Why Abby killed Joel in The Last of Us explained – who is her father?

21 April 2025, 20:16

Why did Abby kill Joel in The Last of Us? Picture: HBO

By Katie Louise Smith

Why did Joel kill Abby's dad? Here's the full story from the game and the HBO series explained.

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So, you've watched The Last of Us and now you're wondering why Abby just did what she did... Why did she kill Joel? Did she have to kill him? Can we bring him back?! (No we can't, but Pedro Pascal hasn't left the show just yet...)

The Last of Us Part II game was released in 2020 and Joel's death caused absolute uproar at the time. It's also been the best kept secret of the HBO series, with viewers who have never played the games watching the traumatic moment play out in real time in episode 2.

Now that devastating scene has arrived, some viewers are wondering exactly why Abby was so dead set on killing Joel. Here's the storyline, and Abby's connection to Joel's hospital massacre from season 1, explained in full.

Read more: Is Pedro Pascal leaving The Last of Us? Does Joel come back in season 2?
Read more: The Last Of Us' Kaitlyn Dever had extra security on set because of Abby hatred

WARNING: Major spoilers ahead for The Last of Us season 2!

WARNING: MAJOR THE LAST OF US SPOILERS AHEAD. Picture: HBO

Why did Abby kill Joel?

Remember back in season 1 when Joel massacred everyone in the hospital to save Ellie? Ellie, who is immune to the infection, was taken by the Fireflies and set to be operated on in order to hopefully create a vaccine. To do that, however, she would have to die.

Well, it turns out that the surgeon who was set to operate on Ellie was, in fact, Abby's dad.

Abby was 19 when Joel killed her father and for the past 5 years, she's been looking for Joel to exact her revenge after being told what happened by those who survived.

In the game, Abby is playable character and players don't actually know what her motives are until later in the storyline. In the show, however, season 2 opens with Abby stating, point blank, that she intends to find and kill Joel.

The Last of Us season 2 changes the way Abby is introduced in the game. Picture: HBO

After five years hunting Joel, Abby and her group eventually come across the Jackson community where he's been living with Ellie, Tommy and the rest of the survivors.

In episode 2, Abby and her group shelter in a lodge up in the mountains overlooking the community. After narrowly escaping a horde of infected and being rescued by Joel in the middle of a snowstorm, Abby is taken back to the lodge by Joel and Dina. Then, she reveals Joel's identity and promptly shoots him in the leg.

From there, she spells out exactly what Joel did, who he actually killed and why she's going to kill him.

Watch The Last of Us season 2 weeks ahead trailer

"18 soldiers and one doctor," Abby tells Joel. "You remember that one? An unarmed doctor, you shot in the head."

"That was my dad – guess you probably already figured," she continues. "The nurses said you barely even looked at him when you pulled the trigger and then you just walked right past his body and out the door. But I looked at him, I saw him. I was 19."

After briefly discussing the moral code of the militia she joined shortly after the death of her father, Abby throws everything out the window and kills Joel anyway (with a golf club), completely driven by revenge.

Abby brutally kills Joel in an act of revenge after he killed her father, the surgeon from the Firefly hospital. Picture: HBO

Explaining why the show decided to stick with the controversial moment from the game, co-showrunner Craig Mazin told USA Today: "People are going to be upset. That's sometimes how good drama goes. This was something that was always meant to happen. So much of the first season was, in a weird way, leading to this moment. And it's upsetting."

"Loss is kind of how this story functions, so this was largely preordained," he added. "When I talked to Pedro the first time, I said, 'This is how this will go.' I wanted him to know that we're not going to do this for seven seasons with you in that spot. We're going to do a season, and if it goes well and there's a second season, this will happen."