The following contains spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 7, which premiered Sunday, May 25 on HBO. The following also contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part II, and likely future seasons of the series.

The Last of Us Season 2 ends with a big bad wolf blowing down a house. The events of Season 2 have led up to a showdown between Ellie and Abby. After Abby tortured and killed Joel for the death of her father, Ellie vowed to kill every last person who was involved. One by one, she nearly succeeded. She got three out of four, with Abby still alive and Manny’s fate left uncertain.

After reuniting with Tommy and Jesse at the aquarium, the trio heads back to the theater where an injured Dina resides to plan the trip back to Jackson. Although burdened by a pregnant Mel’s death, Ellie still has to force herself to accept Abby’s survival. But lucky timing is right in the lobby. Abby infiltrates the theater, murdering Jesse and holding down Tommy. Abby is riddled with disbelief when she recognizes Ellie, exclaiming that Ellie wasted the chance Abby gave her to live. As Abby shoots at Ellie, a flashback cuts to three days prior in the WLF stadium base, where Abby wakes up, ready to start the day. It’s time for Abby to take charge if Season 3 ends up being anything like The Last of Us Part II video game.

What Will The Last of Us Look Like in Season 3?

It will probably be a couple of years until fans learn of Ellie’s fate and how Season 3 will definitely be structured. Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann are keeping pretty quiet for the time being about Season 3 in terms of character appearances:

Craig Mazin: Even if I thought I knew now exactly how it was going to go, I’m experienced enough to know that two weeks from now we may have a different idea of how it should go. All I can say is we haven’t seen the last of Kaitlyn Dever, and we haven’t seen the last of Bella Ramsey, and we haven’t seen the last of Isabela Merced, and we haven’t seen the last of a lot of people who are currently dead in the story.

Bella Ramsey (Ellie’s actor) gave a more absolute guess to Variety. “I think that I’m going to be there, but not a whole bunch,” said Ramsey. “We’ve had conversations about that. I sort of have a rough idea of what it’s going to be, but I can’t tell you.” Ramsey’s statement corroborates what unfolds after Ellie and Abby’s initial meeting in Seattle in the game. The game flashes back to the death of Abby’s father (excluded from the show since it’s already been revealed in the Season 2 premiere) and then picks up on Seattle Day 1 from Abby’s perspective.

Abby never encounters Ellie in her portion of the game until their confrontation in the theater, which occurs at the end of Day 3. Instead, The Last of Us Part II explores Abby challenging her loyalty to the WLF and its fascist ideology after meeting two young Seraphites, Lev and Yara. Abby’s friend group—Owen, Manny, Mel, and Nora—also take up more significant roles that are equal to Dina, Jesse, and Tommy.

Whether or not the series will fully switch to Abby’s POV is up in the air, but all signs point to it happening. The shift in narrative is such a fundamental part of The Last of Us‘ mechanics that omitting it would defeat the entire purpose of Abby’s purpose in the story. While it would mean Ellie would be largely absent from Season 3, viewers need a break from Ellie to fully step into Abby’s world. What might happen is that Season 3 will be mainly composed of Abby’s journey in Seattle over the three days, which is interspersed with flashbacks. Mazin has admitted that the series may need four seasons to complete the story, so the Season 3 finale will likely end with the immediate fallout of the theater situation.

The Last of Us Challenges Viewers to Step Into the Villain’s Shoes

If Season 3 is played out like the game, The Last of Us will be asking a lot of viewers. The series has already killed off Joel, leaving Bella Ramsey to take up the protagonist title. Now, it wants viewers to adjust to having another actor/character take the lead. With Ramsey, it was much easier since people have been attached to Ellie since the Season 1 premiere. However, Abby was only in a few episodes in Season 2. This is a jarring change that will take a while for people to get used to.

But, that’s kind of the point. That discomfort from the shifting perspective wrestles with bigger questions about morality and allegiance. Viewers naturally side with Ellie in Season 2 because they love Joel, and they love Joel because they’ve followed him through his own journey of growth in Season 1. But what happens when they follow his killer on a similar journey in Season 3? Abby’s story forces people to recognize that things aren’t so black and white.

As a result of this change, viewers will see the damage Ellie has created in Seattle through her victims’ eyes. Everyone already knows that Owen, Mel and Nora’s deaths were pretty bad (especially the latter two), but now they’ll see more of their personalities shine through. They’ll no longer just be Abby’s friends who tagged along for the torture-murder ride. They’re people who have their good and bad moments, just like Ellie and Dina. Ultimately, Abby’s story affirms that just because you’re someone’s enemy doesn’t mean you’re a villain.

Can The Last of Us Afford to Make Such a Big Change in the Story?

Inserting a new protagonist as the lead while the old one is still technically on the show isn’t something television shows traditionally do. Fans rage when shows continue when the main character leaves the show, like on The Walking Dead, The Office and The Vampire Diaries. Imagine how they feel when the show willingly chooses to sideline the protagonist. But The Last of Us doesn’t do it out of malicious intent towards Ellie. This was always the most effective story to prove Ellie is capable of terrible things, like Abby.

However, even open-minded players were skeptical of this change. It’s such a big leap in storytelling and stalled the momentum that Ellie and Abby built when they finally came face to face, and it took 10 hours of gameplay to get people to empathize with Abby. But luck might be on the TV show’s side. So far, TV show viewers have been less aggressive and vicious towards Kaitlyn Dever as Abby than they were to Laura Bailey when she portrayed Abby. Joel’s death episode is even considered one of the greatest in the series. The open-mindedness of viewers may give Season 3 a chance to adequately execute this story.