In 2013, game studio Naughty Dog released The Last of Us, a post-apocalyptic action-adventure set in a plague-ravaged United States. Although the studio already boasted a hugely successful back-catalog, including Crash Bandicoot and the Uncharted series, The Last of Us won “universal acclaim” from critics and users, racking up more than 500 Game of the Year awards. As such a phenomenal success, a screen adaptation seemed inevitable.
However, given its sprawling narrative and epic scope, condensing the story for film proved a challenge. And after a Sam Raimi-produced version fell into development hell, it appeared all was lost. That is, however, until Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann found a kindred spirit in Chernobyl showrunner Craig Mazin. In 2023, the pair released Season 1 of The Last of Us for HBO.
With The Last of Us Season 2 dropping this month, here are the Top 10 things you need to know about the story so far…
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1. It's set in a world destroyed by a pandemic…
These days the “P” word is likely to break everyone out in a cold sweat, but The Last of Us game was made before Covid (even if the show was released shortly after lockdowns lifted). However, the pandemic here isn't bacterial but fungal, specifically Cordyceps. Inspired by the real-life “zombie fungus,” this infection takes over hosts, turning them into mindless, flesh-eating ghouls. Thankfully, in the real world, Cordyceps only affect insects, but The Last of Us asks the question: “What if they mutated to harm people?”
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2. … and it's brutal
Episode 1 of the show begins with “Outbreak Day” as the Cordyceps take hold: events seen through the eyes of 14-year-old Sarah Miller (Nico Parker) and her dad Joel (Pedro Pascal). With infected neighbors turning into violent monsters and society crumbling around them, the father-daughter duo make a break for safety with Joel's brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna). However, in the chaos, Sarah is tragically shot and killed by a soldier with orders to stop escaping civilians.
Flash forward twenty years, and Joel is a shell of a man, so dead inside; we meet him throwing the body of an infected child onto a funeral pyre inside the Boston QZ (Quarantine Zone). We're barely thirty minutes in, and two children have been murdered. Make no mistake: The Last of Us does not mess around.
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3. There might be a cure.
Into this hopeless world steps Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a teenage girl whom Joel is tasked with smuggling cross country for a group of militia known as the Fireflies. The reason? Despite being bitten by an Infected, she somehow hasn't turned, revealing she's immune.If Joel can get Ellie to the Fireflies, they might be able to engineer a vaccine.
That's not the only glimmer of light, though. As Joel and Ellie make the perilous journey, their initially frosty relationship begins to thaw, and the pair find in each other an unexpected bond.
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4. "This is a love story. And that's not good."
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When discussing the plot, showrunners Druckmann and Mazin have been keen to focus on how Joel and Ellie's relationship forms the core of the story, but this comes at a terrible cost.As Mazin says on HBO's The Last of Us podcast, “When we wrote that show bible, right there on the front page I think we said ‘this is a love story. And that's not good…' Love, especially a love that a parent has for a child, is primal. It can lead to the most intense fear and the most intense fear can lead to the most intense behavior, including violence”.
It's a fascinating, terrifying concept, one which became more evident as Season 1 progressed.
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5. Change (In the House of Fireflies)
In the show, Druckmann and Mazin made several key changes from the game. In addition to adding flashbacks to the events leading up to “Outbreak Day,” Episode 3 also heavily expanded the backstory of Bill (Nick Offerman), a survivalist with whom Joel regularly trades. Eschewing the combat-heavy encounter of the game, the show instead focused on Bill's twenty-year relationship with Frank (Murray Bartlett), making for a heartbreaking vignette on the possibility of love in a world gone to hell.
Offerman ultimately won an Emmy for his performance, and Long, Long Time went down as one of the best episodes of TV in 2023.
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6. People are dangerous
It's not all sunshine and rainbows though. Along with battling Infected (referred to as Runners, Stalkers, Clickers, and Bloaters, depending on how far the Cordyceps have taken someone over), Joel and Ellie must also fight groups of humans, including insurgents, hunters, and sex offender-cannibals. It seems as bad as mushroom zombies might be, people are worse, and the depths of violence to which society has sunk knows no bounds.
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7. The trauma is real
With this in mind, it's not surprising that pretty much everyone in The Last of Us is traumatized. As well as Joel losing Sarah, Episode 7 reveals that the day Ellie was bitten she was with best mate Riley (Storm Reid), a would-be girlfriend who didn't make it.
This sense of loss permeates the entire show and is mirrored throughout by multiple characters: from Joel's partner Tess (Anna Torv) being bitten to Bill and Frank's double suicide and the tragic deaths of Henry (Lamar Johnson) and his kid brother Sam (Keivonn Woodard). In this world, everybody has lost someone.
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8. An impossible choice
By the final act, Joel and Ellie have come to rely on each other: she saves him from life-threatening injuries after he's skewered during a fight, and he finally gets her to the Fireflies, tenderly telling her how she healed his broken heart.
However, Their happiness is short-lived when the head of the Fireflies, Marlene (Merle Dandridge), reveals that to create a vaccine, Ellie must undergo an operation that will kill her. She's already being prepped for surgery and has no idea, so Joel must decide: lose another daughter to save the world, or rescue Ellie and kill the Fireflies. Suffice to say, he goes with option two.
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9. Joel lied
After murdering Marlene (and everyone else in his way), Joel escapes with an unconscious Ellie. She wakes up and asks him what happened, but Joel lies, telling her that there are others who are also immune, and despite this, the Fireflies cannot find a way to make a cure.
But Ellie has doubts, and as the pair near Tommy's town, she asks Joel to swear he's telling her the truth. He does, lying to protect her – and himself – from the awful truth.
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10. There will be consequences.
The show and the first game finish there, leaving Joel and Ellie's relationship overshadowed by a lie.
Now, if you've played Naughty Dog's follow-up The Last of Us: Part II, you'll have some idea of what to expect next. Needless to say, there will be consequences, not least for that lie Joel told. But if you want to know exactly what happens, there's only one way to be sure: as the Fireflies used to say, “when you're lost in the dark, look for light” – specifically on HBO Max on April 13.
The Last Of Us Season 2 premieres on HBO Max April 13, and in the UK on Sky TV on April 14.
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