The Last of Us season 2 ending explained: Is [SPOILER] dead?

Episode 7 saw Ellie finally come face-to-face with Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) again, amid her quest for revenge after Joel's (Pedro Pascal) death. But Abby certainly isn't about to go quietly.

Thankfully, The Last of Us has been renewed for season 3, so we know the story will continue, but we've been left on a gigantic cliffhanger.

Here's what you need to know about how The Last of Us season 2 ended – and those dramatic final scenes! Beware of game spoilers – and potential season 3 spoilers – ahead, though!

The Last of Us ending explained: Is Ellie dead?

No, Ellie isn't dead, and her story will continue in future seasons of The Last of Us – unless the show takes a huge departure away from the game.

However, she certainly came close to death a few times in episode 7. One of those brushes with death comes as a result of an encounter with the Seraphites.

Ellie figures out that Abby is in the aquarium and, after a fight with Jesse (Young Mazino), goes to find her alone, while he goes to meet with Tommy (Gabriel Luna).

But, after surviving a dangerous trip on a boat, Ellie washes up on shore and inadvertently falls right into the clutches of the Seraphites.

She narrowly avoids being killed and strung up when a signal indicates that the Seraphites' village is under attack, and they leave her.

Undeterred, she arrives at the aquarium to take on Abby and encounters Owen (Spencer Lord) and Mel (Ariela Barer).

When Owen grabs a gun, Ellie shoots him dead – but also accidentally fatally injures Mel, who reveals she's pregnant in her dying moments. She asks Ellie to cut out her baby – but she's unable to, and sobs over Mel's dead body. Tommy and Jesse find Ellie and take her away.

When they arrive back at the theatre, Ellie and Jesse make their peace – but they soon hear a disturbance and find that Abby has tracked them down.

While Jesse is immediately shot and killed, Ellie pleads for Tommy's life. But it's not Tommy that Abby wants as, she points her gun at Ellie. As the episode cuts to black, we just hear a single gunshot.

Is Jesse dead?

Yes, Jesse is dead. When he and Ellie hear a disturbance in the theatre, he opens the door first – and Abby immediately shoots him dead.

Jesse's death is even more heartbreaking following his realisation that Dina is pregnant earlier in the episode. He reasons that he can't die, and tries his utmost to get Ellie, Tommy, Dina, and his unborn child out of Seattle.

What does Abby's flashback mean?

The end of the episode sees a flashback to Seattle day one – a few days ago – indicating that we're set to see the same few days from Abby's perspective.

Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann previously opened up about wanting fans to feel some empathy for Abby – and how difficult that is in the show compared to in the game, where you play as Abby.

As a result, Abby was introduced a lot earlier in the show.

"The first question I remember asking Neil [Druckmann] was, 'Why did you do it that way?' Because I'm always trying to get under the hood of his intentions there," Mazin previously told RadioTimes.com.

Mazin continued: "He said he felt like there was something about the mechanics of playing, and I agree, as a fan of the game and video games in general, where when you become someone you have an instant connection to them. And it can be very confusing to be someone and then also to do things that you wish the person wouldn't be doing.

"But in television, we don't have that. We don't have that no one can say, 'Oh, when I was Joel or when I was Abby'. We watched them and our feeling was in this medium, it was important to give people enough context, because we weren't [going to do] a long stretch where there would just be Abby, because the game was saying you're Abby now, you can't just press triangle and be Joel or Ellie, you have to be Abby for a long time. We don't have that.

"We had choices of when to bring people in and out, and so we thought it was important to situate Abby."

It seems we're going to see a lot more of what made Abby who she is when season 3 rolls around.

If you're wondering what happens next in the game, check out our video below:

The Last of Us seasons 1 and 2 are available on Sky Atlantic and NOW with an Entertainment Membership.

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