The ladder drop gets a nod in episode 9, too, in a moment that plays out exactly as it did in the game. Joel’s always boosting Ellie up for her to drop a ladder or crawl through a small window or crack in the wall to unlock a door. It happens over and over and over in The Last of Us. Anyone who has played the game will absolutely know: Cut through a building, find a skyscraper, and search out the city from there. Cut through the buildingĮllie makes a joke in episode 9 that’s a callback to the video game - talking to Joel about how they’re to go through the city. HBO’s The Last of Us teases that while Joel and Ellie are walking on the highway before getting to Seattle: Joel wants to teach Ellie how to play guitar (and flex those pipes of his). Photo: Liane Hentscher/HBO Learning to play guitarĮllie and her guitar are significant to The Last of Us Part 2 in the game, Joel teaches her to play between the events of Part 1 and Part 2. Anna in HBO’s The Last of Us is played by the original voice actor for Ellie, Ashley Johnson. Anna is first seen running through the woods and into an abandoned house, where she’s attacked by an infected person before giving birth to Ellie. Players never see Ellie’s mom in The Last of Us, but the HBO version starts its ninth episode with her giving birth to Ellie. Episode 9 Ellie’s mom (and Ellie’s voice actor) The Last of Us Part 1 felt like it so badly wanted to be a movie or show, and now the TV show is switching that up - at least in one way. And so it makes sense that HBO’s The Last of Us would do the same, to make subtle (and not-so-subtle) nods to all the The Last of Us-heads out there. Video games are known for their Easter eggs, the small and obscure references hidden as little surprises in the game. For dedicated fans of the game, the appeal of The Last of Us is not necessarily in being surprised by twists and turns of the story rather, it’s to see the franchise in a new light, picking out the little details that point back to the original media. HBO’s The Last of Us is a way to revisit the iconic and beloved video game of the same name - to revel in the ways it’s both unchanged and entirely different.

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