‘The Last of Us’: All the Easter Eggs You May Have Missed (So Far)

The following article contains major spoilers for HBO’s The Last of Us.

HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us sticks closely to the story of the original PlayStation game, following the journey of Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) across the post-apocalyptic American landscape as they seek out a cure for the fungal plague that has torn society apart. There are plenty of visual references to the source material, too, from the show’s camera work that mimics that of the game’s most iconic cut scenes, right through to the tiny details: little props here and there, or incidental names and events, familiar only to the most eagle-eyed of fans.

Here, GQ has compiled a helpful, running guide to the best easter eggs as they emerge in each episode. 

Episode 1, “When You’re Lost in the Darkness”

The first episode keeps close visual fidelity to the famous opening sequence from The Last of Us, most notably when the player witnesses the first hectic throes of the outbreak from the perspective of Sarah, portrayed by Nico Parker in the show, from the tight confines of dad Joel’s car.

“Congratulations!”

The video game uses props the player can collect — notebook scraps, bulletins, old photos — as a storytelling device, coloring in the gaps. In the opening of The Last of Us, the player explores their home as Sarah on the day of Joel’s birthday: one object you can interact with is a birthday card with a cute green T-rex on it, which Sarah forgot to give her dad earlier that evening. The card appears in one shot in the show, sitting on Sarah’s desk. Presumably, she forgot about it in the HBO series, too.

Curtis and Viper 2

The series has a number of precognitive references to The Last of Us: Part II, the events of which are expected to be covered in the second season. In the show, Sarah surprises Joel with a movie she borrowed from her soon-to-be-ravenous-infected neighbors, a schlocky B-movie flick called Curtis and Viper 2. The fictional feature is referenced early in The Last of Us: Part II in a conversation between Ellie and her girlfriend, Dina, the former calling it a “cheesy ’80s action movie” that Joel likes.

Episode 2, “Infected”

“Infected” takes place in the ruins of Boston, much like the section of the video game it follows, with many of the same locations visited by Ellie, Joel and Tess (Anna Torv) — a waterlogged hotel, a museum of colonial Boston, and the golden-topped Massachusetts State House, to name the main three.

The Giraffe teddy

Fans of The Last of Us will know that, uh, giraffes — we’re trying to talk around spoilers — play a pivotal role in what is arguably the game’s most iconic moment. Seemingly a reference to things to come in the show, one shot in episode two catches a beaten-up giraffe teddy caught under the wheel of a car wreck. (That’s gotta stank.) More directly, a plush giraffe can be found in Sarah’s room at the beginning of the video game.

Tess’s lighter calls back to another Naughty Dog game series

This one is a difficult spot in the actual show, given the size of the object in question, but showrunner Neil Druckmann — the show’s main creative holdover from the Last of Us video game, which he helped create — confirmed that Tess’ lighter is a replica of the one used by treasure hunter Sam Drake in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, developer Naughty Dog’s other famous franchise. “When the props department asked me if there’s any particular design I’d like on Tess’s lighter… I couldn’t help myself,” Druckmann tweeted.

Troy Baker, who voices Drake in Uncharted 4, was given his own replica by the prop department. Having voiced Joel in the original Last of Us game, he’ll also appear in the HBO show as James, a devilish survivor familiar to fans of the source material.

Episode 3, “Long, Long Time”

The show’s most pronounced departure from the original narrative centers on the unlikely romance of two survivors, Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett). A few elements, nevertheless, call back to the game in various subtle ways.

The final window shot

The title screen of The Last of Us features a sun-kissed window, spilling over with foliage, as is the game’s post-apocalyptic overgrown aesthetic. “Long, Long Time” concludes with a lingering shot Bill and Frank’s open bedroom window, styled similarly to the one in the title screen — and show cinematographer Eben Bolter has confirmed that this was a deliberate homage. “I wanted to somehow honor [that] famous shot,” he told /Film. “We just wanted the echo of Bill and Frank to sort of linger when it cuts to black. And I think that was a nice way to do it.”

Frank’s feisty letter

Bill and Frank’s relationship in the video game, in so far as we get to see, wasn’t all Beaujolais and shagging in allotments. No, no: in the source material, Frank has taken off and left Bill to fend for himself by the time we meet with him, and is later found hanged after being bitten by one of the infected. The player can find a note from Frank detailing just how much he despised his one-time lover: “I want you to know I hated your guts,” it reads. “And that stupid battery you kept moaning about — I got it. But I guess you were right. Trying to leave this town will kill me. Still better than spending another day with you.” Talk about feisty.

This is softened in the show, with Bill leaving a letter for Joel, imploring him to look after the people he cares for — even if he didn’t like him all that much.

Episode 4, “Please Hold to My Hand”

“Please Hold to My Hand” transposes the original action from Pittsburgh to Kansas City, but for the most part, follows events to a tee — albeit while fleshing out the bandits who attack Ellie and Joel’s car, who in the show become a misguided resistance movement who’ve just overthrown FEDRA in the KC Quarantine Zone. In the game, it’s a rogue faction of marauding hunters who operate in Pennsylvania, robbing survivors who happen to fall into their traps.

Hey, good lookin’

One surprising inclusion in both the game and the show is the music of country star Hank Williams. On the long road to Kansas City, Ellie produces a cassette tape of Williams’ music, which Joel pops in, and the song “Alone and Forsaken” plays. Very thematically appropriate. A similarly morose Williams track appears in the same scene in the original game, the duo instead listening to “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive,” which played a significant part in its marketing.

No, please, not the puns

In the show, Ellie and Joel bond over a joke book compiling a bunch of awful puns, like: “It doesn’t matter how much you push the envelope — it’ll still be stationary.” The book, titled ‘No Pun Intended: Volume Too,’ is found in the games, given to Ellie by Riley in the Left Behind DLC expansion.

Episode 5, “Endure and Survive”

“Endure and Survive” fleshes out the backstory of the brother duo Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard), leading up to a similarly tragic demise as that in the source material.

Comic books

In the TV show, Ellie and Sam bond over the fictional Savage Starlight comic book series, cross-comparing which issues they both own and have read. Ellie’s favorite pastime, the comic books are a collectable item the player can find on their travels across America in the game.

The underground community

In the show, Joel, Ellie, Henry and Sam stumble upon the remains of a small settlement that seemingly set up in the tunnels below Kansas City. They spend much of their time in what looks to have been the ramshackle classroom and play area, playing with coloring books and kicking footballs while they wait for the protection of night outside.

In the video game, the player can find notes that tell the sad tale of this community, led by a man called Ish, who was one of the few survivors to escape after a horde of infected managed to make their way in. “We just couldn’t tell this story in the show,” Druckmann explained on the official Last of Us podcast. “There was just no way we could do it, but we wanted to honor that this place existed.”

More harrowingly, guest actor Melanie Lynskey confirmed on Twitter that the kid Clicker seen attacking Ellie in the episode’s climax was turned after the infected overran the settlement.

Episode 6, “Kin”

In episode six, “Kin,” Joel finally reunites with his brother Tommy at the latter’s settlement in Wyoming. In the original game, they’re based out of a hydroelectric power plant; this is seen in the series, but by the time Ellie and Joel meet Tommy’s community in the HBO show, they’ve already relocated to the expansive, walled-off community familiar to fans of The Last of Us: Part II, Jackson.

A familiar steed

In the episode, Joel and Ellie are shown the settlement’s stables, where they meet a horse by the name of Shimmer. That’s right — never seen in the first installment of the source material, Shimmer is Ellie’s steed in The Last of Us: Part II. They’re getting the bonding in early, then.

Is that… Dina?

Fans of The Last of Us: Part II will know that Ellie eventually meets another woman in Jackson, Dina, and they pursue a romantic relationship. In one scene in episode six, Ellie catches a girl staring at her (credited, funnily enough, as “Staring Girl,” portrayed by Paolina Van Kleef). 

Fans have speculated online that this could be Dina herself, which co-showrunner Craig Mazin and Druckmann hardly denied on the Last of Us podcast. “In Part II, there is a story about the first time Dina met Ellie that is very similar to what happened here,” Druckmann said. “That doesn’t mean that that’s Dina,” Mazin added. “Doesn’t mean it’s not.”

Dina is yet to be cast, but Ramsey told GQ in a recent interview that their relationship is a central aspect of Part II that she’s excited to cover in the show. “There are a few bits with Ellie on her own, probably, but I like the fact that she also has [Dina] now,” she said.

This story originally ran on British GQ with the title “The Last of Us: all the easter eggs you may have missed (so far)”