Last of Us series fans have come up with a very plausible theory that could already explain the plot of the second game.
Warning some plot spoilers for the original The Last of Us below.
Fans posit that in the teaser trailer shown, Joel has been killed by the Fireflies and now Ellie is out for revenge.
The “Joel” that walks in towards the end of the trailer is in fact not real, but rather a figment of Ellie’s imagination.
This would make sense with regards to the ending of the first game and would explain exactly why Ellie seems so angry and looking for revenge.
It also matches up with previous comments made by Game Director Neil Druckmann in which he noted that the “tone of the (second) game would be even darker than the first” and that “while the first game focused on love and loss, the sequel is a counter to that – it focuses on hate.”
Of course “he’s been dead the whole time” has been a long-running trope since before even the Sixth Sense, but it still does fit rather neatly given how little plot details we actually have.
Plot twist: Joel is dead the whole way through TLOU2 and Ellie is imagining him while she hunts down his killers
— Marianne Craven ❄? (@miss_mariii) December 4, 2016
On top of it, Joel walked into the house appearing as… well, a ghost kinda.
Joel is more than likely dead.
— Alpha ライアン (@AlphaFoxWarfare) December 4, 2016
