Halley Gross was raised on video games. His mom bribed him to stop sucking his thumb with Game Gear when she was 7 years of age. A self-proclaimed “solo”, the Westworld screenwriter took advantage of the virtual community to grow. As luck would have it, Gross was playing Skyrim when it came to the e-mail about the creation of their first game: The Last of Us, Part II for the PlayStation.
Jump to June of 2020: Gross and Naughty Dog Studios cowriter Neil Druckmann are responsible for the most highly anticipated game of the year and the continuation of the story of a popular character Ellie. The now 19-year-old protagonist (voiced by Ashley Johnson) is in the driver’s seat for this female-focused second delivery, and its complex history serves as food for thought, for the players, especially the women.
“We want people to feel that they’re being seen, that we care, and we believe that their stories are important. Just as important as any other person.”
Ellie is a survivor. More appropriately, as Gross told POPSUGAR, she is a “brave, tough, badass, motherf*cker.” Ellie the version of the united states is ravaged by a deadly pandemic (strange, given current events) where the “infected” are zombie-like creatures and she is the only one immune, and the only possibility of a cure. We found her in a quest to avenge the death of his surrogate father at a great cost: he is willing to give up on the love, the security, or even their own humanity, to justice? And can justice exist in a violently divided world?