Summary
The Last of UsSeason 2’s physical release seemingly wants you to forget about Ellie having a rifle, as it’s been scrubbed from the key art of the physical release.
Considering how beloved and universally praised the first season of HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us was, you’d expect its second season to be an absolute slam dunk. That hasn’t been the case at all, though, with most peopleagreeing that it’s a massive step down from both the first season of the showandThe Last of Us Part 2.
It’s hard to know where to start considering how many issues The Last of Us Season 2 has,but one of the bigger problems is that Ellie’s infamously violent and chilling quest for revenge was majorly toned down. Ellie is barely shown getting into any scrapes or fights at all, and isn’t even shown using a rifle that she receives during a key scene.
Ellie Isn’t Holding A Rifle In The Last Of Us Season 2’s Key Art Anymore
HBO Seems To Realise She Never Ended Up Using It
Early on in The Last of Us Season 2,Ellie is given a rifle by Seth to show that he supports her and Dina heading off to get revenge for Joel. You’d think that the rifle would show up throughout the season considering how pivotal it was to that scene, but it ends upnever being used since Ellie barely has a reason to shoot anything.
It’s not really clear why Ellie never used her rifle in The Last of Us' second season, but it seems that HBO expected her to, as it’s pictured front and centre on the key art for the whole season. Well, it used to be anyway, as it seems that HBO has realised that it never actually shows up during the season, as it’s now been scrubbed from that same piece of art.
As pointed out by Twitter user DomTheBombYT, pre-orders for the physical version of The Last of Us Season 2 went live after this week’s final episode. That physical release has the same key art we’ve seen since the season started airing, only this time, the rifle that was clearly in Ellie’s hands before has now been completely removed.
The rifle going unused is even stranger when you think that it was the first weapon that Joel let Ellie use to cover him in the game.
Instead, we get a shot of Ellie holding her backpack, with the rifle nowhere in sight. While this could have just been done to have a different piece of art on the cover, it does seem like a reaction to the weapon never being used in the season.
