Mumbai, April 8 (IANS) Hollywood filmmaker Craig Mazin, who is known for ‘Chernobyl’, ‘Scary Movie’ franchise and others, has shed light on the transformation of the relationship of the lead pair of his show ‘The Last of Us’.

The second season of the show, which is set to release next week, dives deeper into the complexities of the relationship of the lead characters of Joel and Ellie.

He said, “When we meet Joel and Ellie this season, five years have gone by, which in and of itself implies that things must have been going pretty well. They’re still alive. They live in Jackson. And even between the two of them, things must have been going well. You can’t exist in a state of conflict with somebody like that for five straight years. It’s not possible”.

However, not everything is as calm as it seems. Beneath the quiet routine of life in Jackson, tensions are beginning to surface. The lie Joel told Ellie about what really happened at the hospital continues to weigh on their bond.

Now 19, Ellie isn’t a child anymore, she’s grown, changed, and Joel senses a shift in her that he can’t quite explain. “And interestingly, Joel is trying to figure out why, which in and of itself implies that this is not something that’s been going on for five years; it’s somewhat recent. Why is she angry?”, Mazin shared.

Adding a fresh layer to the story this season is the introduction of a new character, Gail, played by Catherine O’Hara. A therapist in Jackson, Gail becomes a sounding board for Joel as he tries to process Ellie’s growing emotional distance.

Mazin shared that Joel is going to therapy to figure out how to deal with what he thinks, or what he hopes is a standard.

He added, “‘I’ve got a 19-year-old kid who’s wanting independence, turning away and rejecting Dad.’ But what’s really going on? Can I do something differently? And her point is, ‘No, I don’t believe that is what’s going on.’ And you can see that inside Joel, there is this suspicion that somehow, it is this flaw that he introduced into their relationship, this lie, that maybe is starting to be the problem”.

‘The Last of Us’ season 2 is set to stream on JioHotstar from April 14 in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.