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.
The new world order in the Boston QZ
That brings us to 2023. As with the Sarah sequence, a lot of the early events of the 2023 segment are invented for the show. The game picks up with Joel waking to find out that Tess has been roughed up by Robert’s thugs, so everything that happens before that point is new.
That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of references though, like the wanted posters for Firefly leader Marlene scattered throughout the QZ or the public execution of several civilians, which Joel does witness in the game, albeit under slightly different circumstances. The Firefly motto “when you’re lost in the darkness, look for the light” is also taken from the game.
As for Tess’ interaction with Robert, this is an example of the show dramatizing events that happened offscreen in the game, similar to how it actually showed us Sarah getting Joel’s watch repaired. This time, we see that Robert is trying to haggle with Tess and apologize for the fact that he double-crossed her and Joel by taking their money for a car battery before trying to sell it to someone else.
The game was slightly different in that Joel and Tess’ issues with Robert revolve around weapons they were trying to buy as opposed to a car battery. At this point in the game, Joel is not yet trying to find his brother Tommy; instead it’s implied that Tommy and Joel previously had a falling out and that Joel would be reluctant to ever contact him again. But the bones of the thing are the same: Robert’s thugs accidentally jumped Tess, and she brings the information about the scrapped deal to Joel with the aim of getting revenge.
Joel and Tess’ vendetta against Robert goes down differently as well. In the game, you shoot your way through Robert’s goons, while the show has Joel and Tess arrive after they’ve already been killed during a shootout with the Fireflies, who we discover were the other buyers for the battery.
Meeting Marlene and Ellie
In the video game, Joel and Tess are responsible for Robert’s death, whereas on the show they find him dead on the scene. Both of them feel far more ruthless right out of the gate. On the show, we don’t see how violent Joel can become until the final moment when he beats a Fedra soldier to death.
However, the pair still meet Marlene in a similar way right after Robert’s death, where they find her wounded and she enlists them to help smuggle Ellie out of the QZ. Joel and Ellie’s first interaction is slightly different. Ellie still tries to stab Joel, but it’s Tess who holds her back, and the group quickly move on from it without Joel ever threatening to shoot Ellie.
All of Ellie’s scenes preceding her meeting with Joel were inventions of the show. We still get lots of references, though, such as when Marlene asks Ellie about “Riley,” a character from Ellie’s past who we’ll undoubtedly learn more about as the season goes on. And as an added cool bonus, Marlene is played by Merle Dandridge in the show, who also provided the voice for Marlene in the video game.
Sneaking out of the Quarantine Zone
From there the show and game converge once again with Joel and Ellie going back to his apartment to wait for Tess to make the necessary arrangements for their escape. While Bill and Frank’s radio music code is an invention of the show, much of the rest of that scene is directly from the game. Joel falls asleep on the couch, telling Ellie she’ll figure out how to keep herself occupied while she points out that his watch is broken. The bit where she tells Joel he mutters in his sleep is directly from the game as well.
The actual escape from the QZ has been condensed a bit; there’s no need for the group to fight random enemies along the way like there would be in a game. Instead, Joel, Tess, and Ellie sneak out of the QZ in the dead of night and come face-to-face with a guard who previously bought drugs from Joel.
The exchange between the group and the guard is very similar to the game, right down to the dialogue. Once again, Joel and Tess are more brutal in the game. They show how seasoned they are by gunning down a pair of soldiers while Ellie mutters in shock that she just expected them to “hold them up or something.”
In contrast, the show gives Joel a flashback to Sarah’s death, which inspires him to beat the soldier to death with his bare hands to protect Ellie while she watches, fascinated and maybe even excited. It’s an intriguing change that foreshadows some of the long game storylines. The fact that it was a soldier we knew instead of some faceless grunt makes it more brutal.
While The Last of Us premiere may not have been an exact copy of the beloved video game, it had enough references to make it clear that this is an adaptation seeking to honor the original story. It’s an encouraging sign for longtime fans of Naughty Dog’s series.
The Last of Us premieres new episodes every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max. Check back for more game vs. show breakdowns each week!
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