Bella Ramsey reveals Last Of Us deleted scene that’ll break your heart
There's just one episode of HBO's The Last of Us left, and safe to say, it's blown its critics away. Brilliantly adapting Naughty Dog's 2013 game of the same name, we know the confirmed Season 2 will bring at least some of The Last of Us Part 2 to life.
We've torn through the original game at breakneck speed, and with only nine episodes to tell the story, we always knew some bits would be left on the cutting room floor. As well as a nixed backstory for Anna Torv's Tess, it turns out we've missed out on some of Riley's (Storm Reid) story.
The Last of Us cut a major Riley scene?
Click to enlargeEpisode 7 adapted the Left Behind DLC that fleshed out Ellie's life before Joel. We finally met Riley after she was name-dropped in Episode 1, and while it wasn't perfect, many praised Reid's performance.
Sadly, we know we won't be seeing Riley again because she was bitten. Although Ellie survived because of her immunity, we're left to imagine Riley's fate. Ellie previously told Joel (Pedro Pascal) she'd killed before, and joining the dots, we know it was Riley.
Speaking on The Last of Pods podcast, Ramsey explained that the series cut a scene showing Ellie having to put Riley out of her misery. "I did think about that quite a lot. Because it also was going to inform how Ellie is going forwards. I don't know, depending on the level of trauma, it's going to be different," says Ramsey.
She added, "There was conversations that happened around that actually, and I think we agreed on... I don't know whether to say because, it's like, I think it's up to people's imaginations really. But from our point of view, I think Ellie probably had to make a really hard decision, and do something she really didn't want to do, and experience great loss."
Why did The Last of Us cut Riley's death?
As for the impact of leaving Riley where we did, Ramsey concluded, "I don't know if we ever did explicitly agree, and I think it's more powerful that it's kept unspoken, and kept to people's imaginations. Because I think the imagination can often be darker than reality."
Although it doesn't sound like this scene was ever filmed, at least it was talked about. Instead, Riley is left on something of a cliffhanger, with a parting shot of the pair sat together in the mall.
Much like the impact of not seeing Bill and Frank's bodies in Episode 3, it's what you don't see that hits home harder. It's clear that Riley's death shapes Ellie, but as her bond with Joel continues, we'll have to wait and see if she ever opens up about Riley.
