The Last of Us Season 2 concludes with an intense shootout in what is intended to be a joyful place. The HBO show’s second season reaches its climax as Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) discovers the whereabouts of Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who is in hiding with friends Dina (Isabela Merced), Jesse (Young Mazino), and Tommy (Gabriel Luna) at a local Seattle theater. Gunfire rings out, and at least one of our protagonists falls victim. A space meant for music, art, and refuge is now transformed into the newest battleground of The Last of Us.

Despite this, the cast and crew of The Last of Us capitalized on the venue before shooting the final, intense scene of Season 2. Gabriel Luna, star of the series, disclosed to DECIDER that he, Bella Ramsey, and some crew members held an impromptu concert at Vancouver’s York Theatre as production was setting in.

“On the Sunday before we started filming on that set, we organized a big jam session,” Gabriel Luna shared, mentioning the variety of instruments played by the show’s AD, sound engineer, and others. “Many of us, the cast and crew, gathered at the York Theatre — a beautiful venue in downtown Vancouver — performing for an eager audience made up of our crew who were moving in that day.”

Luna revealed that The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey particularly blew him away with their performance.

“Bella played a great version of ‘Linger’ by the Cranberries that I really love,” Luna said.

Fans of The Last of Us were treated to a tease of Ramsey’s talent back in Season 2 Episode 4. In that episode, Ellie and Dina take shelter in a Seattle music store. Ellie plays an acoustic version of Ah-ha’s “Take On Me.” It’s a beautiful performance, but one that Merced told DECIDER doesn’t highlight Ramsey’s full talents.

“Bella is an amazing singer,” Merced said. “So they told Bella, like, ‘You have to kind of tone down your skills a little bit, bro. Like, you’ve got to sound like you don’t actually have as much talent as you do.’” 

According to Luna, music has been the way The Last of Us cast has bonded since the very beginning. “Last season, Bella and I would play kind of originals that we wrote for each other, just to get some feedback,” Luna said. “And then this year, we did a lot of the same.”

“I bring my guitar to work and the first season there was only a handful of people that I let touch my guitar — actually, probably just [Bella],” he said. “But this year we have so many more. Young plays, Isabela plays. Tati [Gabrielle], Ariela [Barer], Spencer [Lord], they all play. So there’s a lot more people allowed to play my guitar now.”

When DECIDER asked Isabela Merced if she contributed to the York Theatre concert, she confessed she didn’t even know about it — but for a rather cool reason.

“Oh, I think I was filming Superman,” Merced said, referring to her role playing Hawkgirl in the upcoming summer blockbuster, “but that man will put on a concert anywhere.”

“[Gabriel Luna] will perform anywhere. He just needs a guitar and he’ll just start singing for hours. It is the most entertaining thing.”

So Bella Ramsey has a killer Cranberries cover she’s sitting on, but what did Gabriel Luna play?

“We played a bunch of Nirvana songs and I played ‘Rumble’ by Link Wray. Yeah, so we just jammed out,” Luna said. “That’s a really great memory.”

And we have to imagine that fans of The Last of Us might need some good memories associated with that theater after watching the Season 2 finale.