If long-time The Last of Us fans have learned anything watching HBO’s second season, it’s that knowing something is coming doesn’t make it any less painful to watch a second time. The live-action adaptation of The Last of Us Part II has been divisive (I fucking hated it, personally), but it’s still putting everyone through the emotional wringer by recreating the same deaths and carnage featured in the PS4 game. As such, those who have played the game know what to expect in an upcoming episode when they see moments they recognize in the previews, and that means Last of Us veterans are bracing themselves for the finale because they know something painful is coming.
HBO has released a brief 40-second preview of the finale ahead of its premiere on Sunday, and it includes a voiceover from Jesse (Young Mazino) about the war between the militaristic Washington Liberation Front and the cult-like Seraphites. He says he’s “not dying out here” in the middle of the Seattle warzone. But the irony is that homeboy probably is dying out here, and in the next episode.
In the preview, we see a clip of Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Jesse running up the aisle of the theater that the group has made into their home base while in Seattle. We don’t get any context as to what the pair is running toward, but anyone who’s played The Last of Us Part II knows what’s coming.
Jesse is another unfortunate casualty in Ellie and Abby’s revenge tour, and for a game that loves to drag out character deaths, his end is pretty quick, but no less brutal. As he and Ellie run into the theater lobby, Abby, who found the group’s hideout, shoots Jesse right in the face, killing him instantly. Based on the preview, it looks like this scene is in the finale, unless the show decides to handle Jesse’s fate differently. The show has mostly followed the core events of The Last of Us Part II, albeit with some annoying script embellishments and misguided structural changes, but if Ellie’s horse Shimmer can avoid her violent fate, maybe Jesse can, too? Either way, fans are preparing themselves for the emotional damage.
The Last of Us’ season finale will premiere on Max at 9 p.m. Eastern Sunday, May 25.