The Last of Us 2 Character That Dies in the Game, But Lives in the Show

The Last of Us Season 2 changed the fate of a character that famously died in the games. The Last of Us is a world that is painfully unforgiving. Anyone can die at any time, as fans are coming to understand now. Joel, Jesse, children, pregnant women, it really seems like no one is off limits and that’s what makes the franchise so compelling. There isn’t really plot armor like there is a lot of other big franchises. One could argue that Ellie has a bit of plot armor since she’s immune, but the writers use that to hurt her as well. She feels awful that she can’t use her immunity to save others.

However, some fans of The Last of Us were surprised to see the show made some big changes from the game. Some key sequences from the game were revealed and while a lot of this comes down to pacing or not needing to show every single action scene from the game, there were some other more notable things that weren’t featured in the show. For starters, Ellie never kills Alice the dog when breaking into the aquarium. This was a pretty notable moment in the game for a variety of reasons, but it was mostly cut because Ellie kills a pregnant woman right after and it was deemed to much to throw at the audience at once.

The Last of Us Season 2 Spares Shimmer

However, it seems like The Last of Us Season 2 generally spared the audience from violence against animals in general. Early on in The Last of Us Part 2 the video game, Ellie and Dina are riding on their horse, Shimmer, when they are suddenly ambushed. Shimmer accidentally trips some sort of explosive mine and causes Shimmer to buck everyone off. A WLF soldier then shoots Shimmer in the head, killing the animal once and for all. However, Season 2 doesn’t have this moment at all. Shimmer lives well past his point of death and actually survives the season..

While we can’t be certain of Shimmer’s fate for the rest of this story, it seems like there’s a good chance that Shimmer will be one of the few living creatures that comes out unscathed. Even those that live in this story are burdened with all kinds of trauma or physical wounds, but Shimmer has been spared from the chaos much to the surprise of fans. It’s unclear if Shimmer will return in future episodes, but there may be room for him in Season 4.

It’s likely Shimmer and Ellie won’t be very present in The Last of Us Season 3 as the season will revolve around Abby. Although details on the next season are pretty scarce, it will continue to adapt the second game which heavily features Abby as the main character. Ellie will eventually return, despite the Season 2 cliffhanger leaving viewers to wonder if she got shot, but Abby will be front and center in Season 3.

What did you think Shimmer surviving in Season 2? Let me know in the comments.