WARNING: There are spoilers ahead for The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 6! HBO has spared no expense on The Last of Us Season 2, to the point of building a costly set that ended up cut in the editing process. The video game, The Last of Us Part II, allows the player to explore the Wyoming Museum of Science and History, while the show only took us there for a brief scene. However, on the show’s official companion podcast, co-showrunner Neil Druckmann revealed that the museum set for the show was just as detailed and extensive as the game, it just got trimmed in the final cut of the show. Writer Halley Gross added that “It was the most moving, immersive experience I have had.”
Both The Last of Us Part II and the TV show visit the Wyoming Museum of Science and History in a flashback to Ellie’s 16th birthday. Joel learns about the location from another survivor and brings Ellie there as a surprise. Having grown up in a post-apocalyptic survival situation, Ellie is fascinated by the study of the ancient past and the promise of a hopeful future through space exploration. However, while the show only spends a few minutes in this location, the game allows the player to explore the museum at their leisure.
“So, this moment is the most universally loved across the games,” Druckmann said on the podcast. He remembered bringing two of the representatives from the game studio, Naughty Dog, to tour the new set. “I was direct something else. We walked over. And I show them the space capsule. It’s not quite finished, it’s still getting greens and set dressings put in to really kind of help the foliage and the lighting is being put in. And I’m like, look how authentic this is. This is just like the game. And they’re standing behind me, so I’m not seeing them. And then I turn to face them. I kid you not, they’re both crying.”
[RELATED: 10 Video Game Moments That Have No Right to Be This Scary]
“Because again, we’ve worked on these sequences for years, trying to get them right and sweating them,” Druckmann went on. “And that stuff just means so much to us. I can’t stress that enough. When you get it right, it just feels so special. It’s like someone honoring your kid is the closest I can come to the emotion you feel.”
Gross emphasized how much of this set was missing from the final cut of the show. “And there’s so much stuff that people watching the show aren’t gonna see,” she said. “They built, like — trust me, fam. If you see this, there was a whole rover you’re not gonna see that was exactly where it was in the layout of the game. There was a whole atrium with dinosaur skeletons where Ellie could put hats on the different.”
The disparity in screentime is a perfect example of the differences between the TV mediums and the original video game. Of course, fans who want to explore the hospital and other sets more thoroughly can always check out the The Last of Us Part II. As for the TV show, The Last of Us Season 2 concludes on Sunday, May 25th at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
The post The Last of Us Team Reveal HBO Series Built the Entire Museum From the Game (And Then Cut It) appeared first on ComicBook.com.
