We're now two episodes into HBO's The Last of Us, and it looks like the show continues its faithful adaptation of the game. While Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey's performances have been fantastic, the supporting cast has also done a fabulous job. There are plenty of memorable characters Joel and Ellie come across in TLOU, but the one that's featured most prominently till now is Tess, played by Anna Torv.
In the show, she plays Joel's partner in crime and a love interest of sorts as well. That's all that we know about her, as we're not given any details in the game either. However, it seems that Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin initially planned to reveal more about Tess and her past (thanks Eurogamer).
Speaking on The Last of Us Podcast, the showrunners revealed that they had written a script where Tess had a husband and son, who were unfortunately both affected by the virus. Tess was forced to kill her husband, but couldn't do the same for her son. So, she locked him in the basement where he apparently still is as an infected.
"We had a cold open where the camera pushed on this door and you just hear this pounding coming from this basement, and then we cut out," said Mazin. Tess would then share the story with Joel and Ellie later on in the episode.
For whatever reason though, Mazin and Druckmann opted not to include these scenes into the show. However, that still doesn't detract from Tess' character development in these two episodes, thanks to a brilliant performance by Torv.
Mazin also recently spoke up about the fact that neither Pedro Pascal nor Bella Ramsey had finished a playthrough of The Last of Us. “A lot of people got worried. It was frustrating to know what we had and to see people doubting,” he said. "It’s our job. It’s Neil’s job and my job to put all of Ellie and Joel on the page. We know Ellie and Joel completely. We know them inside and out, not only as they were manifested in such a beautiful way by Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, but just from the ground up as Neil thought it all through. And as he and I created these new versions.”