The Last of Us Showrunner Reveals Deleted Plans for Tess Origin Story

Full spoilers up ahead for the first two episodes of The Last of Us! Proceed with caution if you've yet to tune in. Now two episodes into its first season, The Last of Us has already killed off one of its main characters. Keeping in line with the source material it pulls from, the HBO hit managed to kill Tess (Anna Torv) after the trio arrives at the Capitol. Though the character's time was brief on the series, she had a profound impact on those who tuned into the series the past two Sundays. At one point, those watching nearly got a more in-depth story featuring the character, though it was eventually removed from the series because of time restraints.

"There is something we had talked about, and we wrote it. We never shot it. It was a little bit of a backstory for Tess, and the fact that Tess had a kid," Neil Druckmann said on the latest episode of The Last of Us podcast. "She had a husband and she had a son, and they were infected and she had to kill them. She killed her husband, but she could not kill the son. She couldn't do it. She locked him in the basement, where theoretically, he's still a Clicker."

Both of the show's two cold opens have been terrifying experiences, and Tess' backstory would have it the one for Episode Two much more heartbreaking.

"We had a cold open where we just like, the camera pushed on this door and you just hear this pounding coming from this basement and then we cut out," Druckmann continued. "Then later, Tess would tell the story of how she couldn't kill her son…it didn't fit, but it was fun to think about.

For more Last of Us content, check out ComicBook and Entertainment Tonight's new podcast: The Last of Pods. The podcast will include breakdowns of each episode, interviews with special guests from the show, and more. The Last of Us airs on HBO and HBO Max at 9 p.m. Eastern every Sunday with The Last of Pods debuting immediately following each show.