This post contains spoilers for HBO’s The Last of Us
The latest episode of HBO’s The Last of Us, in which Pedro Pascal’s Joel was brutally murdered by Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), ended with a beautiful rendition of Shawn James’ “Through the Valley.”
If the voice singing the song sounded familiar, that’s because it was the pipes of none other than Ashley Johnson, who played Ellie in the video game series.
As Ellie (Bella Ramsey), Jesse (Young Mazino), and Dina (Isabela Merced) are towing Joel’s dead body back to Jackson, the song begins to play. Johnson originally recorded her version of “Through the Valley” for a promotional teaser for The Last of Us: Part II in 2016.
Showrunner and writer Craig Mazin told EW that the new version of “Through the Valley” is a blend of the teaser song from 2016 and “a slightly updated version” that Johnson recorded in a studio more recently. Mazin said he always loved the song, and “what it did to my brain and my heart.”
The connections and thematic ties run deeper still, as Johnson played Ellie’s mom in a Season 1 flashback scene. “We also not only have a connection to Ashley because she created Ellie in the game, but [because] she plays Ellie’s mom. It is an interesting thing in a moment like this, when your only parent is taken from you [and] the parent you’ve never met, the one you don’t even know about, is there watching,” Mazin said.
The song’s lyrics include lines like “I fear no evil because I am blind to it all” and “my mind and my gun they comfort me.” The song also includes the line, “I know I’ll kill my enemies when they come.”
Do not read too far into the lyrics, however, Mazin warns.
“Your gun’s not going to save you,” Mazin said of where the story is going. “You won’t kill all your enemies when they come, and you will fear what’s around you. It’s like this hopeless prayer that we dashed to pieces.”
Separately, Mazin told Variety, “The lyrics are beautiful, Ashley’s voice is beautiful, and I just couldn’t think of a better way to end.”
New episodes of The Last of Us air Sundays at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET on HBO and Max.
