This The Last of Us Part 2 article contains spoilers.

Video games of the size of The Last of Us Part 2 take years to make, and during that long development cycle, plot points can change, whole scenes can be cut, and levels dropped. As we’re learning from Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann and co-writer Halley Gross in post-release interviews about the making of the game, there were a few things that were left on the cutting room floor before launch.

Druckmann and Gross recently revealed that “for more than 50 percent of the production” The Last of Us Part 2 had a different, much darker ending. Originally, the game also sent Ellie on a mission to the Seraphite island, but the level was eventually cut because “it didn’t move her story along narratively,” according to Gross in a new interview with The Washington Post about the content that didn’t...