The Last of Us: Part 2 Has Ellie as the Main Character
By Kyle Sledge 05 December 2016
The Last of Us: Part 2 director Neil Druckmann reveals during a PlayStation Experience 2016 panel that Ellie is the main character of the upcoming game from Naughty Dog.
While PlayStation Experience 2016 had plenty of exciting moments, it’s safe to say that most Sony fans were more blown away by the surprise unveiling of Naughty Dog’s forthcoming The Last of Us: Part 2 than by any of the other reveals. Naturally, with the game’s first official trailer now out in the wild, fans are currently wondering exactly what kind of roles the title’s two familiar faces of Ellie and Joel will be playing in the followup to what many consider to be one of the best games of the last generation.
As reported by Polygon, during this afternoon’s PlayStation Experience 2016 panel for The Last of Us: Part 2, Naughty Dog writer, programmer, and creative director Neil Druckmann revealed that Joel will be playing second fiddle to Ellie for the duration of the title. As it happens, when fans get a chance to play the the forthcoming title, Ellie will be the lead protagonist for most of the game.
As evidenced by the teaser for The Last of Us: Part 2 shown earlier today, the franchise’s second chapter is going to be set a few years after the events of the original game. Although some time has passed, Ellie has grown into the skin of a 19-year-old and is propelled by anger, which Druckmann explained to be one of the major themes of the post-pandemic release.
For those unaware, Ellie was playable for a brief window in the original The Last of Us, and was also the starring figure in the title’s prequel DLC Left Behind. As far as the sequel is concerned, though, players will assume the role of Ellie for the majority of the game, and her abilities will differ from those of Joel’s. However, Druckmann didn’t go into specifics of how she will play due to The Last of Us: Part 2 currently being an early build, stating that revealing any more about her “evolution” would be risky.
In terms of the next The Last of Us‘ overall progression, Druckmann went on to discuss the reason why the sequel is specifically titled Part 2 instead of simply tacking a number two directly at the end of the original name. As the director put it, TLOU: Part 2 can be considered a “complementary story to the first game” and that both titles are set to present “a much larger story.”
Speaking of The Last of Us: Part 2‘s plot, there is very little available in the way of specific details. Of course, its latest trailer could offer clues as to what the narrative could touch on – the Firefly symbol on the stop sign, Ellie’s trembling hand, the new tattoo on her forearm, the lyrics in the song she sings, the fresh blood running from her forehead to her cheek – but it’s really anyone’s guess at this point in time. Hopefully, fans will be treated to more concrete notions of The Last of Us: Part 2‘s story and its “emotionally engaging” third-person action soon enough.
The Last of Us: Part 2 is currently in development for PlayStation 4.
