How Ellie Gets Bitten In The Last Of Us Show (& How It Differs From The Game)

In the “Left Behind” DLC from “The Last of Us” video game, the encounter that leaves both Riley and Ellie with nasty Infected bites plays out rather differently than it does in Episode 7 of the HBO series. In the game, the two girls are attacked not by a single Infected but by many, leading them to barricade doors and run through the bowels of the mall while being chased by the horde.

The HBO show handles things quite differently. Only one Infected attacks the two friends, and the fight is contained to a single room. The end result, however, is the same: both girls are left with bites, leading Riley to become Infected and Ellie to discover that she is the only known person with natural immunity to the cordyceps fungus.

The show’s choice to pare down the sequence makes sense. In the game, the scene involves lots of gameplay mechanics, such as propping open heavy gates and jumping across platforms. Since all of that is for the sake of the player, it makes sense to cut it out for the noninteractive format of television. Additionally, the show has established that even a single Infected can be a major threat, so it wouldn’t be believable for Ellie and Riley to fight off a whole swarm of them.