Warning: Spoilers for The Last of Us season premiere below!Following The Last of Us season 1's premiere, fans are distraught over a game-accurate death. The horror drama television series is based on the critically acclaimed PlayStation 3 video game of the same name. The premise sees weathered survivor Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) and partner Tess (Anna Torv) tasked with escorting Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a post-apocalyptic zombie-infested United States to the militant revolutionary group known as the Fireflies.
On the heels of The Last of Us episode 1's release, fans have taken to social media to express their anguish over a game-accurate death. The season premiere depicts the initial fungal infection outbreak in great detail as it wreaks havoc across Austin, Texas. Joel and his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) rescue Joel's daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) from an infected neighbor and attempt to escape the chaos. Unfortunately, a plane crash causes their truck to flip, breaking Sarah's ankle. With infected closing in, Joel grabs Sarah and runs to safety, toward the military. However, a soldier stops them and opens fire, fatally wounding Sarah. Tommy shoots the soldier before he can kill Joel, but he arrives too late to save Sarah, who dies in Joel's arms. Check out how fans reacted to the heartbreaking scene below:
How Sarah's Death Matched The Last Of Us Game
Fans of the original The Last of Us video game will vividly remember Sarah's death. The loss destroys Joel emotionally, causing him to lose faith in humanity, and this pain fuels him throughout his journey prior to his fateful meeting with Ellie. The creators of The Last of Us HBO series, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, have previously promised a faithful adaptation of the source material. Sarah's death in episode 1 proved to fans they kept their word.
Similar to the show, the original PlayStation video game saw Joel and Tommy whisk Sarah away in his vehicle as they attempted to drive out of town. Stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Tommy takes a detour and gets into a car accident, resulting in Sarah's leg being broken. The player then controls Joel as he carries Sarah away from an increasing number of infected. Just like in the show, Tommy and Joel get separated, leaving him to carry Sarah alone until he runs into the lone soldier.
Joel and Sarah's meeting with the soldier plays out almost identically to the game. The soldier calls back to his superiors for orders, resulting in him shooting at them both. Before the soldier can execute Joel, Tommy arrives and kills him. The scene is framed similarly to the game, but the emotional impact isn't lessened for it. The pain is written all over Joel's face as his life is changed forever. When The Last of Us continues next week, audiences will see how far Joel has gone since his life was torn apart that terrible night.
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