The Last of Us Episode 1: What did they change from the game?

The Last of Us is HBO’s newest hit show, and though it’s only released one episode it’s already making big waves as the network’s second-highest rated premiere since 2010, ranking only behind last year’s Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. This is HBO’s take on a zombie story, but it’s an exceptional zombie story because it’s based on the beloved The Last of Us video games by Naughty Dog, which already stand head and shoulders above a lot of other games when it comes to storytelling.

Will HBO’s The Last of Us be totally different from the games, capitalizing on name recognition like Netflix’s recent Resident Evil show? Will it be a detailed exploration of previously unseen lore like Arcane? Or perhaps something that tries so hard to copy the game that it becomes a total mess, like 2018’s Tomb Raider?

The Last of Us pays plentiful homage to the games; in the first episode alone there are a ton of references. No doubt that’s partly due to The Last of Us game writer Neil Druckmann being involved as a co-showrunner on the series.

Let’s go over some of the ways that The Last of Us premiere episode nodded to the games, as well as some ways that it changed things up.

Fear in the ’60s

Let’s start at the beginning: it should come as no surprise that the opening scene of the show, where Dr. Neuman (played by The Mummy’s John Hannah) explains the nature of the cordyceps fungus, is an addition that wasn’t in the game. The game begins on the night of the zombie outbreak with Sarah and Joel.

However, following the opening game sequence with Sarah we get a credits montage where various off-screen newscasters run through the big events of the outbreak and the emergence of the Firefly revolutionary group. So while Dr. Neuman’s scene is a new invention for the show, it still feels very much in the spirit of the game.

Creepy neighbors in 2003

That brings us to the 2003 segment where we find out what happened to Joel’s daughter Sarah, which takes up a big chunk of the premiere. The show expands this section quite a lot; it was originally planned to be the entire premiere episode.

There are so many wonderful moments that call back to the game in this section. For starters, Sarah is wearing the same Halican Drops band shirt as she was in the game, although the tour dates on the back of the T-shirt are updated to reflect the new time period. And as a fun tidbit, most of the tour locations on the back of Sarah’s shirt are places that Joel and Ellie will visit during their journey.

The Last of Us game begins with the scene where Sarah gives Joel the watch for his birthday, but in the show we start at the beginning of the day — the last normal day for humanity. This gives us a fuller view of Sarah and Joel’s relationship. Many of the events of this sequence are brand new, but here are a few highlights pulled straight from the game:

• A ton of the decor in Joel and Sarah’s house was also there in the game, such as Joel’s guitar and the dinosaur birthday card on Sarah’s desk.
• Many of the lines in the scene where Sarah gives the watch to Joel are directly from the game, such as when he teases her into thinking it’s not working and when Sarah tells him she can afford it because, “Drugs. I sell hardcore drugs.”
• The movie that Sarah borrows from the Adlers is Curtis and Viper 2. This is a movie that holds special significance for Joel and Ellie in The Last of Us Part II.

The truck escape

The biggest homage to the video game comes when all hell breaks loose. While the stuff with the Adlers (the Coopers in the game) was expanded greatly for the show, it still leads to Joel killing a neighbor as they rush toward him and Sarah. In the game he shoots a man, while in the show he bashes in an old lady’s face with a wrench. Joel then tosses the wrench on the ground; this is a fun little nod to the game as well, because melee weapons break after being used, forcing Joel to keep scrounging for new ones. Sarah’s terror at the idea of him killing a person is exactly the same in both versions, however.

The following sequence where Sarah hops in the back of the truck as her uncle Tommy drives her and Joel through Austin is one of the closest game-to-screen transitions I’ve ever seen. Many of the lines are directly from the game, like Sarah asking “are we sick?” or Joel giving Tommy directions. Ditto their neighbor Jimmy’s house going up in flames, the trio driving past a stranded couple and their baby on the side of the road, and Tommy pulling into a crowded street, trying to back up, then getting in a crash. Even the way the camera forces us into Sarah’s point-of-view is an incredibly faithful homage to what it felt like to play as her during this sequence.

The biggest change during this sequence is the 747 that falls out of the sky and sends debris hurtling down the street, resulting in the car crash that injures Sarah. In the game it’s another car that hits them, so the show dialed up the drama for TV. The way that Tommy is separated from them is slightly different as well, but the end result is the same: Joel runs to safety with his injured daughter in his arms, while Tommy has to catch up later.

Joel and Sarah cross paths with a soldier (played by showrunner Craig Mazin in a neat little cameo). There are only a handful of very minor differences in the dialogue during this scene; the events, much of the script, and even the camera angles as Joel and Sarah tumble down the hill after being shot are exact replicas of the sequence in the game.

The same can be said for Sarah’s death. While there are a handful of very minor dialogue differences, this scene is basically an exact carbon copy of its game counterpart. It’s a fitting way to end the 2003 segment and launch us into the story of The Last of Us proper.