Craig Mazin on Why Pedro Pascal's Character Goes to Therapy in 'The Last of Us' Season 2 | THR Video - video Dailymotion

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Co-creator, Craig Mazin, explains why he wanted Pedro Pascal's character Joel to go to therapy in the second season of 'The Last of Us.' Plus, he describes why they cast Kaitlyn Dever as Abby and how he supports the cast, dealing with the emotionally grueling subject matter.

Transcript

00:00So I heard it was your idea to send Joel the therapy this season. Why was that something you wanted to do?

00:05Well, I mean we talked about it in season one and I just kept thinking in a

00:11in a post-apocalyptic world, which is a barter economy, what would be useful and

00:15what would not be useful? So like real estate? Not useful. Doctor? Useful. Somebody

00:21that you fix shoes? Useful. Therapist? Incredibly useful. Everybody who's left is

00:27hurting everybody and from that we you know I actually wrote a scene for the

00:33first season didn't fit for time and so we relocated it here and I'm so glad we

00:37did because it takes on much more interesting dimensions in this season.

00:40The way Catherine O'Hara's character integrates with some of the other

00:44people in the story including a character that has been referenced in the games but

00:48never seen before is really it's really cool and it also gives us a chance to

00:54see what people tell their therapists. You think they're always telling the

01:00therapist the truth. What are the parts they don't tell the therapist? That's

01:04where it gets interesting. And how did you decide Caitlyn as Abby and she was kind of

01:09the right choice there? Well for starters it's Caitlyn Deaver. So you're already

01:14thinking okay we need somebody who can stand on her own as the hero, as the villain, as

01:22somebody we love, as somebody we're confused by, as somebody we root for and against. They have to

01:28make us connect to them in this deep way and Caitlyn just has a I don't know this

01:34profound nature. There's a depth there and you I would say they're actors that you

01:38you want to hang out with but then they're actors you want to hug and she's

01:42both at the same time. That's what's so amazing about her and she also has an

01:46interesting history because many years ago Neil was thinking about making it to a movie. They were talking to a younger, much younger Caitlyn

01:52Deaver about playing Ellie. So she's kind of always been in the family. She loves the

01:56game. Neil and I sat down with her and it was sort of like oh yeah what are we

02:00doing? That's yes. The answer is yes. If she says yes we're saying yes.

02:03Yeah that's a very fun full circle moment there. And obviously the show can get

02:07very dark and grueling. How do you kind of support the cast and all of that and

02:11kind of getting in and out of that mentally and for yourself too? Well that's a

02:15great question. So I'm personally sort of obsessed with everybody's mental health

02:20in general. We are doing a lot of dark stuff. I think sometimes it's less what

02:24people think. People may think it's the dark scenes, the difficult dialogue, those

02:29emotions that are... A lot of what we... Actors are very good at kind of letting it

02:35out and then it's out. They get in the car at the end of the day it's gone and they

02:39kind of have to be. But physically we are very demanding show so we are very

02:43concerned about their safety and we want to make sure that everybody is both

02:46mentally healthy and well. And when we work on scenes we have intimacy

02:50coordinators, stunt coordinators and I also I just like I'm their dad. So all of

02:56them. I'm like just text me. Is there a problem? Are you too hot? Are you too cold?

02:59What do you need? You need socks? What do you need? Anything. Do you not feel well? I'm

03:03like I'm daddy, mommy, I'm all those things to them because I love them so much.

Craig Mazin on Why Pedro Pascal's Character Goes to Therapy in 'The Last of Us' Season 2 | THR Video

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