Why The Last Of Us Season 2 Didn't Include This One Heartbreaking Death From The Game

A lot of people die in Naughty Dog's The Last of Us and the HBO series that's based on it. But in the Season 2 finale, viewers who already played The Last of Us: Part II or knew the story might have been expecting even more bloodshed, and now the showrunners have discussed why one death was cut.

Major spoilers follow below.

In The Last of Us Part II, Ellie kills a dog named Alice at the aquarium on her hunt for Abby. Alice the dog is kind of a big deal in the overall narrative and there are some sweet, tender moments featuring the pup. In the TV show, Ellie does not kill the dog. But why?

Showrunner Craig Mazin is no stranger to working on TV shows where the dog dies, as one episode of the beloved Chernobyl series for HBO that Mazin wrote included soldiers culling dogs to help prevent nuclear radiation from getting worse. Mazin said that was enough dog-killing for him.

"I think you get like one dog murdering episode a lifetime," Mazin said at a press event attended by Polygon. "There are two cardinal rules in Hollywood: One, don't spend your own money; Two, don't kill a dog."

Mazin went on to say the nature of violence in a live-action production like The Last of Us is significantly more graphic, and he wasn't sure about putting the dog-killing on the show.

Neil Druckmann, meanwhile, said killing Alice the dog would be "probably one too many" deaths for the Season 2 finale. In the episode, Ellie kills Owen, and shrapnel from her bullet hits Mel in the neck, ultimately killing her. Mel, who was pregnant, tries to convince Ellie to cut out her unborn child from her stomach, but Ellie does not do this.

Jesse is also killed in the Season 2 finale, and viewers are left to wonder if Tommy is dead. People who haven't played the games may also wonder if Ellie herself is dead at the end of Season 2, as the show cuts to black Sopranos-style as Abby fires a pistol and Ellie screams.

Season 3 will be a lot of Abby's story, showing viewers what happened in the three days leading up to when she kills Jesse and pulls a gun on Ellie. A fourth season is likely to follow later on. As of yet, however, HBO has not announced a Season 3 release date or renewed the show for a fourth.

As for the game series, Naughty Dog has not announced The Last of Us 3--though there have been many clues. What is confirmed, however, is that Naughty Dog is making a new IP called Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and at least one other game. Naughty Dog was previously developing a multiplayer Last of Us game, but it was canceled.