HBO's The Last of Us returned with the highly-anticipated second season on Sunday, which has many fans speculating about the fate of a major character.
The series centers around young Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a survivor of a worldwide apocalypse, and her caretaker/father figure Joel (Pedro Pascal).
The first season aired in 2023, with HBO quickly renewing the show for a second season, and the pay cable network also renewing it for a third season just weeks ago.
The first season was based on the hit 2013 Naughty Dog video game, with the second season largely assumed to be based on the 2020 follow-up The Last Of Us Part II.
The second game and second season are both set five years after the first season/game, which has fans theorizing that it may not be long before one major character is killed off.
Given that some parts of the game were altered for the show, it's far from guaranteed, but many fans are speculating that Joel will be killed off in next week's second episode.
The first season established that a mass fungal infection sparked a global pandemic, turning infected humans into feral humanoid creatures known as 'clickers.'
Ellie is revealed to have a bizarre immunity to infection, for reasons unknown, as Joel is tasked with transporting young Ellie across the country, in hopes of using her immunity to find a cure.
While Joel initially sees this as only a job, he ultimately gets close to Ellie during their journey, before ultimately learning the group called the Fireflies had planned on experimenting on Ellie's brain in hopes of finding a cure, which would have killed her.
Joel ultimately snapped, killing the whole medical team and more, before rescuing Ellie and taking her to Wyoming, lying to her and saying they had already found dozens of people immune like her but couldn't find a cure.
The last moments of the Season 1 finale (and the original game) find Ellie confronting Joel, asking him to swear that everything he said about the Fireflies was true, and he lied right to her face and swore to her.
Season 2 begins five years later, with Ellie now an adult at 19, with a cold distance between Joel and Ellie that isn't fully explained.
The premiere also introduced a new character named Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), who, in the second video game, is the one who killed Joel, as revenge for Joel killing her surgeon father who was going to operate on Ellie in the Season 1 finale.
While it's unclear if Abby or even Ellie or another character will kill Joel in Season 2, many fans took to social media after the finale, believing that his death is coming in the next episode.
Ellie is revealed to have a bizarre immunity to infection, for reasons unknown, as Joel is tasked with transporting young Ellie across the country, in hopes of using her immunity to find a cure.
Joel ultimately snapped, killing the whole medical team and more, before rescuing Ellie and taking her to Wyoming, lying to her and saying they had already found dozens of people immune like her but couldn't find a cure
Season 2 begins five years later, with Ellie now an adult at 19, with a cold distance between Joel and Ellie that isn't fully explained.
While it's unclear if Abby or even Ellie or another character will kill Joel in Season 2, many fans took to social media after the finale, believing that his death is coming in the next episode
X user @laurenhaleigh3 shared a GIF of Ariana Grande, adding, 'oh so it's next episode #TheLastofUs.'
Another X user named Courtney (@rhodescoded) admitted, 'yall don't understand i'll never be ready to lose him #TheLastOfUs.'
Another fan dubbed @1llicitBuck said, 'Ellie telling Joel "I don't need your f*ing help" knowing what happens next episode hurts #TheLastOfUs.'
Moon (@moonboozs) insisted, 'JOEL DOESNT DESERVE THIS #TheLastOfUs' while others also realized what was coming.
Joel (@Beyond_TLOU) said, 'Overall, not a bad Season 2 premiere. It certainly sets the stage of what comes next #TheLastOfUs.'
Sam (@samanthalsoria) had predicted that Joel wouldn't die in the premiere, though since Joel was shown in the preview for the rest of the season, she wondered if they might not kill off Joel until the Season 2 finale.
'After seeing what's coming up this season is it delusional for me to now think that they'll save his death for the finale???' Sam said.
Still, Sam added in another tweet, ' obviously i want more joel but part of me still thinks in ep 2 or 3 he's gonna (die) #TheLastOfUs
X user @laurenhaleigh3 shared a GIF of Ariana Grande, adding, 'oh so it's next episode #TheLastofUs.'
Another X user named Courtney (@rhodescoded) admitted, 'yall don't understand i'll never be ready to lose him #TheLastOfUs.'
Another fan dubbed @1llicitBuck said, 'Ellie telling Joel "I don't need your f*ing help" knowing what happens next episode hurts #TheLastOfUs.'
Moon (@moonboozs) insisted,'JOEL DOESNT DESERVE THIS #TheLastOfUs' while others also realized what was coming.
Joel (@Beyond_TLOU) said,'Overall, not a bad Season 2 premiere. It certainly sets the stage of what comes next #TheLastOfUs.'
Sam (@samanthalsoria) had predicted that Joel wouldn't die in the premiere, though since Joel was shown in the preview for the rest of the season, she wondered if they might not kill off Joel until the Season 2 finale.
Another user dubbed @M05tlyWr35le1ng said,'The next episode is gonna be a sad one #TheLastOfUs #TLOU2.'
HBO has already renewed The Last Of Us for a third season, though series creator Craig Mazin has said that the show will not stretch beyond the story of the second game.
'I am not going to go past the game. I'll just say that flat out. So if people are thinking,"Oh,these guys are planning the old cash grab thing,' Mazin insisted.
'I'm basically setting a decade of my rapidly dwindling life on fire to tell this story.The show is so hard to make.It has to have an end,' he continued.
'The only question is: Is it going to be one more season or will it require two more?If this can happen all in one more season,great.If we feel like it makes sense to break it into two,then we will do that,' he said.