After months of anticipation from fans, The Last of Us season 2 premiered on HBO and HBO Max on April 13, 2025, continuing the captivating and heartbreaking post-apocalyptic story of Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie Williams (Bella Ramsey). The second season has already introduced a slew of new characters, including a man named Eugene, who came with a shocking backstory. It was revealed in the premiere that he was killed by Joel, and in episode 6, fans learned exactly what happened to Eugene.

Who Is Eugene in ‘The Last of Us’ TV Show?

Fans first learned information about Eugene from a critical scene between Joel and his therapist, Gail (Catherine O’Hara), in the premiere. For starters, we know that he was Gail’s husband and that they were together for more than four decades before his death. Gail revealed in a therapy session with Joel that she woke up “feeling sad” and chose to drink whiskey because it was her first birthday without her husband in 41 years.

“You shot and killed my husband,” she told Joel later in the session. “You killed Eugene. And I resent you for it. No. Maybe a little more than that. I hate you for it. I hate you for it. And yes, I know you had no choice. I know that. I know I should forgive you. Well, I’ve tried, and I can’t. Because of how you did it. And looking at your face, sitting in our home, makes me so f–king angry.”

Though Eugene did not show his face at all in the premiere via flashbacks, it was revealed in March 2025 that he would appear in season 2 and that he would be played by Bad Boys actor Joe Pantoliano. At the time, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann revealed that the character of Eugene would be expanded from the video games, similar to how Bill and Frank (Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett, respectively) had their stories expanded in season 1.

“Someone like Eugene, we had a take on that character to say, ‘OK, well, how does that expand Joel and Ellie’s relationship? How does it expand the town of Jackson? How does that expand what the story’s about, which is this idea of love and the extremes that love can take you to?’” Neil told IGN, later adding, “If you’ve watched the first episode, they talk about Eugene and why that’s important. And you’ll see even more of why that’s important as the season goes on.”

Fans learned a bit more about Eugene in episode 2, as Ellie and Jesse (Young Mazino) stumbled into an old gas station that the late Jackson community member used as a marijuana greenhouse before his death. Ellie found an old Firefly pendant with Eugene’s name on it, and Jesse told her that he had been a former member of the rebel group opposing the military organization FEDRA. According to Jesse, Eugene decided to leave the Fireflies because he got “tired of killing people” after he previously served in the Vietnam War. Eugene sought refuge in Jackson and became Jesse’s patrol partner.

What Happened to Eugene in ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2?

After hearing that Joel “shot and killed” Eugene, fans began to wonder why the beloved lead character would do something like that. Viewers know by now that Joel would likely only kill someone else to protect Ellie, who lives with him in the Jackson, Wyoming, community, along with Joel’s brother, Tommy (Gabriel Luna).

Gail telling Joel that he “had no choice” appeared to be a hint that Eugene may have become infected, which, unfortunately, would mean that someone needed to kill him in order to prevent the infection from spreading to the rest of the community. However, fans will have to wait and see how the rest of the season unfolds to find out exactly what happened to Eugene.

Jesse also alluded to Eugene possibly being infected during the gas station scene with Ellie in episode 2. “That was a raw deal, Joel having to put him down,” he said. “F–king shame. Guy makes it through a war, ends up going out like that. What are you gonna do? Couldn’t be saved.”

This turned out to be exactly the case in episode 6, which primarily consisted of flashbacks showcasing Ellie’s birthdays over the years after she and Joel moved to Jackson. On her 19th birthday, Joel took Ellie — who had grown distant from her father figure as she became suspicious of what really happened with the Fireflies — out on her first patrol training shift. They received a distress call from Eugene, who had been bitten by an infected.

Joel thought they should follow Jackson’s protocol and kill Eugene right away to prevent the spread of the infection. However, he begged for more time in order to say goodbye to Gail. Ellie agreed that he had at least an hour left until he reached the next stage of infection and convinced Joel to let her get their horses so they could bring Eugene to the outskirts of Jackson to see his wife.

Though Joel promised Ellie that he wouldn’t kill Eugene yet, he brought him to a nearby lake and calmed him down before executing him. Joel tried to lie to Gail about wanting to see her before his death, but Ellie revealed the truth. “You swore,” she said before storming off.

Who Played Eugene in ‘The Last of Us’?

Eugene was played by Joe Pantoliano in episode 6. Joe is famous for his roles in The Sopranos, The Goonies, Bad Boys, The Matrix and more than 100 other projects.

What Happened to Eugene in ‘The Last of Us’ Video Game?

As Craig and Neil mentioned, Eugene was a character in The Last of Us: Part II, which served as the source material for season 2 of the HBO adaptation. However, his story was a little different.

In the game, Eugene was not a main character. Instead, a photograph of him was shown, and it was revealed that he was a former member of the Fireflies who came to the Jackson settlement with Tommy. He became close with Ellie’s best friend, Dina (played by Isabela Merced in the show), while working as her patrol partner.

Unlike in the show, the video game version of Eugene died of natural causes before Joel came along.