The Last of Us Creative Team on How They Crafted Season 2’s Most Crucial Episodes | IGN Live 2025

Full Spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2 follow.

At IGN Live today, The Last of Us Co-Creator and Executive Producer Craig Mazin was joined by respective of the show’s halfway originative squad – including Ksenia Sereda (Cinematographer), Ann Foley (Costume Designer), Don Macaulay (Production Designer), Alex Wang (VFX Supervisor), Timothy Good (Editor), and David Fleming (Co-Composer) – to sermon the tremendous magnitude of enactment that went into the just-completed 2nd play of the HBO series.

As the sheet began, Mazin remarked, “The information is that Neil [Druckmann] and I are vastly over-credited for the occurrence of the show. We enactment truly hard connected it but these are the radical that bring it to beingness and they merit truthful overmuch credit… All of it is indispensable to marque it what it is.”

When the sheet was asked to sanction their favourite occurrence from Season 2, astir everyone named either occurrence 2 ("Through the Valley") oregon occurrence six (“The Price”), which made consciousness since they were specified standouts - and segued nicely into the information that these were the 2 episodes moderator Amelia Emberwing focused connected for the conversation.

"Through the Valley” of people had 2 monumental events, including the horde of infected attacking Jackson and, well… that different happening which we’ll get backmost to. With footage of the monolithic onslaught series playing, Mazin noted that determination were ocular effects successful fundamentally each shot, saying, “I deliberation Alex had to interaction astir everything here.”

Rewatching the onslaught connected Jackson, Macaulay joked, “All I tin deliberation astir is the thousands of meetings we have,” saying they rather earnestly astir apt had 10 meetings astir however the barrels would beryllium launched from the municipality gates into the horde. As helium enactment it, “Nearly each changeable successful this took 10-15 meetings. Craig loves meetings!” Even aft each of that determination was “a batch of retrofitting connected set. Lots of rooftops we weren’t readying to do.”

Foley said occurrence 2 was decidedly the hardest portion of the play for her arsenic the costume decorator due to the fact that of however galore actors and extras were successful that occurrence moving connected aggregate filming units - and that it was each taking spot portion they were besides moving connected the Seraphite costumes for upcoming episodes. As she explained, this progressive "65 radical successful 3 antithetic areas.”

Wang stressed that previs is crucial, and the galore discussions they person astir what Macaulay volition physique vs. what Wang volition oversee being added digitally. It’s a agelong process, with Wang noting, “You’re readying for occurrence 6-8 months down the line” and that he’s perpetually successful connection with Macaulay, the stunt team, and galore more. Mazin joked that erstwhile helium calls Wang successful for 1 of his infamous meetings, “His bosom sinks due to the fact that helium knows he’s astir to spell implicit fund again.”

One crushed the infected horde was truthful tricky was that it dealt with specified a ample service and arsenic Wang explained, successful the ocular effects world, erstwhile you person a radical that ample “repetition is usually okay,” since you person characters successful the aforesaid costumes oregon creatures of the aforesaid type. Here though, Mazin wanted to merchantability that these were each primitively antithetic quality beings who were antithetic sizes and ages successful antithetic outfits earlier they were infected. As helium enactment it, they astir “broke Wētā [FX]” implicit the specifics they asked for.

Then there’s Good and his important enactment arsenic editor. He has to statesman editing without the last effects successful place, which tin beryllium tricky. And not conscionable because, arsenic helium pointed out, successful the aboriginal footage “a Bloater isn’t a Bloater, it’s a greenish dot.” But aft they whitethorn person chopped of the occurrence they're blessed with, “we get the animation backmost and everything’s changed. The motion’s go faster than a quality histrion is capable to do," truthful they person to re-edit to adjust.

When it came to scoring the “Through the Valley,” Fleming described it arsenic peculiarly challenging, due to the fact that Mazin asked him, “How bash we commencement this astatine 11 and past support going up for the full episode?” The thought was they were “building up momentum truthful it conscionable felt relentless relentless relentless. Then astatine the end, it was benignant of the other with the pivotal country with Joel.” When Fleming paused and said he’d been avoiding talking astir however that occurrence ended for truthful long, Mazin couldn’t defy chiming in: “He died!”

As Fleming explained, the archetypal euphony for Joel's wrenching decease country was overmuch busier but past “Craig asked ‘strip it back.’ It was a little is much situation.”

While praising the performances of Pedro Pascal, Kaitlyn Dever and Bella Ramsey, Good revealed that for Joel’s decease “I really edited it 5 times earlier I was acceptable to amusement it to Craig,” due to the fact that helium knew however important it was to get it right.

As Joel’s decease country played out, the sheet couldn’t assistance but go somber and erstwhile Mazin cracked, “Let’s speech astir the play clubs we picked out. They person tons of meaning" to merchandise immoderate tension, helium past paused and added that actually, erstwhile it came to which nonstop nine Abby would usage to bushed Joel with, “There was a full discussion!”

The speech past moved to occurrence six and its flashbacks to Joel and Ellie unneurotic acceptable betwixt Season 1 and 2. The series wherever Ellie climbs the dinosaur was shown and Mazin remarked, “I emotion this successful the game. I emotion that we got to bash it!”

He added that this was a comic concern wherever the existent dinosaur built for Ellie to ascent “was wobbling excessively overmuch truthful past Alex stopped it from wobbling. But past it looked fake truthful we had to marque it wobble [again] a small bit.”

Discussing Joel and Ellie’s clothes, Foley noted they did their champion to lucifer their looks successful the game, though determination mightiness beryllium flimsy changes occasionally for circumstantial reasons. One specified lawsuit was successful the depository scene. In the game, Ellie is wearing a vessel apical successful this sequence. However, connected the show, they wanted to underline that Bella Ramsey was playing a much youthful mentation of Ellie successful these flashback scenes, truthful they ended up making it a t-shirt due to the fact that “changing it from a vessel to a t-shirt made it look baggier and marque her look younger.” In wide though, “Joel and Ellie are successful the aforesaid things they deterioration successful the crippled due to the fact that there’s nary crushed to alteration it.”

Ksenia Sereda said she was some excited and tense astir shooting the country wherever Ellie and Joel spell wrong the abstraction capsule, due to the fact that “the mode it was done successful the crippled was truthful brilliant,” including the adjacent up connected Ellie smiling, imagining going into space. Sereda joked the crippled provided “the astir costly previs I’ve ever had to enactment with.”

Mazin marveled however Sereda lit the surface truthful that each of the airy changes connected Ellie’s look were done practically, without ocular effects needed. Sereda explained however hard it was, due to the fact that “the full series is lit done this teeny tiny model connected the broadside of the capsule. It was precise challenging to find this full look.”

This series had peculiar value to Mazin due to the fact that “This is the archetypal happening that Neil ever showed maine from the 2nd game.” He elaborated that erstwhile helium went to Naughty Dog to talk to Druckmann astir turning The Last of Us into a TV show, the squad were nearing the completion of The Last of Us Part II. When Druckmann showed Mazin the abstraction capsule sequence, his effect was, “‘We’re doing that!’ In my mind, I was like, 'We request to bash a bully capable occupation for Season 1 that we’re renewed [to bash that].'"

With Season 3 of The Last of Us present successful the works, Mazin said helium was anxious to get backmost successful the heavy of it, turning to his chap panelists and saying “I can’t hold to bash that. I can’t hold to bash that with each of you.” He past proclaimed: “Don, are we going to person meetings!!”