Sunday evening saw the latest episode of the HBO adaption of The Last of Us. For this episode based on the game’s DLC, Left Behind, fans were excited to see an important kiss scene between two of its characters. However, this was not the case for all viewers.
In another heartbreaking episode of the hit show, a kissing scene cemented the feelings towards two of its characters. Taken directly from the game, the scene is as beautiful in live-action as it was in the DLC, but not everybody got to see the girl’s full love story. For fans watching on OSN+, a streaming service in Dubai, the kissing scene was edited out.
The rest of this article contains spoilers for both episode seven and the DLC, Left Behind.
As we saw a whole episode dedicated to the love story between Bill and Frank back in episode three, episode seven saw one dedicated to Ellie and Riley. Riley was Ellie’s friend and love interest, and this episode shows how the two’s friendship evolved into something more. Riley surprises Ellie with a trip to an abandoned mall and the pair ride a carousel, play arcade games and dance to music. It is a rare moment where we see a carefree Ellie before the show’s current events.
Before events turn dark as they so often do in The Last of Us, the two girls tenderly share a kiss. It’s a beautiful and hopeful moment, but when OSN+ fans noticed the sudden edit, they knew something was up.
https://twitter.com/fantasyofAl/status/1630232706419408896
For fans in the Middle East and North Africa, OSN+ is the only service that streams the show. Despite the scene’s removal, fans familiar with the source material took to Twitter to vent their frustrations over the missing kiss. This is not the first time OSN+ has edited out LGBTQIA+ content from hit shows. They reportedly deleted a kiss from How To Get Away With Murder, as well as doing the same more recently for House of the Dragon.
What is odd however is that the streaming service did not alter any of episode three, which dedicated a whole episode to a gay couple. At the time of writing this, Kotaku have reached out to OSN+ and Warner Bros. for comment but are yet to receive a response.
With The Last of Us featuring a lot of LGBTQIA+ representation, it’s a shame that some viewers will not be able to experience the full story in the HBO adaption. It’s another stark reminder of how far we have yet to go in terms of censors.
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