WARNING: This article contains heavy spoilers so read at your own risk.
Whether you’ve played The Last of Us Part II or not, chances are, you’re well aware of the scene involving the use of a golf club. The controversial twist of events was leaked prior to the game’s launch, and ended up triggering backlash against Naughty Dog, which quickly devolved into death threats directed towards developers as well as The Last of Us II‘s cast.
In a new interview with The Washington Post’s Gene Park, director Neil Druckmann revealed that the scene was partly inspired by a real-life accident that he was involved in. To be more specific, Abby used a golf club to bludgeon Joel to death because Druckmann himself got accidentally whacked in the head by one.
At 16 years of age, Druckmann was invited by a friend to play golf. For some reason, he stood behind his friend, and a back swing landed on his head, leaving him with 36 stitches and a permanent dent in his skull.
My friend was into it. He invited me to go to a driving range. He was showing me the ropes. I stood behind him, and got smacked on the back swing. Blood everywhere. For a long time, Abby stabbed Joel in the back then twisted the knife to paralyze him. But knife felt more like an Ellie thing. We wanted something different.
Druckmann told The Washington Post that he isn’t an avid golfer. We suspect that might have something to do with the aforementioned incident.
[Source: The Washington Post via GameRant]
