You'd think that people would be able to tell fiction from real life, but that's not the case for certain fans in The Last of Us franchise. Voice actors and Neil Druckmann himself were not safe from such negative comments from fans online.
Challenges That the Team Faced
It's sad to think that people who give their best for their craft are met with hate and even potential harm just because fans did not get what they wanted from the game. Laura Bailey already shared her experience back in 2020 and revisited the horror in an interview.
In Naughty Dog's newly released "Grounded II: Making The Last of Us Part II" documentary, Bailey expressed that all she saw were death threats and threats of violence every time she went online, to the point that she had to determine whether some of them lived close by.
The voice actress tried to hold back tears as she explained how some would even threaten her son, who was born around the time that The Last of Us Part 2 was released. Bailey added that the experience taught her to just "keep a distance."
It's not just Laura Bailey who faced this kind of irrational criticism. Neil Druckmann himself saw a flood of negative feedback due to the events that took place within the game, so much so that he questioned whether they did the right thing by killing off a major character.
Druckmann was not only met with death threats as well but also antisemitic and homophobic comments. The Israeli-American writer and creative director said that all the messages put him in a deep depression.
What It Can Mean for 'The Last of Us' Series
As you know, HBO released a live-action adaptation of the game with the same title. The showrunners are already preparing for the production of the second season this February, and the cast has already been announced.
While the show was met with a lot of positive feedback, there are still those who were disappointed with Bella Ramsey being cast as Ellie, some of whom even targeted the actress regarding her identifying as they/them.
One can only hope that the actress they cast as Abby Anderson, Kaitlyn Dever, would not receive the same kind of hate that Laura Bailey did. If you don't why fans were furious at the voice actress in the first place, it's because of how the game unfolded.
(Spoilers Ahead)
In case you haven't played the game, the protagonist and the main playable character from The Last of Us Part 1, Joel, was killed off early in the sequel. This shocked a lot of fans seeing as they did not expect Naughty Dog to kill a character they have grown close to.
The way it was done was also brutal as the deuteragonist Abby beat him to death with a golf club. While it's unknown whether the show will follow this scene, it's unlikely that they will remove Joel's death entirely since it plays a pivotal role in the game's events.
