Gabriel Luna on Tommy's goodbye to Joel in ‘The Last of Us' and its double meaning

This article contains spoilers for Episode 3 of Season 2 of 'The Last of Us.'
'Give Sarah my love.'
Spoken in a voice inflected with exhaustion and grief, they're the only words that Tommy, played by the actor Gabriel Luna, is able to muster to Joel (Pedro Pascal), whose lifeless body lies shrouded on a table in a makeshift morgue in Jackson.
As Tommy's eyes well up and he runs a wet cloth against Joel's skin, we get a close-up of Joel's arm and the old, broken military watch on his wrist. It's a poignant symbol that brings us back to the very beginning of 'The Last of Us,' when we meet Joel, Tommy and Sarah. It was Sarah who repaired the watch as a birthday gift to her father, and her sudden death was central to Joel's grief. And now that grief passes on to Tommy as he says goodbye to his brother.
For this scene that opens Episode 3 of the second season of HBO's 'The Last of Us,' Luna says he tapped into the grief that he's experienced over the years after losing close family members, including his grandfather in 2013.
'I remember being the only one in that chapel, walking up to my grandfather's coffin, and that's what I had in my mind when I was shooting the scene … the young lady gives me the rag to wash [Joel's] body, and she exits. Now I'm the only one in there,' he says. 'But as I'm walking up to Joel's body, that's what I was thinking of — my grandpa and being the only one there.'
'I've been to a lot of funerals in my life so it felt very familiar,' he adds.
If Episode 2 was the depiction of fire and uncontrollable rage — with Tommy flaming down an unrelenting monster known as a bloater, and Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) torturing and killing Joel — Episode 3 is the opposite. It's pensive and introspective about what was and what will be, much like Luna in this moment of his career on one of TV's biggest shows.
After appearing in small indie films and doing stage work, Luna was cast as the lead in the El Rey series 'Matador.' Though 'Matador' only lasted a season, the actor went on to join ABC's lauded Marvel series 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' as Robbie Reyes, a.k.a. Ghost Rider. In 2019, he starred in 'Terminator: Dark Fate' as Rev-9, where he went head to head with the original cybernetic assassin played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. That led to a role in Netflix's 'FUBAR' with Schwarzenegger once again, and then 'The Last of Us.' (Peacock's 'Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy' and Season 2 of Prime Video's 'The Terminal List' are among his upcoming projects.)
Luna and I meet to talk about his role in the postapocalyptic series at Bludso's BBQ on La Brea Avenue, a favorite restaurant of his for a simple reason: It reminds him of home. Luna was raised in Austin, Texas, and if you've ever been, smoked meats are practically a food group there. It's two days after Episode 2 has aired, and he knows the shockwave it has sent to viewers. But he's at ease, wearing a sharp outfit of dark Japanese denim and black leather boots that complement the Texas-themed dining room. He speaks softly but passionately about his work and the show as we converse before a meal of brisket, cornbread and an assortment of sides.
Here, in a conversation edited for length and clarity, Luna discusses the aftermath of Joel's death, how the scene where he says goodbye evolved, and why as a Latino actor it matters that he avoids stereotypical roles.
There's been a lot of reaction to Episode 2, where we see Tommy hold the fort and Joel die. Have you been following it?
It's been a tornado of a couple of days. I was at WrestleMania when the episode aired. I left … a little early to catch a flight, and when I landed, my phone was absolutely lighting up like a Christmas tree, just everyone calling and saying, 'Oh, that was amazing. Congratulations.' When you read the script, you knew that there was potential there for it to be something extraordinary. Then when you got there on the day — we spent almost two months shooting the second episode with Mark Mylod, our amazing director of [shows like] 'Succession' and 'Game of Thrones.' And then, of course, Craig Mazin and Neil [Druckmann], the geniuses behind the whole thing.
You start to see it come together. We might actually be doing something that'll go down in history, not just the big battle sequence, but also just the iconography of that Joel scene at the end. All those things together were gonna make for a seismic reaction, or at least I hoped shooting this a year ago. I'm sitting here two days after that, and it all came to pass. Everybody reacted the way we thought they might, and people are still watching it. I'm sure if I check my phone there will be another dozen texts from folks.
[Later, Luna flashes his phone, which is filled with rows of notifications.]
For me, it's unforgettable. I still think about those moments. Craig Mazin once said, 'You know, this is the one that they're going to remember us for.' I think he was right. And if this is one of the major things I'm remembered for — I couldn't be more proud.
Did Craig and Neil talk to you about the divergence from the video-game storyline for your character? [In the game, Tommy is with Joel when he's killed.]
Towards the end of the first season, I told them, 'You know, it always rubbed me the wrong way that Tommy was knocked out, completely incapacitated during Joel's murder. Is there a possibility that we shift things around?' Craig's like, 'You know what? I got an idea.'
Right before the strike in 2023, Craig sends me a big, long text, explaining how it all is going to go down, how Tommy is replaced with Dina at the scene of Joel's murder, and is now in Jackson with his wife, Maria. The entire town is trying to survive this onslaught and originally, in the text, there's like two or three bloaters. We shot it as if we were being attacked by two or three. We had to shave a lot of it down. I just got goosebumps reading it. My heart was beating just reading this text.
The fact that this change was made based off of input from me and talking to Craig and everybody else — maybe they had designs of doing that before, but I just love them so much for being so open to the possibilities.
I feel that closeness shows. On the press tour, you guys seem to really get along.
To love the people you work with, that's an incredible blessing. There's real love there, even among the people who are onscreen nemeses, mortal enemies.
Have you talked to Pedro or anyone else in the cast since?
Craig has a text thread called 'The Crazy of Us,' and so we're all just talking to each other. It's exciting now for the second episode, but we got a lot more to come, we're just getting started. But we thought we'd give them a nice little shock to the heart right at the beginning.
In Episode 3, you're one of the first characters we see. What was going through your mind when you were filming?
We talked about my grandfather earlier in this interview. I remember when he passed away. Peter Hoar was the director for [this episode], and he did the Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett episode ['Long, Long Time'] last season. I just breathed and let it happen.
Pedro was not actually there, it was the body double. They asked me,'Would you like to have him in full makeup?' 'I would. Just to see all the damage, right?' And they put him in full makeup, his eyes swollen and bloody, so when I lift the shroud, I could see and have a physical reaction.
I will say one more thing regarding that. We had a lot of dialogue there that I'm glad they cut. Because all you really need to say is, 'Give Sarah my love.'
Was that in the script?
That was in the script. There was a whole other bit in the script [about Ellie]. She's OK, she's hurt bad, but she's going to be all right. And me promising to take care of her. Which didn't need to be said because I'm the only thing she has left.
But from this point, it's now Bella [Ramsey] and Kaitlyn's dance. Me, in a supporting capacity, a little bit more central moving forward, but … these are the characters that start moving the story forward. It was also this interesting double meaning, as I was saying these words, it's not only will I take care of Ellie, but we will take care of the show moving forward.
This episode also shows the contrast between Tommy and Joel. You're married, you have a kid, you're the town leader. You're trying to decide, do we go avenge him?
I love how much more torn Tommy has to be to make the choices he's about to make. My responsibilities to my wife [Maria, played by Rutina Wesley], to my son, to this city, end up superseding my desire to go and help with my brother. You can see this different side of Tommy that you don't see in the game, where he is a little bit more untethered, impulsive.
I got to have this really wonderful scene with Catherine O'Hara [who plays Gail, a psychotherapist] about what it means to inherit her [Ellie]. To have to understand what she's going through and to love her, but also love my brother, but also, when does it stop? Could we choose right now to turn the other cheek [and] save a lot of people's futures and a lot of people's heartache? Sometimes you can't. That's the whole lesson of the story. It's about forgiveness. But how much will you suffer along the way, until you learn that lesson?
Why do you think people connect with the series so much? There are some parallels to the real world, like the pandemic. There's a lot of division in our country.
I think that those are great entry points for people. The diversity of the cast, not only in the show, but also in the game, gives people access points as well.
Everybody in 'The Last of Us' is on the same plane because we're all fighting this looming threat above us [and] we're all contending with it in different ways, reaching to love and community, military force, religion — all these various ways of coping. There's something to the diversity of it all but also to the sameness of everyone and that we're all in this together. But also I think people like stories [that] put themselves in our boots … how would I deal with limited resources and no longer abide by the laws of man and laws of nature?
As someone who is Latino, do you feel like your upbringing helped shape your career or have a hand in the roles that you've chosen?
The pride and the support and the love of a Mexican American family fortified me. The culture enriched my experience. On the other side of that coin, the representation within media and how they look at us was the opposite of that in a lot of ways. So it was something where I carried the culture and I carried my pride in my background … and it was that pride that won't let me just take whatever they [the industry] wanted to give. You know, I wasn't going to play a narcotraficante. I wasn't going to play gangster, and even though I love our language, I wasn't going to play characters that only have to speak Spanish because of the way we look.
I wanted to be everyone's hero. I wanted Black, Asian, white, all of those kids to look to me and see them see themselves in me. I said no to a lot of things that were more traditional, which was what the industry was offering and it ended up being a good thing because I was available when the parts that subverted that came along, like Robbie Reyes/Ghost Rider, the 'Terminator' film and this one, 'The Last of Us.'
You have done quite a bit of genre work. Is it something that interested you?
I'm a child who grew up with all of that in '80s culture, comic books, Ninja Turtles, 'Batman '89,' 'Jurassic Park,' all that stuff … the precursors to all the Marvels and the video game adaptations.
Because of my physical ability, I've been able to go into these kind of roles that require a lot of action elements, which are a big staple of these genre pictures. I think that's what I love. I'm lucky. I'm glad that I get to do these types of things that have these great followings and really passionate fans. I've always said it's in good hands. I tried to ease their concerns by letting them know, maybe not directly before we ever committed to the screen, but certainly after the fact that I love this same way you do. And I love 'The Last of Us.' I love the Ghost Rider. I love the 40-year history of the Terminator. I don't want to mess it up just as much as you don't want me to mess it up. I really hope that people can see that it is in the nurturing hands of somebody who really loves this type of storytelling.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

36 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Worry Not, ABC's Match Game Revival Set Is Still Way Groovy (PHOTOS)

The set for ABC's upcoming Match Game revival is still so 1970s-groovy, I bet you can find shag carpeting on ______. More from TVLine Casting News: Andor Subs In for Kimmel, Connie Britton Joins Steve Carell Comedy and More Land of the Lost Reboot in the Works at Netflix Casting News: Severance Duo on Millionaire, Steve Carell Comedy Casts Bridesmaids Vet and More That's the good news born of a series of BTS photos shared on Threads by actress Constance Zimmer, who was among the more than two dozen celebrity panelists announced earlier this month. 'Did you know @matchgameabc is coming back in July with the one and only [Martin Short as host]!!! And some of us got to play along!!' wrote Zimmer. 'Such a blast!!' Short of course co-stars on Hulu's Only Murders in the Building, which also contributed more than a couple of celeb panelists to the upcoming season. ABC's previous incarnation of the classic, fill-in-the-blank game show debuted almost exactly nine years ago, hosted by 30 Rock's Alec Baldwin and featuring a set that avoided the ultra-glossy finish and dramatically swooping klieg lights spawned by Who Wants to Be a Millionaire's 1999 heyday. Instead, there was warm carpeting, family den-appropriate wood paneling, and a long, skinny, handheld mic just like former host Gene Rayburn wielded once upon a time. The 'revival' set appears to be near-identical to that one, with the same logo and only the most minor of cosmetic tweaks. (The fate of the long, skinny, handheld mic, however, remains TBD.) The Baldwin-hosted Match Game produced a total of 61 episodes, the last of which aired in July 2021. Baldwin, of course, was in the headlines in fall 2021 after a tragic incident on the set of the film Rust where he accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Match Game's cancellation at ABC was not connected to that incident, Variety reported in April 2022; in fact, the show hadn't been in production since the COVID pandemic shut down Hollywood in March 2020. The celebrity panelists on tap for this summer's Match Game revival include Adam Pally, Amy Sedaris, Ana Gasteyer, Andrea Martin, Anthony Anderson, BD Wong, Beanie Feldstein, Cara Delevingne, Caroline Rhea, Constance Zimmer, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Ego Nwodim, Jackie Tohn, Jim Belushi, Joel Kim Booster, Joel McHale, Kal Penn, Kevin Nealon, Lamorne Morris, Pete Holmes, Randall Park, Selena Gomez, Thomas Lennon, Tituss Burgess, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Von Miller and Ziwe Fumudoh. The new season of ABC's Match Game premieres Wednesday, July 23, at 9/8c, with episodes streaming next day on Hulu. A total of four contestants compete in each hour-long installment, and the prize money… remains a depressingly paltry $25,000. Want scoop on (hey, all I can do is try!), or for any other TV show? Shoot an email to InsideLine@ and your question may be answered via Matt's Inside Line! Best of TVLine 'Missing' Shows, Found! Get the Latest on Ahsoka, Monarch, P-Valley, Sugar, Anansi Boys and 25+ Others Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

John Oliver Commissions Real Artist to Carve AI Slop Image as ‘Petty' Revenge

John Oliver is no big fan of AI creations — at least, not in a way that goes beyond amused horror — so, on Sunday night's episode of 'Last Week Tonight,' he took his 'petty' revenge on the machines. The HBO host centered his main story on the use of AI programs, conceding that mastering them has proven financially lucrative for a handful of creators and just about all of the businesses that incentivize them. But he also pointed out the many flaws of AI, including the fact that, more often than not, it is simply stealing the work of real creators. 'And look, I'm not saying some of this stuff isn't fun to watch. What I am saying is some of it's potentially very dangerous, and even when it isn't, the technology that makes it possible only works because it trains on the work of actual artists,' he explained. 'So any enjoyment you may get from weird, funny AI slop tends to be undercut when you know that someone's hard work was stolen in order to create it.' The host zeroed in on one creator in particular, a wood carver named Michael Jones. Jones uses a chainsaw to create massive, life-like carvings of various creatures, and an image of his work turned into a trend of AI-generated images of people posing next to more carvings, claiming they made them themselves. So, as the show ended, Oliver gave Jones a chance to not only show off his abilities, but also do the same thing to AI that AI did to him. 'I don't have a big fix for all of this, or indeed, any of it. What I do have, though is a petty way to respond,' Oliver said. 'Because perhaps one small way to get back at all the AI slop ripping off artists would be to create real art by ripping off AI slop. So please come with me.' At that, he stood from his desk and took the camera over to a real-life wood carving of an AI-generated image — in this case, a weirdly buff man made out of cabbage, the AI version of which simply tickled Oliver — and Jones standing next to it. 'Look at the details there! This thing is an absolute masterpiece!' Oliver crowed. 'And seeing this, does it make you want to thank the real artists who made it? Well, I've got some great news for you. You can do that because we flew him here too. Michael is here!' 'What a fun way to celebrate the destruction of our shared objective reality!' Oliver added as the show wrapped up. 'We are f–ked!' You can watch the full segment from 'Last Week Tonight' in the video above. The post John Oliver Commissions Real Artist to Carve AI Slop Image as 'Petty' Revenge | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Business Upturn

2 hours ago

• Business Upturn

Is ‘FUBAR' returning for season 3? Everything we know so far

By Aman Shukla Published on June 23, 2025, 19:30 IST Last updated June 23, 2025, 14:00 IST Alright, FUBAR fans, time to talk about that Netflix show with Arnold Schwarzenegger kicking butt and bickering with his spy daughter. Season 2 hit in 2025, and now everybody's buzzing: is Season 3 a go or a no? Here's the lowdown on what's up with FUBAR, scraped from the latest chatter. What's FUBAR All About? If you haven't binged it yet, FUBAR is this wild ride where Arnie plays Luke, a CIA dude ready to kick back and retire, only to find out his daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro) is also a secret agent. Season 1, dropped in 2023, was pure gold with explosions and dad jokes. Season 2? Kinda divisive. Some loved it, others called it a snooze. Still, fans want more. Is FUBAR Season 3 Happening? Right now, Netflix hasn't given the green light for FUBAR Season 3. There's no official word, and that's got fans on edge. A post floating around on X claimed Season 2's viewership tanked by 80% compared to Season 1, hinting the show might be on the chopping block. But hold up—there's no hard proof from Netflix or the showrunners to back that up. X posts can be shaky, so don't take them as gospel. For now, it's a waiting game. Why Could Season 3 Still Happen? Even without confirmation, there's hope for more FUBAR . Here's why: Arnold's a Big Deal : Schwarzenegger's name alone pulls in viewers. His TV comeback is a huge win for Netflix, and they might not want to let that go. Loyal Fans : People are rooting for the show. On X, one fan begged for Season 3, shouting out the cast—like Fortune Feimster—and Arnie's epic action-hero energy. Loose Ends : Season 2 left some big questions unanswered. I won't spoil it, but the finale screams for a follow-up. Netflix's Playbook: Sometimes Netflix keeps shows alive if they have a solid fanbase, even if numbers dip. FUBAR could still have enough juice for another round. What's Next? Until Netflix spills the beans, FUBAR Season 3 is up in the air. Fans can help by streaming the heck out of Seasons 1 and 2 and hyping it online. Keep an eye out for news, and fingers crossed we'll see Luke back in action. Ahmedabad Plane Crash Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication . A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication ,content writing and copy writing. Aman is currently working as journalist at