Spoilers ahead for “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 2 Add “The Last of Us” star Bella Ramsey to the long list of people who were emotionally impacted by this franchise’s big twist. The actor spilled on their reaction to Season 2’s notable death in an inside-the-episode video from HBO. “I knew Joel was going to die right from Season 1,” Ramsey said in the video. “I knew it was coming as I was reading the episode, and I was dreading getting to that bit. I cried, actually sobbed my little heart out. It was the first time I ever cried from reading a piece of writing.” Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) death was likely especially painful for Ramsey as the actor portrays Joel’s daughter figure, Ellie. The first season of “The Last of Us” follows its game nearly to the letter as it tells the story of Joel transporting the immune Ellie across a country riddled with infected monsters. But in its second game and season, “The Last of Us” ups the ante. During his quest to protect Ellie no matter the cost, Joel murdered an unarmed doctor who was performing an operation that could save saved humanity at the cost of Ellie’s life. That doctor was the father of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), a former member of a militia group known as the Fireflies who vows to kill Joel for what he did to her father. In “Through the Valley,” she does just that, taking a golf club to this beloved character all in front of a screaming Ellie. Pedro Pascal also expressed that he’s been angered by art on multiple occasions and has even thrown books across the room. “I think that if it’s incredibly painful for people, that’s obviously an incredible achievement of the storytelling,” he said. For fans who are newer to the franchise, Joel’s death isn’t a fake out or a gimmick. It’s very much real. Joel isn’t coming back, and — unless there’s a flashback — neither is Pascal. The reason for this major death can be traced back to the story that Neil Druckmann, game developer and head of game studio Naughty Dog, wanted to tell in “The Last of Us Part II.” “Some of the inspiration for the second game was how do we put the player in that state of righteousness or hate or whatever label you want to put on it,” Druckmann explained. “And the decision felt very clear to me: We have to kill someone we really care about.” “When we get to the moment where Abby does what she does, it was as hard for us to write and shoot as it was, I think, probably, for a lot of people to watch,” series co-creator Craig Mazin added. “But this story is about how we all deal with those moments, which do confront us in life.” New episodes of “The Last of Us” premiere on HBO and Max Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.