HBO's The Last of Us has proven to be an accurate adaptation of the hit PlayStation game. Yet thanks to Neil Druckmann's involvement, showrunner Craig Mazin has added a few touches here and there that only fans who played The Last of Us 2 will appreciate, and he has a good reason.
In the sixth The Last of Us episode, Joel and Ellie continue across the country to a different Jackson County, where keen-eyed viewers could already spot an important character from the sequel being teased. That’s because, despite some changes being made to fit the story and the series’ world better, Druckmann and Mazin wanted to take advantage of how The Last of Us lore expanded since the game became a hit.
Fortunately, HBO's The Last of Us Podcast provides the perfect platform to explain all these little details. In the latest edition, Mazin said that the first time he visited Naughty Dog's headquarters, Druckmann “asked if I wanted to see a sequence from the second game that touches on Ellie's fascination with being an astronaut and space travel, and it was this beautiful moment.” The showrunner sees that kind of information as something that can be used to show how far Joel and Ellie's bond has grown. Mazin called it “a chance to show how Joel knew Ellie,” so he’s expecting her to tell him her favorite astronaut is Sally Ride.
Mazin also referenced Joel's love for music, a moment taken straight from the game in “Kin.” In episode 6, Joel tells Ellie he always wanted to become a singer before ending up as a contractor, a piece of lore that was picked up from voice actor Troy Baker's career in music. Although Joel and Tommy's wholesome brotherly moments were changed in the series, episode 6 has plenty of The Last of Us easter eggs.
Previews for the seventh episode, “Left Behind,” have already shown what will be a flashback taken from the Left Behind DLC, where Ellie's attempts to save an injured Joel see her remember her mall adventures with Riley to provide further backstory for her character. In that sense, the show should manage to pull off the type of smoother integration to th story that the games have always kept separate.
Those are not the only aspects that make HBO's The Last of Us different, as Joel's toughness is starting to be chipped away by his declining health, which was missing in the games.
The Last of Us is currently available on HBO Max.
Source: HBO's The Last of Us Podcast
