise grabbing your attention, what have you felt about that?
Halley Gross: Whats happening is what we wanted. People are having conversations. This is inciting debate about good and evil, about how far games can get pushed narratively, about what makes a redemptive person, what makes a redemptive story. As long as people are asking those questions,    I feel like weve accomplished what we wanted to accomplish.
GamesBeat: What do you recall about deciding to do a sequel, whether there should be a sequel at all?
Gross: When I came on, Neil knew what he wanted to do. That was four years ago. When I met Neil to interview for the job, he pitched me some of the tentpole beats of the story. He knew he wanted to do the game. He knew Joel was going to be this massive inciting incident. Certain beats were different, but that was already figured out before I came along.
GamesBeat: Joels death shocked me, coming early in the story. Ive seen a lot of Naughty Dogs history on the Uncharted side, where the characters were always in constant danger of losing their lives, but they never actually lost a hero. This seems consequential. What sort of thinking went into that part?
Gross: I thought it was a powerful move. It does a lot of things. One, the audience already knows Joel. Theyre invested in Joel. By having Joel ripped away, youre immediately put in alignment with Ellies goals, Ellies anger, Ellies need for justice. Immediately youre in alignment. You understand the weight of this, why this would propel someone forward. But beyond that, it also set up, to your point, this idea that no character is safe in this world. Anybody could die at any point, and often does.
Storytelling with flashbacks
Above: Joel looks like hes getting crucified in The Last of Us Part II.
Image Credit: Naughty Dog/Sony
GamesBeat: Telling the story out of sequence with flashbacks, what did that accomplish with how you wanted to convey things?
Gross: So much of this game is about both survivors guilt and Ellie reconciling with her last few years with Joel. What those were, how culpable she was in this whole situation with the Fireflies, in Joels pain and hurt, in rejecting Joel. Ellie is an inherently internal character. It was a vehicle where we could give you some insight into what shes thinking and understand how shes constantly being pulled or swept back into the past. This quest for Joel is about righting a wrong that cant be made right. Its about living in the past, about reexamining all those moments in your life now with this new context.
Looking back on that moment in the museum and thinking, That was our last great trip together. Thinking back about that conversation on the porch. I didnt know that was going to be our last conversation. What does that mean? It allows for both Ellie and the audience to continue examine and re-contextualize whats driving her.
GamesBeat: Part of the game leaves me wondering at many different times and changing my mind whos the villain here? That kind of flashback storytelling disguised some things that would have made Ellie out to be more villainous. The fact that she knows some of this history and isnt surprised by the Fireflies she probably should have known why they were there to kill Joel. To us, as we play it, it comes as a surprise, but theres a theory out there that this was to disguise Ellies villainy.
Gross: Thats interesting. I dont think we ever see our characters in those sorts of binary terms, in terms of good or evil, villain or hero. Our goal was to create the most multifaceted characters youve seen in games. For all of our characters, it was important to show them at both their worst and their best. For Ellie, its a reminder that, as shes slogging forward on this quest for justice, and we as the player may be starting to waver on the justifications for this, or whether or not this is a valid quest, were understanding that shes lost to this. Shes lost to these memories of Joel, to her PTSD, to the relationship she had with Joel that was taken away from her.
Above: Ellies worst nightmare in The Last of Us Part II.
Image Credit: Naughty Dog/Sony
GamesBeat: I also wondered whether I was supposed to like Abby or not. I played it with my daughter, whos 20. It was an interesting experience. I played it through once, and then she played the next time. We both felt like, when Abby is fighting Ellie, we didnt want Abby to win. We didnt want to play as Abby at that moment. At that point in the game, it seemed like a natural reaction.
Gross: Totally. In my experience, people are all across the board, which is so fascinating. There are people who think Joel was an inherently good person, and yet hate Abby. You can look at what both of them have done, and their sins are fairly similar. Their redemption arcs are fairly similar. Why is one more valuable to you than the other?
Any way you feel about Abby is super-valid. We wanted to create a complex character, one who wasnt inherently it wasnt about whether or not you loved her. It was about whether or not you understood her. That was our goal.
Revenge and redemption
GamesBeat: When the characters are redeemed, what do they gain? Why is that bringing closure to a story for them, when before this they seemed to have lost so much lost everything? Are we supposed to feel good that theyre redeemed, or just feel like that redemption goes along with all this other bad stuff?
Gross: I dont think we want to be prescriptive about how you should feel about their redemption. Its more focused on the fact that especially focusing on the Abby narrative, she wasnt sleeping. She wasnt happy. Where Ellies story ends is where Abbys story starts. She has this big moment. She confronts her demons, literally, and then shes left with that empty feeling, this inability to sleep. Shes ostracized herself from her friends. Through her relationship with Lev and Yara, she is able to sleep. Shes able to find a way to see beyond her ego. It pulls her out and makes her supplementary member of society, in a way that she hadnt been before. However you feel that is valid.
GamesBeat: I thought the most interesting thing she said was to Lev. Youre my people. Thats a short line, but that said a lot about a changing character, somebody who had given up this notion of us versus them. Lev was the person that was closest to her among all the different people shed been close to.
Gross: Their relationship gives me real squishy feelings.
Above: Abby says, Youre my people to Lev, a transgender character in The Last of Us Part II.
Image Credit: Naughty Dog/Sony
GamesBeat: Its interesting that Lev is a trans character, and theres so much diversity among the characters in this game. How did you deliberately think about that?
Gross: Our goal is, as a studio, were a pretty diverse studio. Thats important. Representation is important to us. We wanted to reflect the diversity of the world we see around us. For us it was about finding ways to have different characters in the game that will have different opinions that can debate, that can stand on different sides of the point. To do that you cant have a homogenous cast.
GamesBeat: In the beginning and the ending, the guitar was a nice touch. That linked both, that kind of bookend imagery. Thats what I liked so much about the first game. Was that the way you thought about the bookend ending there? Did you deliberately want to have a beginning that matched the ending?
Gross: We played with different edits on framing and where to start, but the guitar and its association with Joel was always there.
Costs and consequences
GamesBeat: That Ellie cant play the guitar so well at the end is that saying that this is the cost of it, of this revenge?
Gross: No, absolutely. At the end of this entire quest, shes lost her partner. Shes lost her son. Shes lost her sense of community. Shes lost a lot of her humanity. This is a physical manifestation of that level of loss. Her connection with Joel.
GamesBeat: I liked this depiction of post-traumatic stress. Shes not superhuman. Theres an interesting point to be made there about how this all has a cost.
Gross: So much of this game is about how everything we do impacts other people, or has a cost. Ellie goes on this journey and the consequences arent just other peoples health and safety. Its also their mental well-being. Its also their future. Its also their ability to love.
GamesBeat: I talked to

Click here to view the original article.