The Last of Us Co-Showrunner Explains Why He Wanted Joel to Go to Therapy

The Last of Us season two premiere had story elements fans expected—tension, trauma, a time jump, infected-adjacent horrors, etc.—but it also featured the surprising sight of Joel (Pedro Pascal) getting some much-needed counseling from Gail, a therapist played by Catherine O’Hara. According to a new interview in Variety, co-showrunner Craig Mazin originally wanted to explore that idea in season one of the hit HBO series, but ultimately there wasn’t enough room to fit it in. When season two was being mapped out, he decided to bring it back. “In all closed economies, certain things would be valued more than others,” Mazin explained. “Let’s say you were good at fixing shoes—valuable. Let’s say you taught physics—probably not valuable anymore. What if you were a therapist? Extraordinarily valuable. Every single person has gone through a horror. There is no one who can say, ‘I’ve actually had a great time.’ I think that therapy is a fantastic mirror to say, not just, ‘Oh, what are you rea ... Read full article.