HBOThe song ‘Take on Me’ plays an important role in The Last of Us Part II video game, and creator Neil Druckmann has been discussing why he picked the song and how it fits into the TV adaptation.
Season 2 of The Last of Us is a terrifying horror tale, but it’s also a love story, focusing on the burgeoning relationship between Ellie and Dina.
In the game, a performance of A-ha’s ‘Take on Me’ plays an important role in their story, while in the show, the song appears in a slightly different spot on their journey.
In a new interview, Last of Us creator Neill Druckmann – alongside his co-showrunner Craig Mazin –reveal their reasons for picking the 1980s classic, and discuss filming the emotional scene. Meaning SPOILERS ahead…
How ‘Take on Me’ changes Ellie and Dina’s relationship in The Last of Us
The scene in question sees Ellie finding a guitar in a record store, picking it up, and singing an acoustic version of ‘Take on Me,’ similar to the one A-ha played during their Unplugged concert for MTV (see video below).
“As part of the process – when we made the game – we were looking for the right song,” explains Neil Druckman on the official Last of Us podcast. “Halley Gross – my co-writer – worked on the game and is working on the show, was friends with the wife of the guitarist of A-Ha, who wrote that song. His name is Paul [Waaktaar-Savoy].
“So when I was there on set, I was recording their performance off the monitor, and I texted it to him, and he was so moved by it. He loved that their song was being used in this kind of gorgeous way on the show.”
HBOCraig Mazin says the tune had to work thematically, explaining that: “If you’re going to stop a television show, to have somebody sing most of a song, one of the important things is there needs to be something happening inside of it. It cannot simply be a performance.
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“What Neil and I talk a lot about is how, in our action sequences, the action is there to either reveal information about a relationship or to change a relationship. And that had to happen here too, because it’s not optional for the viewer. So something has to be occurring here. By the point this happens in the game, Ellie and Dina have already become romantic partners.
“That’s not true here yet. Dina is still – she’s not ready – and maybe she’s unsure. Then Ellie sings for her, and you can watch Isabela [Merced] perform Dina falling in love. And I say perform, it’s not adequate to describe. Really, what you’re seeing is Isabella falling in love. It’s a pretty remarkable moment.”
Why Craig Mazin was worried about “screwing up” key scene
Mazin adds that it was imperative to get the scene and the emotion right, for both the characters and the fans: “I remember [director] Kate [Herron] and I were talking to Bella and saying, ‘you know, there’s this thing that happens when you play guitar. You can either serenade somebody to seduce them, or you can be shy and exposed and vulnerable, and don’t make eye contact. If you do, briefly, and then go right back to your song, you just do your song. And then while you’re doing that, this other person is going to feel everything.’
“And the two of them did such a gorgeous job. I was so proud of that moment. Because of course, at the beginning of a day like that, my heart is racing. I can’t screw that up. I cannot screw that scene up. It means too much to too many people. And I love that we presented a version of it that is both true to the game and its own thing because of its slightly different context. There’s some interesting development that occurs there.
HBO“And the change in their relationship that happens in this moment is pretty profound. It leads up to everything. Everything has led up to that moment. And if that moment doesn’t happen, then maybe the way the episode ends doesn’t happen either.
Neil Druckman adds: “It’s this moment of joy and connection and intimacy between characters in all the chaos. That you can have that, that people – no matter what condition they’re in – they find some level of normalcy. So these teenagers, right, 19, they’re still teenagers, can still have these innocent moments. They haven’t been completely corrupted by this world. That was very important to our story.”
For more TLOU coverage, find out if Abby dies in The Last of Us game, when The Last of Us takes place, why Ellie left coffee beans on Joel’s grave, plus details of the shocking Season 2 scene that was inspired by something you don’t see in the game.