The Last of Us Star Teases “Killer” Episode With Minor Character From the Video Game: “I’ve Never Had to Cry So Much”

[Warning: This article contains spoilers from The Last of Us season 2 episode 1.] “You can’t heal something unless you’re brave enough to say it out loud,” day-drinking psychotherapist Gail (Catherine O’Hara) says during a therapy session with grouching patient Joel (Pedro Pascal). Sunday’s “Future Days” season premiere of The Last of Us, set after a five-year time jump since the first season finale, reveals tension between Joel and his 19-year-old adopted daughter Ellie (Bella Ramsey) — ramifications of his actions in Salt Lake City — but also simmering tension between Joel and his therapist in the quiet town of Jackson, Wyoming.

“I’m scared to say it, which is why I have to,” Gail says. “You shot and killed my husband. You killed Eugene, and I resent you for it.” Verbalizing her feelings, Gail admits she hates Joel for what he did.

“I know you had no choice. I know that,” she confesses. “I know I should forgive you. Well, I’ve tried, and I can’t, because of how you did it.”

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An original character created for the HBO adaptation by showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, Gail doesn’t appear in The Last of Us Part II video game on which the season is based. Eugene Lindin, however, is mentioned as having already died by the time of Part II.

Who is Eugene in The Last of Us Part II video game?

A former patrol partner of Dina (voiced by Shannon Woodward), Eugene suffered a stroke and died at age 73. Eugene taught Dina about rewiring electronics, which Ellie (voiced by Ashley Johnson) stumbles upon with Dina. She then learns that Eugene was a Firefly, and “got into some real dark sh-t” with Joel’s brother, Tommy (Jeffrey Pierce), like bombing a checkpoint at a Denver QZ and slow-torturing a FEDRA general.

In the game, Eugene’s wife was Claire, who appeared only in a photo with their young daughter. In the series, he’ll be played by The Sopranos actor Joe Pantoliano, who is shown in the trailers with a glimpse at what appears to be the moment Joel shoots and kills Eugene.

Druckmann, director and co-creator of the video games, suggested that there will be a Eugene-centric episode akin to “Long, Long Time,” a season 1 bottle episode that told a standalone story about Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett). “I get excited when I see these opportunities [to feature minor characters from the games],” Druckmann told Variety. “I’m like, ‘Oh, I don’t know Eugene that well!’ The story we told [in the game] was somewhat superficial. The way this character comes in really gets to the heart of Joel and Ellie and their relationship.”

In a separate interview, O’Hara told EW that she can say little about the upcoming Eugene episode, except that “I’ve never had to cry so much for so many takes. It was killer.”

So far, all we know about the TV version of Eugene is that he was married to Gail, he was killed by Joel for mysterious reasons, and that no matter the season, he was able to “grow buds [of weed] the size of pinecones.”

New episodes of The Last of Us season 2 premiere Sundays on HBO and Max.