The tone of “The Last of Us: Part II” video game is even darker than it was in the first part: Ellie grieves the murder of her father figure, Joel, and embarks on a quest to avenge his death.
When it was time to adapt the game for Season 2 of the HBO series, music
supervisors Evyen Klean, Ian Broucek and Scott Hanau had the opportunity to explore a “number of new shades” in the soundtrack.
The primary musical moments take place during two flashback sequences: the New Year’s Eve dance where Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) have their first kiss, and Ellie’s 16th birthday, when Joel (Pedro Pascal) performs a rendition of Pearl Jam’s “Future Days.” Another key moment comes in the present day, when Ellie performs A-ha’s “Take On Me” for Dina.
“When you have all these great interactions between Ellie and Dina and Ellie and Joel that are just so heartfelt, the music doesn’t need to be big and robust,” said Hanau, who worked on both the game and the series and, as score supervisor, oversaw the integration of Gustavo Santaolalla and David Fleming’s score. “When the show and the game communicate through the dialogue and cinematography, it’s very minimalistic but very potent at the same time. And we try to match that note for note with a score.”
For the New Year’s Eve dance in the Season 2 premiere and the Emmy-nominated
sixth episode, “The Price,” the trio and series co-creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin persuaded the disbanded folk-country group Crooked Still to appear on screen and perform their songs “Little Sadie” and “Ecstasy,” which are both featured in the 2020 video game.
“Crooked Still hasn’t been an active band for a few years,” Broucek
said. “They’re spread out all over the place. Some are still actively playing as musicians; others are not and have moved on with their lives. But because of their involvement with the game, they jumped at the chance and we were able to get the core group of the band back together, including lead singer Aoife O’Donovan.”
They also persuaded Santaolalla to make a cameo playing his signature ronroco on “Little Sadie” – a string instrument from South America – and a secondary guitar on “Ecstasy.”
“We creatively got the stems of the tracks from the band and had Gustavo add his instruments so he had something to be playing and created a new master that ended up on the soundtrack,” Klean said. “That was quite fun.”
Additionally, Klean, Broucek and Hanau were responsible for making Ramsey and Pascal feel comfortable doing their solos live, including making backup pre-records for their guitar and vocals and getting the latter guitar lessons.
“Craig and Neil really love to capture the authenticity of the moment, and we
like to capture the vocals live on set so it really comes across in the performance,”
Broucek said. “On the day when they’re shooting, Pedro’s got the earwig in; he can hear the guitar and pantomime to it so that it looks and feels natural and then just give his heart to the performance.”
The 2013 Pearl Jam ballad that Joel sings to Ellie on her birthday is in the video game, chosen because its theme of devotion sums up their bond (“If I ever were to lose you, I’d surely lose myself”). Similarly, “Take On Me” is heard in the game, performed by Ashley Johnson, who originated the role of Ellie and appears in Season 1 of the HBO series as Ellie’s mother. In Season 2, her cover of Shawn James’ “Through the Valley” from The Last of Us: Part II plays in the final minutes following Joel’s brutal death.
“After having Ashley Johnson come back and play Bella’s mother in Season 1, it seemed like a natural time for Craig to include her again,” Hanau said. “So it works for fans who know the game, and it’s equally heartbreaking for those that are new to it. It was a great end cap to that episode after all that despair.”
Another crucial part of the trio’s job was to know when to get out of the way of the narrative and let silence fill the soundscape.
“The emotion and acting are so incredible and evocative. We’re not trying to distract from it, we’re trying to enhance it and add to it,” Hanau said. “So a lot of times, the best decision is to remove the music and let the acting shine through.”
“There really isn’t a lot of extra fat to be like, ‘Oh yeah, let’s throw an extra piece of music here, just for the hell of it,’” Broucek added. “It doesn’t really work in this world, which is what makes it so beautiful. Every beat is thought out. There’s a purpose to everything.”
A version of this story first ran in the Down to the Wire: Drama issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the Down to the Wire: Drama issue here.
