Why did The Last of Us season 2 end like that? We’ll tell you

The Last of Us season 2 has come to an end – and to say that a lot happened in the season finale would be a massive understatement.

The Last of Us season 2 episode 7 saw Ellie’s mission to find Abby culminate in absolute violent chaos – and end on a cliffhanger that might seem pretty confusing to viewers who haven’t played The Last of Us Part 2. If you have played the game, you know that that cliffhanger isn’t much of a cliffhanger at all. If you haven’t, you might be a little confused as to what happened between Ellie and Abby, and where Abby is right at the end of season 2. Don’t worry, we explain it all for you down below.

Before you continue on, we just have to warn you that there are spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 below, as well as spoilers for The Last of Us Part 2. Go back and get caught up on season 2 before you scroll down. We also recommend checking out our guide to The Last of Us season 2 ending explained first.

Where is Abby at the end of The Last of Us season 2? *SPOILERS*

The Last of Us season 2 adapts The Last of Us Part 2 video game, which is split into two timelines from two different perspectives: Ellie’s perspective: Seattle Day One, Seattle Day Two, Seattle Day Three; and Abby’s perspective: Seattle Day One, Seattle Day Two, Seattle Day Three; before switching back to Ellie’s perspective for the final chunk of the game which is known as The Farm/Santa Barbara.

At the end of The Last of Us season 2, Ellie and Abby have their first confrontation – which quickly turns fatal. Abby shoots Jesse, then shoots Ellie – before we cut to Abby waking up in The Stadium (WLF).

Manny tells Abby that Isaac is waiting for her. They make their way outside, and some on-screen text reads, “Seattle Day One.” Basically, we’re right back where we started – and, despite the rather dramatic cliffhanger, Ellie is not dead. In the game, Abby’s Seattle Day One, Two, and three shows us what Abby was doing on the very day that Ellie and Dina first set out to hunt her down. Day Three takes us back to the last scene from The Last of Us season 2 finale, but from Abby’s perspective – the player both hides from and hunts Ellie down, rather than hide from and hunt down Abby.

Though The Last of Us season 3 will begin three days earlier, it’ll (most likely) still circle back to that final scene and end in the same place – just from Abby’s point of view. It’ll also probably be much longer, as the cliffhanger essentially breaks the scene into two parts: after Abby fires at Ellie, the two still continue their fight.