The Last of Us 2 Director Details Deleted Scene With Ellie
Just like with movies, video games often get scenes cut from the final release due to time or other constraints. The VP of Naughty Dog and Creative Director of The Last of Us 2, Neil Druckmann, recently revealed in a spoiler-heavy video that the popular action-adventure game had a deleted scene at the Farm. Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Last of Us 2.
In the interview, Neil Druckmann asks Troy Baker, the voice actor for Joel, who's previously commented on the game, whether the Last of Us 2 voice actor remembers the deleted scene, which takes place between Ellie and Dina, and features Ellie hunting a boar while living on the Farm. The scene was even playable pre-release, and was a part of the game all the way up until near the very end of development, originally meant to show several days of Ellie living on the Farm with Dina, but focuses in particular on the impact hunting has on Ellie.
According to Druckmann, the purpose of the boar hunting scene was to explore Ellie's PTSD and her inability to stop killing things, and how that urge to kill was a coping mechanism for her trauma. The director says he enjoyed how the scene delved into Ellie's psyche as she killed the boar. However, the boar killing had a deeper impact because the animal's squeal was mixed with a clip of Joel screaming while being killed.
The scene ended up getting cut due to "pacing and production." However, Troy Baker says he believed players still got a similar moment in a scene that did make it into the game, where Ellie heard Joel's voice while caring for sheep in the barn. Baker called the moments on the Farm some of his "favorite parts of the entire game," due to the focus on character building. However, Druckmann noted that these scenes were controversial to some fans due to how they present Tommy after his changes since the abandoned theater scene.
Even while living on the Farm, Ellie's PTSD is a huge factor in her life despite the period of respite she gets to enjoy with Dina and Dina's son. At this point in the game, Ellie is easily triggered by trauma and has difficulty sleeping. Even after her showdown with Abby, it's uncertain how much of Ellie's mental health was addressed or how many of her issues are resolved.
Even if the boar hunting scene was cut, Baker has a good point that the Farm scenes that made it into the game do not shy away from presenting the huge difficulty of dealing with mental illness and unresolved trauma. Ellie is a complex character who many fans love that Druckmann and the rest of Naughty Dog spent a lot of time in the game exploring and developing, and it's interesting to catch a glimpse into some the work they did that didn't make it into the final game.
The Last Of Us 2 is available now exclusively on PlayStation 4.
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July 15, 2020
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