Spoiler Alert: This story contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 2 of HBO’s “The Last of Us,” now streaming on Max.

When composer David Fleming realized that this week’s episode of “The Last of Us” would feature both the bloody siege of Jackson and Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) death at the hands of the vengeful Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), he knew that creating music to weave through each “monumental” sequence would require a careful “dance.”

“Craig [Mazin] talked about these storm clouds gathering and obviously there’s something shocking about what happens — but there’s also something inevitable,” Fleming tells Variety. “We had to protect where we were going and not overplay our hands.”

Collaboration between composers Fleming and Gustavo Santaolalla, who also created the music for the “Last of Us” video games, was key. Santaolalla explains that he focused more on the emotional beats and character work in the episode,...