The Last Of Us' 'divisive' finale is making one massive change

Spoiler warning: this article contains spoilers for the end of The Last of Us game, and by extension, season one of the show. Scroll with caution.

The finale of The Last of Us’ first season is almost upon us, but apparently it’s going to make a pretty significant change which may prove to be divisive.

Fans of the original game know full well what we have ahead of us - Joel and Ellie will soon find themselves at the Fireflies’ hospital, where Joel will have a big decision to make. Will he deny the world of a possibility of a cure in order to save Ellie, or lose the girl who he’s come to love like a daughter for the potential of serving the greater good? We already know the answer to that question, of course, but apparently the events may play out differently in the show.

Take a look at the teaser trailer for The Last of Us’ season one finale below.

Up to this point, it’s been unclear if Joel allowing Ellie to be sacrificed would actually have led to a cure, but according to an insider on Twitter, the uncertainty has been removed: “They take away the ‘the Fireflies wouldn't have been able to make a cure anyway!’ […] some gamers use to explain Joel's actions,” @ViewerAnon claimed.

On Reddit, fans are split over whether this could be a good change or not. Some are fully in support: “This is a very welcome adjustment, as it's one of the most annoying and erroneous arguments people use to misguidedly defend Joel in the first game - claiming that there was no guarantee that the cure would've worked. This argument always diminished the first game, and took away from the moral dilemma and philosophical implications of Joel's 'trolley problem' choice. Making it easy to justify his actions and turning him into a typical Hollywood good guy,” wrote TommyShelbyPFB.

Others aren’t convinced: “I always liked the idea that a cure may not have been possible. It complicates the notion of self-sacrifice in a way that feels more true to life. Something I've always found fascinating in history is how often people give their lives in service of a cause when they know that their sacrifice may or may not make a difference. To me, it's an interesting moral dilemma. It's one thing to give your life to save humanity if you know it'll actually save humanity. But what if there's a decent chance that it won't? How would that affect your decision? And does it change the moral implications of that choice?” KoreaMieville said.

In an interview with Vogue, Bella Ramsey teased that the finale is “going to divide people massively – massively”, although to be fair, the same could be said of the original ending from the game. We’ll just have to see what happens.

The final episode of The Last of Us season one will air on Sunday 12 March in the U.S. and Monday 13 March in the UK.