The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 2 has Game of Thrones connection you definitely missed

The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 2, ‘Through the Valley’, shares a connection with HBO’s other mega-hit Game of Thrones, but it’s not the reason you might think. Warning: major spoilers ahead!

Last night’s episode will go down in history as one of the biggest TV events of the decade. Players of The Last of Us game knew it was coming, but it didn’t make it any less devastating. 

After the WLF member Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) made her debut in Season 2 Episode 1, she followed through with her plan and killed Joel (Pedro Pascal). It delivers Red Wedding levels of shock, proving the creators aren’t afraid to kill off major characters to stay true to the source material. 

Another Thrones-style scene is the Infected’s attack on Jackson, with the frozen battle visually echoing the HBO show’s icy clashes – and it turns out there’s a major reason for this. 

Game of Thrones director worked on The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 2

The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 2 was directed by Mark Mylod, who also directed several pivotal episodes of Game of Thrones, including Season 5 Episodes 3-4, Season 6 Episodes 7-8, and Season 7 Episodes 2-3.

Given his experience on the fantasy TV show, it should come as no surprise that there are visual parallels between the two series. Mylod also has experience directing multiple episodes of another HBO hit: Succession. 

Speaking about what he brought to the table for The Last of Us’ latest chapter, co-creator Craig Mazin told Deadline: “How much time you have? Mark Mylod is both, I think, the most humble person I have ever worked with in show business and one of the most brilliantly thoughtful directors. 

“He is a dream for the actors. He’s the kind of director who, when he’s working, I’m watching carefully to try and pick up tips, because he’s such a professional, and he’s done it for so long.”

Mazin went on to point out, “He’s obviously very good at killing main characters. He was the director on Game of Thrones for Bella Ramsey’s first scene. He was their first television director. 

HBO

“Here we were full circle, and he creates this incredible sphere of comfort for everybody, even as he’s masterminding all the angles and getting an enormous amount of coverage and eye lines and all the rest of it. 

“He was just an absolute joy to work with, and I miss him. I know he’s off doing Harry Potter. I miss him, but I can’t imagine anybody better for that. For Kaitlyn, for everybody, he was just the exact right choice.”

Co-creator Neil Druckmann added, “I mean, we’re also talking about ‘the event’ as articles are referring to it, but there’s so much more in this episode that, again, just from just a technical, logistical standpoint of pulling that off, it’s such a feat. 

“I remember when I talked to Mark before he started directing, when he was in prep, I was really curious about how he’s going to handle the attack on Jackson, all the intricacies of it. He told me, ‘Neil, as scary as that is, I’m way more scared for getting Joel’s death right.’ 

“I, personally, appreciate that. That’s where his mind was at. That was his top priority.”

Make sure you know when the next episode of The Last of Us Season 2 drops, read about Abby’s fate in the games, and find out why Eugene is so important in Season 2.