"Last of Us" creator has a pointedly-funny rejoinder to angry fans

Variety recently had a panel of writer/creators of notable drama series of the present, and included on said panel were Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, the creators of "The Last of Us." Those two have recently been well-acquainted with unreasonable fan engagement, which does lead us into a major spoiler for that show. Here's Pedro Pascal dancing around (granted, to shill Apple products) to serve as a delineation point.

On "The Last of Us," based on a popular video game series, Pascal played Joel. He was one of the lead characters on the show. We're using the past tense for a reason. In a major series moment, Joel died during the second season. Reactions varied. Some reactions that weren't fully positive were entirely reasonable. One could have qualms with the execution, or find it to have not landed right as a plot point. Others may have accepted the decision, even appreciated how it played out, but did lament the loss of a character they enjoyed, and/or a performance from Pascal they enjoyed. You, the emotionally-healthy TV watcher, are doing just fine.

A lot of people freaked out, though, and got mad. Their anger, of course, was largely directed at Mazin and Druckmann for their plot-based, storytelling decision. Well, you (an existential "you") let people harass you into releasing Zack Snyder's version of "Justice League," they're going to want control over "The Last of Us" as well.

Mazin has been around the block, though, and as anybody who has ever listened to him on the screenwriting podcast "Scriptnotes" with John August can tell you he's not a punch puller. He's not sweating the anger, and specifically a certain type of anger:

The big complaint that I’ve gotten is, "Why did you kill Pedro Pascal?" And I keep explaining, we didn’t kill him! He’s a man, he’s alive. He’s fine. And he’s in literally everything else. So I don’t know what the problem is!

Indeed, you can see the very much alive, very much super busy Pascal in the upcoming "Fantastic Four" movie literally later this summer. Also, we do know that's the Spanish-language trailer, but we stumbled on it and it's pretty cool.

Mazin is astute in not seeing what the problem is, because there is no problem. Especially not in this specific framework of complaints. Even to accost him with, "You killed Joel!" would be odd, given that Joel is a fictional character, and also what do you want from stories? Where should this post-apocalyptic tale go? To say "You killed Pedro Pascal!," though, is stranger. It's, maybe charitably, a sense of "protection" of an actor you like, but don't you think Pascal might enjoy the acting challenge of such scenarios? Also, if you're a Pascal fan, as Mazin pointed out, the dude works a lot.

These sorts of complaints, backlash if you will, isn't going anywhere, but hopefully more creators will do as Mazin has done and not give an inch on his creative decisions. And check out the living, breathing Pedro Pascal in Celine Song's "Past Lives" follow-up "Materialists," which comes out June 13.

(h/t Variety)