‘The Last of Us’ Easter Eggs: Every Reference You Might Have Missed

With any adaptation of a beloved property—whether it be a video game, comic book, or novel—there are going to be fans scouring every frame for each and every little nod back to the source material. There will also be many newcomers to the franchise that are interested in learning more about how the show is paying homage to the original text.

When it comes to HBO’s new TV series based on The Last of Us, the hugely popular PlayStation action-adventure games, there are plenty of Easter eggs viewers should look for. And as a self-described The Last of Us expert, I took the liberty of flagging them for you all. You are welcome!

I am only human and may miss a few things, but I will do my best to catch all the biggest and most subtle shout-outs to the game throughout Season 1 of the show. Over the course of the next several weeks, I will note important lines of dialogue that are taken directly from the game, moments that allude to something from the games (I will try my best to stay spoiler-free), items in the background that are nods to the game and much more.

This list of Easter eggs will be updated weekly following the East Coast premiere of each episode. So, if you found yourself wondering, “Was that part from the video game?” you know where to come. Also, don’t miss my weekly recaps for a more in-depth look at each episode of the show.

EPISODE 1

LINES OF DIALOGUE OF NOTE

• When Sarah (Nico Parker) tells Joel (Pedro Pascal) that she got the money to fix his watch from “selling hardcore drugs”: That is an exact piece of dialogue from the game and an important one to note because it really highlights the relationship between Joel and Sarah.

ITEMS OF NOTE

• The “Halican Drops” shirt Sarah wears is the exact same shirt the video game version of Sarah wears on Outbreak Day.
• Sarah brings home a DVD of the movie Curtis & Viper 2 to watch with Joel on his birthday night, which is a throwback to the mention in The Last of Us: Part 2 that Joel is a fan of those (fictional) films.

PEOPLE OF NOTE

• Marlene is played by Merle Dandridge, who voiced the same character in the game.

MOMENTS OF NOTE

• The jump-scare of the dog at the window in the beginning of the episode is a nod to the opening of the game. One of the saddest moments is when you hear a dog barking then all of a sudden start whimpering, and you don’t know why just yet. But as you soon find out, it’s Infected-related.

EPISODE 2

LINES OF DIALOGUE OF NOTE

• “Fuck you man, I didn’t ask for this.” This is the exact line Ellie tells Joel in the game when he questions the validity of the vaccine mission. Joel in the game also wants to give up the mission at this point, but Tess persuades him to continue. “Let’s just finish it.”—another line in the game.
• “Our luck had to run out sooner or later.” In one sentence Tess devastates us all. It is directly from the game, as is “Oops, right?” and most of the entire exchange once the trio enter the state house. If you want to see the original scene from the game, go here. Bring tissues.

ITEMS OF NOTE

• Flashlights. Kind of an obvious and helpful tool in the apocalypse, but it becomes your best friend in the game. The crew going into their backpacks to get the flashlights before going into the museum is a nod to this part of the gameplay.

MOMENTS OF NOTE

• Ellie crossing the wooden plank is an iconic image from the game, as is the exchange between Ellie and Joel about if life outside the QZ is all she hoped for: “Man, you can’t deny that view” is directly from the game. Goosebumps.
• When Ellie asks if there are super infected that throw fungus spores at people, it’s a reference to the Bloaters of the video game that would throw fungus spores at you as you try to kill them. Fun times.
• The abandoned hotel and Ellie fake checking in is a nod to a similar moment at a later point in the game (in Pittsburgh). “I would like your finest suite,” is an Ellie line from the game. And, yes, Joel also says “You are a weird kid” to Ellie in the game. Depending on how quickly you move through this section of the game, you may miss this dialogue while playing.
• Ellie not being able to swim is from the game. You often have to find a wooden pallet to get her across bodies of water. It can be annoying, but Ellie rocks, so you deal.
• The clickers in the museum. In the game, you meet your first clicker in a different building in downtown Boston. However, the most harrowing clicker fight is in the museum when you face off against 3 at one time. And yes, they are just as terrifying and screech-y in the game as they are in the show.

CHANGES OF NOTE

• Tess, Joel and Ellie traverse the dangers and infected of downtown Boston at night in the game, so getting to see the ruined city in the daytime is a treat.
• In the game, Tess sacrifices herself to buy Joel and Ellie some time as FEDRA shows up to the state house, not a horde of infected.
• No spores, just tendrils. In a particularly eerie moment of the episode, Tess explains to Ellie (and us) how tendrils work. They’re basically a fungus communication system. The fungus that infects humans also grows on the ground, so if you step on live cordyceps in one place, infected will know where you are and can come find you. In the game, people are infected by a bite or my inhaling spores. There are several locations you have to “mask up” in during the game. Obviously, Ellie was also immune to the spores.

EPISODE 3

LINES OF DIALOGUE OF NOTE

• “You don’t bring up Tess—ever. Matter of fact, we can just keep our histories to ourselves. Rule 2, you don’t tell anybody about your condition. They see that bite mark, they won’t think it through, they will just shoot you. Rule 3, you do what I say when I say it.” This dialogue between Joel and Ellie is pretty much verbatim from the game right after Tess dies in the state house.

ITEMS OF NOTE

• In the Cumberland Farms, Ellie comes across a Mortal Kombat 3 arcade game. This is a nod to the Bill’s Town chapter in the game where she finds a similar arcade game in one of the abandoned buildings in town and a foreshadowing of her backstory that will later be explored. (Note: In the video game, the arcade game featured was called The Turning. It was changed to Mortal Kombat 3 in the TV show.)

• The trip wire trap that Bill sets and watches an infected walk into and die from is very similar to the kinds of traps set up all around his town in the game. Let me tell you, if you walk into one of those traps you won’t make that mistake ever again.
• Bill’s truck is identical to the truck Joel and Ellie take out of Bill’s Town in the game.
• The shirt Ellie changes into at Bill’s house is the very famous sun and palm trees shirt she wears during much of the game.

MOMENTS OF NOTE

• Ellie finding the note Bill left Joel is a little nod to Frank’s note that Joel finds at the end of the Bill’s Town chapter in the game. This note is cheerier, I will say that.
• The open window of Bill and Frank’s house at the end of the episode could also be a nod to the menu screen of the video game which is an open window with wind softly rustling the curtain. Or I could just be reading way too much into things at this point!

CHANGES OF NOTE

• Pretty much everything about the “Bill’s Town” chapter has changed in the show. That is not a bad thing at all. In the game, Ellie and Joel interact with and fight infected alongside Bill as they try to find a car battery. The first “mini boss” fight happens in this chapter of the game—when you meet your first Bloater in an abandoned school gym.
• In the game, Frank is, sadly, never seen alive. You meet him when you find his body hanging in an abandoned house. It’s also where you find the truck with the car battery in it. Frank does leave a note for Bill that you can find and it is noted that they were romantically involved, however the note Frank leaves is not very sweet.

EPISODE 4

LINES OF DIALOGUE OF NOTE

• The entire scene with Ellie and the gay porn magazine she found at Bill’s is taken straight from the game. Every joke and every uncomfortable response from Joel is exactly like it was in the game.
• The “bye, bye, dude” line that Ellie says as she throws the magazine from the car is also from the game; it’s pretty iconic.
• “Pfft, I’m not even tired” is an exact line from Ellie in the game—and a personal favorite.

ITEMS OF NOTE

• No Pun Intended Volume Too. is Ellie’s book of puns that she will whip out after certain tense moments in the game. The moment it is introduced is one of the game’s best, and where you start to see Ellie and Joel bond a bit more.

PEOPLE OF NOTE

• Jeffrey Pierce plays Perry, Kathleen’s (Melanie Lynskey) right-hand man. In the video game series, he was the motion capture actor and voice of Joel’s brother Tommy.

MOMENTS OF NOTE

• “Alone and Forsaken” by Hank Williams plays in the car as Ellie and Joel drive down the road. “Alone and Forsaken” is the name of the chapter in the game that this episode is based on, and this song also plays at this exact same time in the game.
• The ambush moment that happens upon entering Kansas City is directly from the game and just as thrilling and terrifying in its original context.
• “True Faith” by Lotte Kestner. This song plays over the end credits of the episode but is a very important song to The Last of Us universe. It was used in one of the first promos for The Last of Us Part II. See it here.

CHANGES OF NOTE

• In the game, this chapter takes place in Pittsburgh, not Kansas City.
• The first moment Ellie shoots someone in the game is also in this chapter, but it is not during that initial shootout. It comes later, when a man is trying to drown Joel in a hotel, and Ellie shoots him to save Joel.
• Melanie Lynskey’s character is not in the video game at all.

EPISODE 5

LINES OF DIALOGUE OF NOTE

• “Endure and survive.” It’s the iconic catchphrase of The Last of Us and it comes from a line in Ellie’s favorite comic book series Savage Starlight: “To the edge of the universe and back, endure and survive.”
• “I’m scared of ending up alone.” This line is in both the show and game, when Ellie reveals to Sam that her biggest fear is ending up alone when they discuss what they are afraid of. This line becomes quite important down the road in Ellie’s story. Watch their talk from the game here.

ITEMS OF NOTE

• Savage Starlight. Throughout the game, some of the collectibles you have to search for while looking for important supplies are the Savage Starlight comics—they are Ellie’s favorite. She found the first one at Bill’s hideout and becomes obsessed, so you have to find all the others. In the show, she is already a fan before meeting Joel and bonds with Sam over their shared love of the comics.

PEOPLE OF NOTE

• A bloater! Awww, you finally met my least-favorite Infected. You meet your first bloater in the game in Bill’s Town, but he gets a nice intro here too.

MOMENTS OF NOTE

• The Danny & Ish drawing and the classroom. When you travel through the sewers in the video game, you find the remains of a small community. Sadly, you also find a lot of Infected there, so you can guess what happened to them. As you go through the sewers, you find notes that reveal the sad story of Ish—a character you never actually meet—and the community he built in the sewers. That story is honored in the show with the classroom and drawing they find in the tunnel. It mimics the classroom you find in the game down to the soccer goal, the House Rules board, and the drawing of their protectors, Danny and Ish. Want a quick synopsis on the sad story of Ish? It begins with the outbreak of the cordyceps brain infection. Instead of finding safety in a QZ, Ish, a fisherman, took to the open seas, yet was forced to return to land after running out of supplies. There, he helped found the underground sewer community, which was a great safe place for a while—until Infected infiltrated and wiped most of the community out. Ish and a few others survived the attack, but the loss was significant. You never find out his fate, but his story, and that of the community he built, is a haunting reminder of how cruel The Last of Us world is. If you are interested in the full story of Ish (which is fascinating), watch this.

• Henry tries to leave with Sam. In the game, when the group successfully gets out of the gate in Pittsburgh. Henry leaves Ellie and Joel behind when the ladder to their escape route breaks just as a tank is barreling through the gate. Eventually, they save you on the shore, and you go into the sewers together, but the small moment where Henry tries to leave with Sam when the sniper starts shooting is a nod to that particular moment in the game. Watch the scene here.
• The sniper fight is taken directly from the game. You as Joel have to flank the sniper up in the house, but to make things even more complex you have to also fight other hunters nearby that are also trying to kill you. When you do finally get to the sniper and kill him, you then have to take over as a sniper yourself to protect Ellie, Henry, and Sam from more hunters and eventually Infected. It’s stressful and it was stressful to relive it in TV form. You can watch the scene from the game here.

CHANGES OF NOTE

• Sam being hearing impaired is a change, as Sam is able to hear in the video game. However, this change is a very welcome one, as it not only adds new layers to his character, but it also allows for more inclusivity in the world of The Last of Us.
• The tunnel. In the game, Ellie and Joel travel through a sewer line with Henry and Sam to eventually get to a radio tower. In the show, the sewer is replaced with a tunnel, but, honestly, it’s not that different. Probably smells better.
• Ellie knowing Sam is infected. In the game, Ellie goes to wake Sam up in a different room and that is when he attacks her. Unlike in the show, she never attempts to cure him with her blood. However, this change in story really does add an extra punch to the death of Sam, especially for Ellie.

EPISODE 6

LINES OF DIALOGUE OF NOTE

• This bit of dialogue between Joel and Ellie comes straight from the game: “You have no idea what loss is.” “Everybody I have cared for has either died or left me. Everybody, fucking expect for you. So, don’t tell me that I would be safer with someone else, because the truth is I would just be more scared.” Yes, it hits just as hard in the show, but if you want to see the scene from the game, go here.

ITEMS OF NOTE

• The Tipsy Bison is the home of the “bigot sandwiches.” This place takes on an important role in the second game, but it’s fun to see it in all its glory so early on.
• The pink and white sweatshirt is another iconic Ellie look. This sweatshirt that Maria gives Ellie to wear is very similar to the one she wears in the game’s fall chapter.

PEOPLE OF NOTE

• The girl Ellie yells at in the dining hall is most likely Dina, who is very significant in The Last of Us: Part II. Having this be their first interaction with each other is completely on brand and melted my heart. Fans are going to freak out about this and rightfully so. What a fun Easter egg.
• Shimmer, Ellie’s faithful horse, appears in this episode. Shimmer has a bigger role in Part II, but she is very important and also adorable.

MOMENTS OF NOTE

• Joel and Ellie sitting by the fire is a moment that never actually happened in the game but was depicted in some early concept art. Fans are sure to love finally seeing this moment come to life.
• Joel talking about living in a farmhouse with sheep is an Easter egg that I can’t discuss too much without spoiling the story. But this conversation, and Joel’s desire to live on a farm with sheep, is a huge shoutout to a storyline in Part II.
• Ellie learning to whistle is an actual moment from the game, and the dialogue is the exact same. When you get to Part II, you’ll quickly learn why whistling is absolutely terrifying in The Last of Us world.
• The Hydroelectric dam is where this entire chapter of the game takes place. That’s why you never actually see inside the town of Jackson until Part II.
• Ellie asking if Tommy can teach her to snipe is a nod to a part of Part II, where Tommy teaches Ellie how to snipe Infected. In the game, it’s a really wonderful bonding moment for the two.
• Monkeys often jump out and terrify you in the game, so they are much less scary here. But Ellie’s excitement to see them remains the same.

CHANGES OF NOTE

• Seeing the town of Jackson doesn’t happen until the second game, so this is a treat.
• Maria being pregnant is specific to the show. In the game, Tommy doesn’t want to take Ellie to the Fireflies because he has a wife and community now, but there’s no pregnancy involved.
• The ranch house is gone from this part of the story. In the game, Ellie and Joel have their emotional conversation after Ellie runs off to a ranch house when she finds out Joel wants her to go with Tommy, not him. This was changed in the show to Joel finding Ellie sulking and reading the diary in her room at the house they were staying in Jackson.

EPISODE 7

LINES OF DIALOGUE OF NOTE

• When Ellie asks if her gift from Riley is “a water pistol,” that is a nod to the water gun fight the two have in Left Behind (which is the add-on game this episode is based on).
• “Is it a dinosaur? I’ll be your best friend again if it is a dinosaur.” This is Ellie trying to guess her gift from Riley. It is a line of dialogue directly from Left Behind, and it also touches on Ellie’s fascination with and love for dinosaurs.
• “Whether it’s two minutes or two days, we don’t give that up. I don’t want to give that up. We can be all poetic and shit and just lose our minds together.” This is a direct quote that Riley says in Left Behind. It’s just as devastating in the show. Watch the original scene here.

ITEMS OF NOTE

• The paw print on the Captain Kwong’s keys is a nod to Naughty Dog, the publisher of the The Last of Us games.
• The Lunar Phases poster Ellie has next to her bed is identical to the one the character had next to her bed in Left Behind.
• The A-ha tape/use of the hit song “Take On Me” is a reference to The Last of Us Part II. Without spoiling too much, it is a nod to a very sweet and moving moment in the sequel gam—a moment I hope we eventually get to see in later seasons.
• The Dawn of the Wolf poster in the mall is a nod to a popular (fictional) movie franchise in the video games. Sarah has the Dawn of the Wolf poster above her bed in the opening sequence of the first game, and at one point in the first game, Joel explains to Ellie what the plot is of those movies. Think: Twilight.
• Raja’s Arcade is also the name of the arcade in the Left Behind.
• The Etta James tape/her song “I Got You Babe” is used in the same moment in the Left Behind.

MOMENTS OF NOTE

• The photo booth is uncannily similar to the one in the video game, down to the rabbit with the sunglasses on. The “scary” pose they do is from Left Behind. Watch the original scene here.
• The Halloween store moment is also directly from Left Behind, as are the masks they wear.

EPISODE 8

LINES OF DIALOGUE OF NOTE

• “Any sudden moves and I put one right between your eyes. Ditto for buddy-boy over there” is the first thing Ellie says to David and James in the video game as well. Only instead of a rifle, she’s holding a bow and arrow.
• David mentions the Pittsburgh QZ while talking to Ellie. This is not a line from the game, but it is a nod to its Pittsburgh chapter, which was changed to Kansas City in the show.
• “Fuckers” is Ellie’s favorite word to call literally all of her enemies. She says it a lot in the game. Just felt like something that needed to be noted.
• “Ellie. Tell them that Ellie is the little girl that broke your fucking finger” is a direct quote from the same scene in the game. Spoke with just as much venom by Bella Ramsey.
• Joel also calls Ellie “baby girl” after her showdown with David to comfort her. This is when you know the father-daughter bond between Joel and Ellie is complete. Joel also called Sara that, if you recall.

ITEMS OF NOTE

• Joel uses a pipe to beat one of David’s men to death. A pipe is also a very common and useful weapon in the game. You can even add knives to your pipe in the game to make it more deadly to enemies.

PEOPLE OF NOTE

• Troy Baker plays David’s right hand man James in the show. In the video game series, Baker is the voice and mo-cap actor for Joel.

MOMENTS OF NOTE

• In this same chapter of the video game, Ellie shoots (with a bow and arrow) a white rabbit for food for her and Joel. Sadly, she doesn’t get the rabbit in this episode. Rabbit 1, Ellie 0.
• Joel’s interrogation of David’s followers actually quite important because this technique comes up a bit in the game. But we say a lighter version of this with the older couple in Wyoming, but Joel will ask one person to point to the location of whatever he is searching for and the other person must corroborate it or he tortures them both until he gets the truth. He also just tortures them in the beginning anyway.

CHANGES OF NOTE

• Joel does not reach Ellie while she is stabbing David repeatedly, like he does in the video game. Instead, Ellie finds Joel outside the steakhouse after the whole confrontation is said and done.
• A lot of the big battles Ellie has in the game were cut from this chapter’s adaptation, which makes sense, considering the battles are really more for gameplay purposes. Not to say there isn’t plot in those moments; there definitely is, but in order to condense this chapter into a single episode, it makes sense those sequences were removed.

EPISODE 9

LINES OF DIALOGUE OF NOTE

• “I was thinking maybe I could teach you,” Joel tells Ellie, about playing the guitar. This comes straight from the game and becomes very important in Part II.
• This exchange between Joel and Ellie comes from the game: “So, is it everything you hoped for?” “It’s got its ups and downs, but you can’t deny that view.” Watch it in the game here.

• “After all we’ve been through, everything I’ve done, it can’t be for nothing,” says Ellie to Joel, about the vaccine. “There is no halfway with this.” These lines from the game are repeated here, underlining how important it is to Ellie that she and her immunity have a purpose. Watch the conversation in the game here.
• “I won’t let you take her,” the doctor says to Joel, right before you have to shoot him in the game. If you don’t do this, he will attack you with a scalpel.
• “If you keep going, you find something new to fight for” is a variation on what Joel says to Ellie in the same scene in the game. Watch that in the game here.

PEOPLE OF NOTE

• Ashley Johnson plays Ellie’s mother Anna in the show. Johnson originated the role of Ellie in the video game series.
• The doctor. Oh, you’ll see. Just wait until the next season…

MOMENTS OF NOTE

• The giraffes appear at the same point in the game, and it’s just as beautiful and heartwarming as it is here. This image of Ellie and Joel petting the giraffe is one that has become synonymous with The Last of Us, so it’s no surprise that they recreated it so beautifully in the show.
• Laura Bailey makes a brief cameo as one of the nurses, who she also played in the video game. Bailey eventually has a larger role in The Last of Us universe—you’ll see in Season 2!

CHANGES OF NOTE

• There are no fights with Infected fights in thai episode. But in the game, this chapter—before they get to the hospital—is home to one of the most harrowing Infected fights of the game. You have to kill three Bloaters; yes, three!
• Joel opening up about his suicide attempt is unique to the show. Joel doesn’t open up much or talk about things at all in the game. The Joel in the show, while still pretty guarded, is a lot more emotional. This is a good thing.