*Spoiler*

According to Screenrant, this week’s episode of the highly acclaimed HBO series, The Last of Us, has left fans grieving with Tommy, played by Gabriel Luna (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Terminator:Dark Fate)who delivered a heartfelt goodbye to Joel, played by Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones). While the final cut delivered a heartfelt moment within the series, the scene was initially much longer, showcasing Tommy’s world shattering and the grief with losing his only family member.

According to Screenrant, Luna gives a lengthy explanation in an interview with GQ about the minor alteration to the iconic monomer. The entire conversation can be viewed below.

“No, we did it. The more I was doing it, I had a sense, like, “No, I don’t think we need any of this.” I didn’t bring it up at the time as I was performing it. There was something cathartic about it because a lot of what we left out was about Ellie, me telling him what happened to Ellie. At the time, it wasn’t even really about the scene for me, as it was this weird double meaning in the scene of saying, “She’s hurt, she’s hurt bad, but she’ll be all right. I’ll take care of her,” which needs to go unsaid because of course I will. Who else does she have? At the same time, it was less about Ellie in that moment than it was the show itself. There was this weird sense of the passing of the torch from Pedro’s great leadership to Bella’s, Kaitlyn’s, myself, and the people who were going to be carrying this story forward from here — Isabela, Young [Mazino], and everyone. It still was beneficial in some way. In the moment, it was very cathartic to say out loud [for] the reality of the production that we were going [into]. In the end, I mean, what more do you need to say than, “Give Sarah my love.”

According to Screenrant, some thought the simple approach was a smart choice since it matched well with the show’s rhythm. The scene will be seamlessly integrated into the time skip, which will show Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey (His Dark Materials, Hilda), stationed in a hospital for three months.

All current episodes of the second season, as well as the entire first of The Last of Us are available to stream on Max, with new ones released every Sunday.