The Last of Us: Easter eggs from HBO’s hit TV series

HBO’s The Last of Us has already trounced the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon on viewership count. The video game adaptation has received universal acclaim and has been one of the most popular HBO originals since Game of Thrones. The series aired its finale earlier this week and it could be a while before a second season releases. But for eager fans hoping to rewatch the series, here’s some motivation. For today’s List hai toh hit hai we take a look at some of the easter eggs that popped up during the first season. If you didn’t spot them, perhaps it’s time to go over the series again.

Ellie’s dreams of becoming an astronaut

On their way to find Joel’s brother Tommy, Joel and Ellie have a brief discussion about their dreams. Ellie, who was born after the apocalyptic outbreak, confesses that she has always been fascinated by the cosmos and that her favourite astronaut is Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. This is in fact foreshadowing Joel and Ellie’s trip to The Wyoming Museum of Science and History in the second game, The Last of Us: Part II, where Ellie is enchanted by the Science and Space Exploration exhibit featuring scale models of satellites, space shuttles, among other fascinating space objects.

Closing sequence through an open window

One of the best episodes of season one, was the third titled, Long Long Time, the compelling story of Bill and Frank. The final scene of the episode is shown through an interior window shot where Joel and Ellie are seen driving away in the distance with Linda Ronstadt's Long Long Time playing in the background. Those who have played the first video game would recognise this shot right away as it is nearly identical to the game’s title screen. This was, in fact, confirmed by showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckman in the official The Last of Us podcast hosted by Troy Baker.

Familiar voices

Most fans will be well aware that showrunner Neil Druckmann is the head and creative director of gaming company Naughty Dog, the company that developed iconic games such as The Last of Us and Uncharted. Druckmann serving as the co-creator of the show meant that several voice actors from the games actually feature in the TV show. Merle Dandridge reprised her role as Marlene, the leader of the revolutionary group the Fireflies, Jeffrey Pearce who voiced Joel’s brother Tommy in the game, plays the role of the Kansas City revolutionary Perry, and Troy Baker who voiced Joel, slips into the role of James, the sadistic henchman of the cannibal cult leader David. But the most memorable cameo in the TV series was by Ashley Johnson, who played Ellie in the game, and Ellie’s birth mother Anna in the series. In a way, Johnson has symbolically birthed Ellie in both the game and the series.

Nathan Drake lighter

Eagle-eyed fans would’ve noticed in the dramatic ending of the second episode that Anna Torv’s character, Tess, uses a very familiar lighter. The lighter in question has a star and the number 76 engraved on it. This is, in fact, the very same lighter used by Nathan Drake, the protagonist of Uncharted, another iconic video game helmed by Naughty Dog and Neil Druckmann. The two IPs share another interesting trivia: Nolan North who voiced Nathan Drake for several years in the Uncharted games, voiced the villainous David in the first The Last of Us video game.

Dreaming of sheep

In the episode where Ellie talks about her dreams, Joel opens up about his dreams as well. He tells Ellie that he would like to have his own farm with plenty of sheep. Fans of the games will know that Ellie eventually decides to settle down at a sheep farm with her partner Dina. A farm which is identical to the one shown in the game The Last of Us: Part II, is also shown in the TV series when Ashley Johnson’s Anna is shown entering an abandoned farmhouse.

Dina in episode 5

In episode six, titled Kin, Joel and Ellie find Tommy in a peaceful and thriving settlement in Jackson, Wyoming. While Ellie and Joel are having a discussion with Tommy and his wife Maria, a young woman can be seen eavesdropping on their conversation. This is none other than Ellie’s future partner Dina, a character who made her debut in The Last of Us: Part II. This fan theory has all but been confirmed by the showrunners.

Shimmer the horse

In the same episode, Ellie can be seen petting a small horse named Shimmer. Fans of the game will immediately recognise the horse which belongs to Ellie in the video game The Last of Us: Part II. It is, in fact, the same horse that Ellie and Dina ride on while travelling from Wyoming to Seattle.

Abby cameo

Despite the second game breaking the record for winning the most Game of the Year awards and for topping several sales rankings, the game did face some backlash from a few sections of the fanbase for a couple of issues. And one of them was the introduction of a new character called Abby, who players require to control for half of the game. However, Abby remains a compelling and complex character and is significant to why the second game is widely revered by critics as one of the greatest stories ever told. Even though Abby does not make a brief cameo in the TV series like other Part II characters such as Dina or Shimmer, the voice actor who plays Abby, Laura Bailey does make a blink-and-you’ll-miss cameo in the season finale, as one of the surgeons at the Firefly hospital.

Well that's all the time we got for this episode of List hai toh hit hai , until the next one it's your host Nikhil signing out.

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• Written by Ryan Gomez