Tag: easter eggs

Decoding Stranger Things 5’s Most Notable Pop-Culture Nods

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Photo: COURTESY OF NETFLIX

From the start, Stranger Things has freely referenced elements of ’80s pop culture. Sometimes they’re simply used to establish where the series is in time. (If Mike’s singing Corey Hart’s “Never Surrender,” it must be 1985.) But sometimes they play a central role in the action, as with Max’s deep connection to Kate Bush, or they reflect and comment upon the events of the series. When the Hawkins boys dress up like little Ghostbusters, for instance, they may not realize they’re essentially playing similar roles in their own lives, but we do. And of course, Dungeons & Dragons has long served as a guiding force both for the characters and the show itself.

As the fifth and final season of Stranger Things kicks off, dark times have returned to Hawkins, Indiana. Darker than usual, even: After the explosive conclusion of Stranger Things 4, the town has (kind of understandably) been placed under quarantine. That doesn’t mean it has been totally cut off from the outside world, however. From its fashion to its snacks to its movie references, Hawkins remains very much a part of the 1980s, though older pop-culture items have played a more prominent role so far this season. Set in the fall of 1987, Stranger Things 5 leaps forward over a year in time from the end of Stranger Things 4, and while that’s not a huge jump, the new episodes contain plenty of references specific to that year alongside some golden oldies. To help parse which are simply of-the-moment Easter eggs and which may be this season’s “Running Up That Hill,” here’s an episode-by-episode guide (featuring lots of spoilers) to the pop culture that’s keeping our Hawkins crew connected to their right side up world.

Linda Hamilton As Dr. Kay
Starting with Winona Ryder, Stranger Things has made a habit of casting ’8os stars, often to play parts that contrast with the roles that made them famous. The quintessential late-’80s teen, Ryder here plays a fretful mom. A heartless scumbag in Aliens, Paul Reiser showed up as a sympathetic scientist. And so on. The casting of Linda Hamilton continues that trend. In the Terminator films, Hamilton played heroine Sarah Connor, a damsel in distress who becomes a hard-ass warrior. We haven’t yet seen enough of Dr. Kay to make any definitive judgment about the character, but she doesn’t seem eager to help the Stranger Things heroes. In fact, she appears to be the driving force behind all the reckless tampering being done to the Upside Down. Sarah Connor would almost certainly not approve.

A Wrinkle in Time / Mr. Whatsit
Madeleine L’Engle’s classic 1962 science-fiction-fantasy novel was rarely cited alongside Steven Spielberg, Stephen King, and others as a source of inspiration for Stranger Things until the Duffer Brothers dropped a pretty unmissable hint by titling this season’s forthcoming sixth episode “Escape From Camazotz,” a reference to a planet that plays a key role in the book. (Holly makes the connection even more clear in the fourth episode.) But the hints have been there all along: mysterious disappearances, travels through the fabric of space-time, dark forces that must be defeated by a family of heroes. The L’Engle influence is hard to miss once you start looking for it. Later, we learn Holly has named her imaginary friend — or more accurately, “imaginary” “friend” — Mr. Whatsit after Mrs. Whatsit, one of three mysterious figures who play key roles in the novel. (If you know only the 2018 Ava DuVernay film, she’s played by Reese Witherspoon.) Holly’s paperback edition was first published in 1976, and its striking cover will be instantly recognizable to readers of her generation. Yet the artist behind it remained a mystery until a few years ago when the Boston public-radio station WBUR’s Endless Thread, with the help of Adam Rowe, author of the Retro Sci-Fi Art newsletter, identified it as the work of prolific commercial artist Richard Bober.

The Fall
John Coltrane, A Love Supreme
Jonathan Byers’s love of punk and alternative music has factored into the series from the first episode. That he’s wearing a Fall T-shirt suggests he hasn’t lost his taste for the cutting edge. Formed in 1976 and hailing from Manchester, England, the Fall was essentially singer Mark E. Smith and whoever was playing with him at any given moment, though some lineups lasted longer than others over the group’s 42-year existence. While often lumped in with punk, the Fall experimented with multiple styles over the years, with Smith’s biting wit and inimitable delivery serving as constants. If Jonathan likes the Fall’s willingness to experiment and push beyond long-established musical boundaries, Murray is correct in suspecting he’ll love John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, the 1965 release that was the saxophonist’s crowning accomplishment (though most editions do not include the bonus material revealed in the show’s third episode).

Robin’s “Beam Me Up, This Place Sucks!” Sweatshirt
Robin’s shirt is, of course, a reference to Star Trek, a ’60s show that was still very much in the conversation throughout the 1980s thanks to syndicated reruns; a film series (whose then-most-recent outing, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, premiered in the summer of 1986); and Star Trek: The Next Generation, which debuted just a few weeks before the events of this episode. Robin’s being a fan makes perfect sense, as does this sarcastic shirt. Its design seems original to Stranger Things (you can even buy your own in the Netflix store), but variations like “Beam me up, Scotty. There’s no intelligent life down here!” have commonly been found on unlicensed merchandise for decades.

The Psychedelic Furs, “Pretty in Pink”
Michael Jackson, “Rockin’ Robin”
The Clash, “Should I Stay or Should I Go”
Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill”
Diana Ross, “Upside Down”
Is WSQK an oldies station? Despite being staffed by high-school students and recent grads, Hawkins’s local doesn’t seem too interested in playing the hits of the day. The Psychedelic Furs’ “Pretty in Pink” is the most recent song on its playlist (at least that we hear). Recorded in 1981, it got a second life when John Hughes borrowed both the title and a newly rerecorded version of the song for his 1986 film of the same name. This helps explain why Robin sends it out to her sweetheart, Vickie (Amybeth McNulty), and why Vickie is styled to resemble Molly Ringwald.

Robin also plays Michael Jackson’s 1972 cover of “Rockin’ Robin,” a hit for singer Bobby Day in 1958. The track provides both Robin’s DJ name and her theme song, though she’s not the first Stranger Things character to get a song of their own. The opening scene serves as a reminder of the role played by the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” in the lives of the Byers boys, and Lucas’s bedside vigil for Max finds him playing Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” on repeat. (It’s a great song, but isn’t it possible that even those in a coma could get sick of hearing it after a while?)

Finally, Stranger Things probably deserves some credit for waiting this long to feature Diana Ross’s “Upside Down,” a last-days-of-disco hit written by Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards that topped the charts in September 1980 and soundtracks the closing credits of this episode. It came out after Ross starred 1978’s The Wiz, Sidney Lumet’s film version of the Broadway musical that transplanted The Wizard of Oz to an urban setting. Robin is correct in calling the movie a “flop-a-rooni”; Hollywood used its dismal box-office performance to dramatically dial back the production of films with Black talent for years. But The Wiz wasn’t Ross’s first big-screen venture. She’d previously starred in the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues and the 1975 drama Mahogany.

Lucas’s Hi-Top Fade
In case you’d forgotten the Stranger Things timeline has moved into the late 1980s, check out Lucas’s hair. He was a little ahead of the curve last season when he started sporting the short-on-the-sides, tall-on-top hairstyle synonymous with late-’80s hip-hop and is still something of an early adopter in 1987 — the style’s high-water mark was 1988, when it figured prominently in music videos by, among others, Big Daddy Kane and Kid ’N Play (though as a budding basketball star, Lucas might also have been looking to the late-’80s NBA for inspiration). It’s a bold choice but one that makes sense: The events of Stranger Things have emboldened our heroes to stop caring what everyone else thinks and to be themselves, some by antagonizing bullies, others by trying on mold-breaking new looks.

Coca-Cola Classic
In 1985, the Coca-Cola Company introduced a new formula that proved famously unpopular. “New Coke” figured into Stranger Things’s third season (which inspired a brief revival), but it took only three months in real life for the old Coke to return as the rebranded Coca-Cola Classic, the name seen on the can in this episode.

Jake the Snake
The season premiere introduces an ill-fated snake named Jake. While it’s possible that he’s just called Jake because the name rhymes with snake, it seems highly likely that Jake is named for Jake “the Snake” Roberts, a wrestler then enjoying his first wave of popularity after making a splashy WWF debut in 1986. As his nickname suggests, Roberts made a trademark of bringing snakes to his matches. Though retired as a performer, Roberts remains active in the wrestling world despite a series of health problems.

Rainbow Brite
Holly’s room is filled with items designed to appeal to ’80s girls, including images of the Care Bears and a poster for Don Bluth’s 1986 animated feature An American Tail. That Holly also likes Rainbow Brite, a Hallmark-created franchise that debuted in 1984, doesn’t seem especially surprising or even all that relevant. But hold on a second: What’s the premise of Rainbow Brite, again? As depicted in the animated 1984 prime-time special Peril in the Pits, it concerns a cheerful, colorfully attired girl named Rainbow Brite whose adventures take her to a dark underground land called “the Pits” (a place where things are kind of upside down, if you will). Is this foreshadowing? Is there any chance Holly will befriend a flying horse this season?

ABBA, “Fernando”
ABBA’s 1976 hit, which plays as the Demogorgon invades the Wheeler house, recounts a conversation between two aging revolutionaries as they recall a decisive battle. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to connect its lyrics to the events of Stranger Things 5, which has already started to feel like Hawkins’s Last Stand. But that’s in the song’s English- and Spanish-language versions: The original Swedish lyrics are about a lovelorn guy named Fernando. Since ABBA is sort of active again, maybe the group can rework the words once more for the show. Can you hear the Eggos, El-ando? That doesn’t quite work, does it?

Peanut Butter Boppers
Gone but not forgotten, these lunchbox-friendly snacks were essentially globs of peanut butter rolled into tubes and surrounded by candy. (Its crunchy-on-the-outside, gooey-on-the-inside structure will later provide a crucial bit of inspiration for Steve.) Yet because they were marketed as wholesome snacks by Nature Valley, they didn’t seem like junk food despite varieties with names like Fudge Chip and Cookie Crunch. Though an immediate hit, Peanut Butter Boppers didn’t survive past the ’80s, though Nature Valley’s site includes a recipe that empowers nostalgic snackers to make their own. Their inclusion here doubles as an homage to Joel Schumacher’s 1987 film The Lost Boys, in which they also make an appearance.

Flux Capacitor
To work a scheme of their own, Robin and Will exploit Joyce having been too busy for the past few years repeatedly saving her family/the world from the dark forces of the Upside Down to take the time to watch the 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future. Come on, Joyce. Priorities! Thankfully, she still has two years to catch up before the release of Back to the Future Part II in 1989, and though we’ve yet to see it this season, Hawkins’s Family Video is presumably still in operation. In fact, the chain hung in there longer than most video stores. It was ultimately undone by the COVID-19 lockdown and shuttered its last outpost in 2021.

Lowrey’s Beef Jerky
These days, beef jerky mostly comes in plastic bags, but it wasn’t always so, as Hopper’s can of Upside Down survival snacks reminds us. Though less ubiquitous now than in 1987, Lowrey’s still sells jerky in cylindrical packages that resemble those used for tennis balls, though the packaging has changed.

Play-Doh Creepies
Despite the name, there’s nothing particularly creepy about Play-Doh Creepies. The sets provided molds kids could use to create little reptilelike animals (or, as the packaging dubbed them, “colorful critters”). Still, the inclusion of Creepies may not be accidental — we don’t yet know what Dr. Kay is up to, and we’ve certainly seen the Upside Down spit out its fair share of weird beasts over the years.

Tiffany, “I Think We’re Alone Now”
Holly wasn’t alone in loving Tiffany in 1987. Born Tiffany Darwish in Norwalk, California, Tiffany attempted to break into country music and appeared on Star Search before recording her eponymous first album at the age of 14. Released in June 1987, Tiffany’s first single, “Danny,” stiffed, but the unusual gambit of touring shopping malls from coast to coast helped turn the album’s second single into an inescapable hit. A cover of Tommy James and the Shondells’s 1967 hit “I Think We’re Alone Now” made Tiffany a star thanks in part to a squeaky-clean, parent-friendly image that offset the song’s slightly naughty lyrics. (Though in this context, lines like “There doesn’t seem to be anyone around” take on a more sinister cast.) Changing tastes, legal squabbles, and the poorly received 1989 follow-up, Hold an Old Friend’s Hand, made Tiffany’s moment at the top short-lived, but she’s still hanging in there, continuing to record and tour while taking the occasional acting role and reality-show appearance.

David Bowie’s READ Poster
In 1985, the American Library Association kicked off its popular ongoing Celebrity READ Campaign, a series of posters featuring famous faces encouraging kids (and everyone else) to read books. The first READ poster featured Bill Cosby, but Stranger Things has opted to spotlight a less problematic star: David Bowie. Issued in 1987, the poster finds a barefoot Bowie dressed in a letterman jacket and reading Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. Bowie was an avid reader and his list of 100 favorite books features an eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction including everyone from Dante to Fran Lebowitz. Dostoevsky, however, didn’t make the cut.

Garbage Pail Kids
G.I. Joe
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
Masters of the Universe
Transformers
Derek Turnbow’s room doubles as a dumping ground of ’80s pop-culture items — it’s almost as if the show’s production designers used it to squeeze in all the references that wouldn’t fit into the rest of the show. Or maybe it’s not; maybe every item could reflect another aspect of the series. What are the wildly popular, controversially tasteless Garbage Pail Kids if not Cabbage Patch Kids from the Upside Down? Who are our heroes if not scrappy G.I. Joes standing up to Vecna’s Cobra Commander? (The key role played by Derek’s G.I. Joe lunchbox in the fourth episode only underlines this.) Along with G.I. Joe, both Transformers and Masters of the Universe were media properties that began as toy lines; like Holly’s beloved Care Bears and Rainbow Brite, they benefited from Reagan-era deregulation of the FTC that allowed the once-solid boundaries between programming and advertising to get extremely blurry. The Pee-wee’s Big Adventure poster suggests Derek has good taste but also brings to mind Pee-wee’s rival, Francis (Mark Holton), another rich boy with all the toys money can buy.

Ghosts ’n Goblins
Hang-On
Derek’s room also includes an abundance of video games. He can be seen enjoying Ghosts ’n Goblins, the first entry in an ongoing franchise in which characters in a fantasy kingdom have to defeat a variety of, well, ghosts ’n goblins (and other foes). One lucky (or spoiled, depending on your outlook) first-generation gamer, Derek even has a full-size arcade game in his room: Hang-On, a 1985 racing game from Sega. Notable for its 16-bit graphics, it was part of the first wave of titles that would help the industry recover from its 1983 downturn.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
The gang’s booby-trapping of the Turnbow house may at first seem like an anachronistic homage to Home Alone, which wouldn’t hit theaters for another three years. It’s not: Stranger Things has been laying the groundwork for this moment from the start by dubbing one of its heroines Nancy, a name she shares with the protagonist of Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. Stranger Things owes quite a bit to Craven’s film, a debt the show tacitly acknowledged by bringing in Robert Englund, who originated the role of the dream-invading serial killer Freddy Krueger, for a part in the fourth season. In the film, Nancy outwits Krueger by drawing him into the real world, where he encounters a series of obstacles she learned to make after checking out a book titled Booby Traps & Improvised Anti-Personnel Devices from the local library. (Bowie would undoubtedly have approved.)

Tom Waits
As an experienced Midwesterner, Robin knows to dress in layers when the seasons change, so beneath her Star Trek–inspired sweatshirt she sports a Tom Waits tee. Waits had been around since the early ’70s and quickly won fans with his Beat-inspired songs of life on the scuzzy side delivered in a raspy voice. In the ’80s, Waits started to take his music in a more experimental direction with a string of classic albums that included Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, and, in the Stranger Things 5 year of 1987, Frank’s Wild Years. Robin seems like she’d be a big Tom Waits fan. In real life, Maya Hawke’s co-star Winona Ryder is a big Waits fan, even wearing her own T-shirt featuring him for her recent Hot Ones appearance.

The Sword in the Stone
Not expecting the military police to show up and take their daughter away, the Miller family is enjoying a quiet night watching The Sword in the Stone, a 1963 Disney film that had just hit home video in 1986. One of its most famous scenes is a duel between two wizards, which seems relevant to this episode’s climactic moments.

Walden Two, by B.F. Skinner
Max’s cave refuge contains a variety of knickknacks assembled seemingly at random and a copy of Walden Two, a science-fiction novel in which the psychologist B.F. Skinner depicted his idea of a utopian community. This seems to be there mostly to confirm, as she insists to Holly, that Max is living in a prison. Nobody reads Walden Two by choice.

The Chords, “Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)”
Max begins her tour of 1959 Hawkins accompanied by the Chords’ 1954 doo-wop hit “Sh-Boom.” Like most doo-wop classics, it serves as easy shorthand to say, “Hey, it’s the 1950s!” But the whole “Life could be a dream” element takes on added meaning given Max’s current situation.

The Great Escape
Not only does Robin have great taste in music, her knowledge of classic film allows her to help dream up a plan to rescue Hawkins’s imprisoned children. (All that time in the video store apparently paid off.) Released in 1963, the John Sturges–directed The Great Escape features a star-studded cast led by Steve McQueen that includes James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Coburn, and Donald Pleasence. They play inmates of a World War II P.O.W. camp who hatch an elaborate breakout plan involving, as Robin describes it, a system of tunnels. To drive the point home, this episode’s soundtrack features a snippet from Elmer Bernstein’s catchy theme song.

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Keith Phipps

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November 27, 2025
Standing By for Taylor Swift’s Final Showgirl Surprise

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So, girl …
Photo: Ashok Kumar/TAS24/Getty Images

This article was originally published on October 2, 2025. Swift dropped another countdown on October 4, ending at 7 p.m., which led to the release of more album variants featuring acoustic songs from The Life of a Showgirl. She’s ready to break records, people!

Taylor Swift has her release-week run of shows all set to go. For The Life of a Showgirl, Swift has it all scheduled in a handy itinerary to help everyone keep track: The Release Party of a Showgirl in theaters, a few late-night-show cameos, and … wait … what is “Standby,” written around the 7 p.m. slot on Saturday, October 4? Below, all the theories about Swift’s surprise release, in order of least to most likely.

Fellow showgirl Sabrina Carpenter, who’s featured on the album, is headlining the Austin City Limits festival on Saturday, but a surprise performance at a musical festival sounds like a safety risk for Swift given the huge crowds and the highly anticipated album. The signed CDs were already a fiasco, and that was just on the internet. Swift’s first live performance for the album will probably be in a more controlled and secured environment, like 30 Rock.

Swift isn’t scheduled for SNL, but that doesn’t mean she can’t show up. She did a surprise introduction of Ice Spice’s performance in 2023; who says a girl can’t have a starring role in a Bad Bunny sketch? Swift could play Marcelo’s new girlfriend as he introduces her to his mother (Pedro Pascal) and aunt (Bad Bunny). She is a huge fan of his, after all, and she’ll be in town anyway for her late-night spot on Seth Meyers.

“Standby” might be another pool-floatie situation. At the Spotify pop-up in New York, fans got a preview of what looks like merch fit for a pop star after her performance. PJs, a robe, slippers, a duffel bag, an ornament, and a vinyl case were spotted with the new Showgirl logo. Swift hasn’t dropped anything on her web store besides physical music for the new album, and waiting until after everyone has listened to the album seems like the perfect time to drop.

Throughout the Showgirl era, there have been hints that we’re not totally done with the Eras tour. What about the added Tortured Poets set? Or all the filming that was going on during the final shows? Taylor Nation did say it lost a key in Vancouver. Maybe the surprise could be a live album or an update to the Eras Tour movie on Disney+. In the Spotify experience, there are two photos of Swift during the final leg in Vancouver and several references to the Eras tour stage — written in order, the track list is even in the shape of the stage.

When Swift bought all of her masters, did she think we would just forget about those “fire” Rep vault tracks? As we get closer to the Showgirl release, Taylor Nation has been teasing that there’s a snake loose backstage. There is a hidden message in the Reputation lyrics on Apple Music that reads, “They don’t make loyalty like they used to.” Is it just another lyric for the new album or a vault track for Rep? When you search the lyric on the iTunes Store, the song “Father Figure” pops up. But there are other possibilities for a Rep vault-track release in the future.

For Showgirl, Swift worked exclusively with Shellback and Max Martin, who produced nine tracks on Rep, so it wouldn’t be too crazy to think that they could’ve recorded a few more songs together. In the letter she published when she bought her masters, she said she kept “hitting a stopping point” when trying to rerecord her sixth album, but she still recorded the vault tracks. Maybe that was during the Eras tour. Swift also said that there will eventually be a time for the vault tracks to “hatch,” making the dark glittery cracks in the Apple Music Showgirl cover suspicious. Similar cracks that look like Swift’s lightning bolts appeared during “Delicate” on the Eras tour.

During Swift release week, it’s really hard not to get carried away by Easter eggs. She’s trained us to be this way! What if the standby note is just that? A placeholder for Saturday because she isn’t doing anything that day, and the calendar looked weird without anything else in that spot? Swift wants everyone to be ready for the week ahead — when she inevitably will drop a bunch of merch.

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Alejandra Gularte

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October 4, 2025
Let’s go hunting for easter eggs in real life (25 Photos)

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Stephen

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March 30, 2024
‘True Detective’ Season 4: All the References and Easter Eggs You May Have Missed in ‘Night Country’

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There are two historical enigmas that overtly inspired True Detective season four, subtitled Night Country: that of the Mary Celeste, a 19th-century American ship whose entire crew seemed to evaporate into thin air while the vessel was on a voyage to Italy; and the 1959 Dyatlov Pass incident, a case involving nine Soviet hikers who inexplicably abandoned their campsite, then froze to death in the nearby wilderness. But even beyond those, showrunner Issa López has stocked her chilly saga with references to culture, history, and true crime that both reinforce the themes of Night Country and draw a straight line between it and True Detective’s rich past, particularly the show’s zeitgeist-grabbing 2014 first season.

Below, you’ll find some of the most tantalizing allusions and Easter eggs we could tease out of the season’s first episode, titled simply “Part 1.” We’ll update the list as subsequent episodes are released each Sunday.

The Yellow King

The show’s first episode begins with a stark epigraph: “…For we do not know what beasts the night dreams when its hours grow too long for even God to be awake.” The text is attributed to Hildred Castaigne, a name that might be familiar to True Detective season one die-hards. Hildred is the protagonist of a short story found in Robert W. Chambers’s 1895 collection The King in Yellow, a key influence on Nic Pizzolatto’s original True Detective.

More specifically, Hildred is the unreliable narrator of a story called “The Repairer of Reputations.” He’s a delusional figure who believes himself to be the heir to a royal dynasty that descends from the stars and is driven mad, in part, by reading a fictional play also titled The King in Yellow. The story ends with him confessing to two murders, followed by an “editor’s note” that simply reads, “Mr. Castaigne died yesterday in the Asylum for the Criminally Insane.”

The line that opens True Detective: Night Country doesn’t actually appear in Chambers’s story; it was written not by the author but by López, presumably because she wanted to launch the show with something that spoke more specifically to its particular themes. But the callback to Robert Chambers indicates that while this version of True Detective will move the story in new directions, it’ll also consciously invoke what came before it. Time, after all, is a flat circle.

The Tsalal Arctic Research Station

The name of the mysterious lab at the center of Night Country’s primary enigma has a literary connection as well: It comes from Jules Verne’s 1897 novel An Antarctic Mystery, set in similarly chilly climes. The book is a sequel to Edgar Allen Poe’s influential novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, which apparently inspired Herman Melville and horror master H.P. Lovecraft, among numerous others.

Verne’s Tsalal is a strange, otherworldly island that is known to be populated by fierce “natives” who (we are told) are prone to attacking white explorers. But when Verne’s heroes arrive on the island after a long journey, they find it curiously empty of both natives and the strange vegetation they’ve heard stories of.

They posit that Tsalal was destroyed by an earthquake, before discovering remains that indicate that the Indigenous population actually died before that natural disaster occurred. Eventually, they come to believe that Tsalal’s islanders died after being exposed to a disease spread by Arthur Pym’s dog, a Newfoundland named Tiger. Given the tangled relationships between the white and native populations of Ennis, Alaska, in True Detective season four, it’s easy to draw speculative parallels between that story and this one.

Speaking of Ennis…

The word itself has Irish origins, and means “from the island.” From the island…of Tsalal?!

Lone Star Beer

Did you notice the bottle sitting next to a bowl of uneaten popcorn at the abandoned Tsalal station? It just so happens to be Lone Star, Rust Cohle’s preferred brew. Fun fact: True Detective season one was so popular that Matthew McConaughey’s Lone Star–guzzling apparently led to a spike in sales, at least in the UK.

The Blue King

The crab processing plant where we meet Kali Reis’s Evangeline Navarro is named “Blue King,” which also seems like a callback to Chambers. What’s next, the Carcosa Cannery?

The Thing

Peer closely at the DVDs lined up on Tsalal’s shelves, and you’ll find this one to be conspicuously visible. John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic is about a group of researcher scientists in Antarctica—sound familiar?—being terrorized by the titular antagonist, a shape-shifting alien. López has called out Carpenter’s film as one of her favorites.

What’s in a Name?

Can it possibly be an accident that one of the slain scientists is named Ralph Emerson? That seems like a clear reference to the transcendental 19th-century essayist, a staunch advocate for individualism and the belief that nature is imbued with the power of the divine. Or that sweet Peter Prior’s son is called Darwin, a name with obvious science-vs-the-spiritual-realm connotations?

And then there’s paleomicrobiologist Raymond Clark, who shares his name with Raymond Clark III—a Yale laboratory technician who in 2011 pleaded guilty to the murder and attempted sexual assault of a Yale graduate student named Annie Le. (Whose own name evokes Annie Kowtok, the murdered Indigenous woman whose cold case still consumes Navarro—and Danvers notices that in an old photo, the show’s Clark is wearing a parka that looks an awful lot like Annie K’s.) Clark is currently serving a 44-year sentence.

Blood Meridian

Jodie Foster’s Danvers notes that before they disappeared, one of the scientists was apparently reading Cormac McCarthy’s 1985 novel—a violent, historically-inspired anti-Western about a young man who joins a band of outlaws who murder Native Americans. Topical!

The Spiral

Near the end of the episode, we see that Danvers has either intentionally or inadvertently arranged various bits of evidence in a massive spiral shape. It evokes the twisting orange peel we glimpse briefly in the show’s eerie, Billie Eilish–underscored opening credits—and the crooked spirals in True Detective season three that were themselves a callback to season one, when the spiral was used as a symbol of the pedophile ring at the center of the show’s first major mystery. We first saw the spiral carved into the back of the show’s first victim; the murderer himself had one scarred onto his own back.

Maybe Danvers’s spiral is a hint about Night Country’s own mystery. (There’s a spiral in this season’s teaser trailer as well, in footage that didn’t come from this first episode.) Maybe it’s just a callback. Either way, the spirals are spooky.

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Hillary Busis

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January 14, 2024
Let's Break Down All the 'Leave the World Behind' Easter Eggs We Can Find

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Throughout the entirety of Leave the World Behind, viewers get the feeling that there’s some kind of ungraspable hidden meaning just below the surface. The nailbiting journey to crack this mystery, to understand what terrible catastrophe is impacting these characters’ world, is heightened by writer/director Sam Esmail’s liberal use of smaller mysteries throughout.

Leave the World Behind is full of easter eggs and sly references that reinforce the film’s messages and overall tone of mystery and disaster.

***Spoilers for Leave the World Behind ahead***

General symbolism

The term “easter egg” refers to a hidden or otherwise obscure message in media, dropped as a little gift to those with a deeper knowledge of the content or genre. The phrase has become pretty inflated over the years, and lots of people use it to refer to, say, general symbolism, of which this movie has a ton. Personally, I wouldn’t consider something like the mystery of the deer to be an easter egg, but I know some feel different.

I also wouldn’t consider this a true easter egg, but there’s some cool stuff being done with visual symbolism in the movie that viewers might easily miss. (There are also numerous direct references and broader homages to iconic cinematic masters of suspense throughout.)

In Leave the World Behind, the Sandford family takes a last-minute vacation to a rental house on Long Island. The upscale house is filled with large art pieces—which actually change throughout the film to reflect what’s happening. The large wall art in the house’s living room becomes more chaotic as time goes on. Similarly, there’s a mural in the bedroom depicting a seascape, with the waves growing larger and choppier as the action of the movie gets more frenzied.

Scroll through the photos below to see for yourself:

In Leave The World Behind (2023), the large wall painting changes over the course of the movie to symbolise the increasing chaos and disorder, while the bedroom mural changing represents the impending peril the characters are experiencing and how overwhelmed they’re becoming.
byu/Sad_Bat_9059 inMovieDetails

A piece of symbolism and a direct reference I would definitely consider an easter egg is the name of the ship that runs aground when the Sandfords are at the beach. The ship’s name is prominently displayed without comment. But those in the know would have remembered the White Lion was also the name of the ship that brought the first African slaves to the United States. America’s (and humanity’s) penchant for racist ugliness is a core theme in the film.

(Netflix)

Pop culture references

There are a ton of pop culture references in Leave the World Behind, most notably Rose Sandford’s (Farrah Mackenzie) obsession with Friends. The West Wing and Donnie Darko also get shoutouts. I wouldn’t consider any of these actual easter eggs, but they do offer commentary on how we use pop culture to cope during a disaster, as we have all experienced firsthand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Edging closer to real easter egg territory, some of the clothing worn by characters offers an unspoken look at their personalities. Ethan Hawke’s character Clay is an aging professor who clearly sees his own identity as a guy who “gets it.” He’s a “good guy,” a feminist, a cool, hip Gen X-er, as perfectly summed up by his Bikini Kill t-shirt, referencing the legendary riot grrrl pioneers.

Clay’s need to put that identity on display belies its fragility, though, as we see with his refusal to think beyond a language barrier to help a woman in need, and Ruth’s insistence that he can’t have a conversation with her without mentally sexualizing her.

Clay’s children also wear their personalities on their clothing. Rose’s NASA shirt reflects her desire for escapism and Archie (Charlie Evans) wears a t-shirt by Obey Clothing, which takes themes and images from John Carpenter’s film They Live—a movie that’s all about secret messages in media used to subdue the general population and the extremely shady behaviors of the social elite.

While not a pop culture reference—just culture culture, or political/historical culture—one of my favorite little not-so-subtle easter eggs was when the Sandfords’ car radio is briefly set to 1619, an undoubtable reference to Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project, which reframes the concept of American history around its inextricable relationship with slavery.

There are also some literary easter eggs in the movie. At the very start of the movie, as Clay wakes up to find his wife packing for their inexplicably sudden vacation, eagle-eyed viewers might note that the book on Amanda’s nightstand is Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink, which is all about “thinking without thinking”—the snap judgments and split-second decisions we make without realizing all the information we’ve processed to make those choices.

A shared universe

Speaking of books, Amanda’s vacation read, as seen on her nightstand later in the film, is a book titled “Beach Towel” by Otto Irving, a character from Mr. Robot, which was created by Leave the World Behind’s writer and director Sam Esmail.

For those wondering: Beach Towel – A Novel
by in MrRobot

That’s just one hint that these two pieces of media exist in a shared universe. When we meet Kevin Bacon’s prepper character, he’s loading up his pickup truck, which contains a number of large yellow “E Corp” containers, referencing the giant evil corporation at the center of Mr. Robot. An E Corp laptop can also be seen in the house’s kitchen at one point. And a discussion of hackers nearly causing a meltdown at a power plant is a direct reference to the show.

What easter eggs did you find in Leave the World Behind that weren’t mentioned here? Let us know in the comments!

(featured image: Netflix)

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Vivian Kane

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December 19, 2023
11 Real-World References in the GTA 6 Trailer that Just Scream Florida

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By now it’s no secret that the trailer for GTA 6 has been released, and has gamers everywhere excited for 2025. The trailer itself has now amassed over 130 million views, and we ourselves are probably responsible for a good chunk of them! The question is though, did you notice all of the references?

Real-Life Occurrences from the GTA 6 Trailer

For this list we’re not going to be talking about the physics and mechanics of the game that people have noticed, just references to real-life occurrences or locations that have been replicated in the game. If you’re interested in other goodies we’ve picked up on, be sure to check out our list of easter eggs or little details you might have missed!

Wynwood, Florida

Image Source: Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games has painstakingly made a copy of Wynwood, Florida in the upcoming GTA. The place is full of vibrant graffiti and art work, and the game devs have paid close attention to give it a realistic feel. It was fun spotting real landmarks in GTA V, but it might be even more fun in the next game!

The Ocean View Hotel

Image Source: Rockstar Games

If you have played the definitive edition’s version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, or if you were one of the OGs to play it on PS2, then you’ll recognize the iconic Ocean View Hotel. Of course, many places in Vice City were based off of real areas of Malibu — the Ocean View Hotel is modelled after South Beach’s famous Clevelander accomodation — but it’s nice to see the old save point landmark appearing in the trailer!

Club Space

Image Source: Rockstar Games

Many Floridians have noticed how familiar this particular night club from the trailer looks. Despite not yet knowing its name, it looks to be based off of a club called Space that can be found in Miami. It will be cool to see how accurate to real-life it is when the game finally releases!

The Pool Gator

Image Source: Rockstar Games

Is it Florida if there aren’t Gators in your pool? This is a reference to a news story from this year, where a Floridian woman found an 11-foot Alligator in her pool. Rockstar have always been good at riffing off of real events, but this still somehow seems overly comical even though it actually happened!

Woman Twerking on a Car

Image Source: Rockstar Games

This is yet another reference to something that really happened. Back in 2017, a woman was filmed twerking on top of a car on a highway. There have since been other similar videos, but the original is what has influenced this crazy clip from the GTA 6 trailer.

The Gator Entering a Store

Image Source: Rockstar Games

Once again, here we are with the Gators! This time, this is harking back to when an Alligator was found outside of a Walmart back in 2013 (which is when GTA V came out!) Dare we say, maybe it was looking for some Gatorade? Maybe not…

Florida, Man

Image Source: Rockstar Games

This clip has seemingly taken inspiration from multiple instances of the same thing happening. It would appear that police in Florida have to chase down naked guys regularly. There are so many stories where this has happened, it seems like that’s just the everyday life of a Florida cop!

Naked Gardening Man

Image Source: Rockstar Games

You didn’t think we were done with the revealing members of public, did you? In 2022, a news story broke about a man who was doing his gardening in his birthday suit. This had his neighbors complaining to the local authorities about having to see his family jewels. At least Rockstar put a thong on their guy…

Hammer Lady

Image Source: Rockstar Games

This one is from back in 2020, where a woman confronted her neighbor while duel-wielding hammers. She then proceeded to bash her neighbor’s car in with them. We can’t say we condone this behavior, but we sure do look forward to seeing it in GTA 6.

The Florida Joker

Image Source: Rockstar Games

This particular reference is quite famous at this point. There is a Florida native that has been dubbed “the Florida Joker”, due to his tattoos and impersonations of the DC character online. Needless to say, he has since been outspoken about his appearance in the trailer and is not happy…

This may potentially hold a little easter egg as well, as the word “impentinent” tattooed on his forehead could potentially be a misspelling of impotent, after the fake cartoon character Impotent Rage in the GTA world. It could also be an incorrect spelling of impertinent, which is also quite funny.

Petty Forever

Image Source: Rockstar Games

Last, but definitely not least, there are the references to Florida’s own Tom Petty. The song used in the trailer is “Love is a Long Road” by Tom Petty himself, but there is also a noticeable sticker on the door when Lucia and her beau are entering a liquor store to rob it.

Petty grew up in Gainesville, Florida and passed away back in 2017. So, it’s nice to see him being remembered in such a prominent way for the game’s trailer. There are also said to be murals of him about Leonida (the game’s version of Florida) as well. So, we look forward to searching for them!

Looking for more content? Check out the pre-order details for GTA 6!

About the author

Hannah Townsend

Hannah is a freelance new release writer for Twinfinite. She has been writing and providing video game content for 5 years, and loves to cover games such as The Last of Us, Life is Strange, Grand Theft Auto, and The Sims just to name a few! If it has zombies in it, she has probably played it. Hannah has an American Studies degree from The University of Hull, as well as a Digital Media Master’s from The University of Sussex. Her biggest philosophical quandary is “will Ryo Hazuki ever manage to avenge his father?”

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Hannah Townsend

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December 9, 2023
All Secrets & Easter Eggs in Lethal Company

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Lethal Company is a hit indie horror multiplayer game on Steam, which quickly surpassed Phasmophobia in terms of peak concurrent players within its first month. The whole game is full off mysteries, and here are all of the secrets and easter eggs we’ve found in Lethal Company so far.

The Mysterious Submarine

Image Source: Zeekerss

Let’s start with the biggest one. The submarine is easily the most intriguing mystery of Lethal Company right now, as no one can figure out what it does or if it’s even possible to interact with it.

When you land at the company building, go down the hatch in the floor and jump down to the catwalk off the side of the railing. Make your way through the small area and hit a switch, and you’ll see a submarine hooked up to a battery with some cables on the ground.

So far, no one’s been able to figure out whether it’s possible to power up the submarine, but it sure does have a lot of potential for future updates to the game. An underwater expedition, perhaps?

The Mansion

Image Source: Zeekerss

This is a fun one that you could potentially stumble upon very early on in the game. The Mansion is a guaranteed spawn on Dine and Rend, but there’s also a small chance of it spawning on lower level Moons like Vow or Experimentation.

Usually, you’ll get some industrial facility to explore when you land on a Moon, but if you’re lucky enough to get the Mansion early on, you’ll have the chance to grab tons of valuable loot. Just be careful, as the monster spawns are a little more dangerous there. Once you rack up enough Credits to start farming Dine or Rend, you’ll be able to tackle much higher quotas in Lethal Company.

The Sky View

Image Source: Zeekerss via Steam Community

The environs of Lethal Company are all very dreary and industrial, but if you climb up high enough, you might actually get a glimpse of the world outside the horror.

As the player base has quickly discovered, all of the Moons share the same skybox, and if you climb up high enough on any Moon, you’ll be able to see a vague city skyline with some cranes. The cranes themselves are visible on Experimentation, but they’re just a small piece of a larger puzzle.

It’s not actually possible to venture out to the city of course, but this does feel like a neat little bit of lore that the developers have included in the game.

Escape the Backrooms

Image Source: Zeekerss

While you’re exploring a facility in Lethal Company, you may come across a curious-looking room that looks a lot like the creepy maze from Escape the Backrooms. This room is full of walls and doors that are meant to misdirect and mislead you, and we’re pretty sure it doesn’t actually serve any sort of functional purpose in the game. It’s simply a reference to Escape the Backrooms, which is another horror puzzle game with multiplayer components.

There’s been some theorizing that the Backrooms are where the Bracken spawns, but this seems to be untrue. The Bracken’s spawn is completely up to RNG and unrelated to the Backrooms, as it can also spawn in the Mansion, where you won’t see the Backrooms at all.

Sigurd’s Log Entries

Image Source: Zeekerss

Finally, this is more of a lore dump than anything else, but Lethal Company actually comes with collectibles in the forms of logs and journal entries you can pick up in the game. These are Sigurd’s logs, which you can then read on the Terminal by typing “Sigurd” once you’ve collected them.

The lore entries are meant to give you more insight into the world of Lethal Company, and how the monsters, Moons, and the company itself came to be. No further insight on what that weird submarine actually does, though.

And those are all of the secrets and easter eggs we’ve found in Lethal Company so far. Did we miss out on anything? Let us know in the comments down below.

About the author

Zhiqing Wan

Zhiqing is the Reviews Editor for Twinfinite, and a History graduate from Singapore. She’s been in the games media industry for nine years, trawling through showfloors, conferences, and spending a ridiculous amount of time making in-depth spreadsheets for min-max-y RPGs. When she’s not singing the praises of Amazon’s Kindle as the greatest technological invention of the past two decades, you can probably find her in a FromSoft rabbit hole.

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Zhiqing Wan

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November 29, 2023
10 Call of Duty Easter Eggs You May Have Missed

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The Call of Duty franchise is packed with Easter Eggs and secrets. The Zombies mode has even built questlines around finding objects and solving complex multi-step puzzles. Unfortunately, the urgency of missions and the chaos of gunfights can lead players to miss some of Call of Duty’s best Easter Eggs.

Mannequin Madness

Image Source: Activision

The multiplayer map Nuketown is a staple of the Black Ops sub-series and each incarnation has had its own Easter Egg involving the various mannequins dotted around the map. For example, in the first Black Ops shooting off all of the mannequin heads will trigger The Rolling Stones’ song Sympathy For The Devil to begin playing out of the map’s air raid sirens. Likewise in Black Ops III shooting off all the mannequin heads in under two minutes will make them start chasing and attacking you like zombies.

The creepiest Easter Egg of Black Ops III, and arguably the creepiest in the entire franchise, occurs if the player shoots all the mannequins’ arms off within two minutes. This will turn the mannequins into terrifying creatures akin to the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who, deadly monsters that only move when the player isn’t looking. Watching will freeze them in place, but considering how many mannequins are dotted around Black Ops III’s Nuk3town map, there’s probably one creeping up on you right now. Don’t even blink. Blink and you’re dead. The mannequins are faster than you could believe. Don’t turn your back, don’t look away, and don’t blink!

Riley Returns

Image Source: Activision via Twinfinite

Trojan Horse is the final level in 2023’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and begins with the player, as Task Force 141 member Soap, tailing a hacker in London. To successfully complete this mission the player must blend in with the crowds and avoid detection. One way they do this is by approaching and petting a German Shepherd called Riley.

This isn’t a hidden Easter Egg as everyone who plays the level will, quite rightly, have to pet the dog. However, many players might not realize that this dog references Call of Duty: Ghosts’ four-legged fan-favorite hound Riley. Ghosts is a largely forgotten game in the series, but with both it and Modern Warfare III developed by Infinity Ward (although Sledgehammer Games worked on the campaign of MW3), there is no doubt this dog is a reference to Ghosts’ most iconic character.

Mind Zombies

Image Source: Activision via Twinfinite

Break on Through is one of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War‘s most mind-bending levels as the player character Bell and CIA agent Adler venture into the former’s memories. With Adler narrating Bell’s time in Vietnam, the player can follow or ignore his instructions. Disobey his instructions enough times and you can come across a hatch in the ground. Opening the hatch and descending down the ladder within, the player finds themselves in a dark tunnel.

Armed with a flashlight and a 1911 pistol, suddenly zombies emerge from the darkness. The undead will spawn endlessly as the player fights, runs, and shoots as much as they can. No matter what, the horde will overwhelm the player, consuming them. The level will then continue on as usual. It’s a fun change of pace and a quick burst of fear in a level full of twists and turns.

Remaster Paradoxes

Image Source: Activision

The Precognitive Paranoia trophy in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered is awarded to players for killing the traitorous General Shepherd in the game’s opening level S.S.D.D. When the original Modern Warfare 2 was first released Shepherd’s betrayal was one of the game’s most shocking moments, and it is no surprise that players would try to kill him at the earliest opportunity in the remaster. Credit to the developers Beenox for pre-empting this reaction by adding this fun trophy into the game as a cool Easter Egg.

There is a similar achievement in Modern Warfare Remastered called Time Paradox. In that game developers Raven Software retroactively added Modern Warfare 3 villain Makarov to the back of the level One Shot, One Kill. The trophy can be achieved by killing Makarov in this mission, thus wiping out the events of Modern Warfare 3.

Call of Duty Skeletons

Image Source: Activision

For many Call of Duty: Black Ops III is the pinnacle of CoD’s zombie mode. As classic as zombies are, on the map Der Eisendrache it is possible to substitute one undead horde for another; turning standard zombies into an army of spooky, scary skeletons. The process to do this doesn’t take long but does require the Wonder Weapon bow Wrath of the Ancients. Players will have to feed zombies to three dragon head statues to unlock the bow, and then find and shoot three skulls with it.

The bow is also essential for completing Der Eisendrache’s main story Easter Egg, and is a generally useful weapon in and of itself, so it’s best to keep hold of it despite the rising numbers of zombies… or should that now be skeletons.

Hackerman

Image Source: Activision

In Black Ops, it is possible to break out of the main menu’s interrogation chair and use a computer hidden in one corner. To do this players need to mash the bumper buttons on the controller or shake the mouse on the PC. It’s fairly well known that typing DOA into the computer unlocks the Dead Ops Arcade mode, a twin-stick zombie shooter. However, there are a number of other Easter Eggs players can uncover on the computer.

Typing in the code 3ARC UNLOCK unlocks all campaign missions and typing 3ARC INTEL gives players access to all of the campaign’s hidden collectable intel. Players can get access to a collection of behind-the-scenes material, but also discover the sign in details of important characters like Frank Woods, Hudson, and even US Presidents John F Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson. Lastly, Dead Ops Arcade isn’t the only game unlocked in the computer as the text-based adventure game Zork 1: The Great Underground Empire (which was first released on PC back in 1980 by Infocom) by typing in ZORK or HELLO SAILOR.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Image Source: Activision

Modern Warfare Remastered introduced the ability to inspect your weapon. A fun little gimmick, the animation allows players to see their equipped weapon in more detail during a match and, in later titles and Warzone, would be expanded on with some of the purchasable weapon blueprints having fun little animations when inspected.

Rewinding back to Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered and the level The Hornet’s Nest has a unique animation all of its own. In this mission, the player controls Roach as he is pursued through the Brazillian Favella by the local militia. This exciting, tense mission plays out against the clock as the player is chased through the streets and across the rooftops. It might seem counter-intuitive, then, to stop and examine your weapon at this time. However doing so will make Roach play Rock, Paper, Scissors against himself.

And The Award Goes To…

Image Source: Activision

The Call of Duty franchise doesn’t just reference its own titles. In the Call of Duty: Ghosts missions Federation Day and Struck Down, players can find a trophy cabinet with a trio of neat Easter Eggs. The first is a gem-shaped trophy awarded for ‘Most Bushes Cut And Pots Smashed’. This is a reference to The Legend of Zelda franchise and the award is shaped like one of the collectible rupees in that series. The second is a strange box-shaped trophy awarded for the ‘Largest Interior With Smallest Exterior’, a nod to the classic sci-fi series Doctor Who. The award is shaped like the titular character’s spaceship the TARDIS, famous for being bigger on the inside.

The final Easter Egg isn’t a reference to a famed video game franchise or legendary sci-fi series, but a real-life event. Kind of. The third award is given for the ‘World Not Ending 2012’, a reference to the ancient Mayan myth that the world would end on December 21st, 2012. For anyone wondering, CoD: Ghosts was released almost a full year later on November 5th, 2013.

Nacht der Untoten in Black Ops 2

Image Source: Activision

Nacht der Untoten is the map that started it all. The first Nazi Zombies map introduced gamers to the classic, simple formula of rebuilding barriers, shooting hordes of the undead, and spinning the Mystery Box. The map has been remade and reused multiple times over the years. One very missable appearance is on the map Green Run from Black Ops II, specifically the Tranzit game mode. Tranzit is a unique spin on the zombie formula as players travel from one location to another via a bus route. Each location functions as its own little zombie map. There are nine locations on the map, with most of the action taking place in the Town, Diner, and Bus Depot.

To get to Nacht der Untoten on Tranzit players need to disembark from the bus between the Farm and the Laboratories and travel through a cornfield. The problem? Green Run is covered in a thick fog that is hard to navigate, full of monkey-like Denizens, and specifically designed to be avoided by players. Unfortunately, there isn’t much to Nacht der Untoten in Black Ops II, players can visit the spawn room and grab a part of the Thrustodyne Aeronautics Model 23 Wonder Weapon, or the Jet Gun as it’s better known. Nonetheless, it’s a really cool, hidden Easter Egg for players to find.

Samantha’s Lullaby in Mob Of The Dead

Image Source: Activision

Picture the scene: you’re playing Call of Duty: Black Ops II and choose the Alcatraz-set map Mob of the Dead. After watching the awesome opening cut scene that sees four gangsters attempting a prison breakout, you’re ready to join the action. Cut scene over, you spawn in ready to fight for your life, only to discover you’re a spirit without a body. What little life you have left very quickly draining away.

Who in their right mind then would let time run out and die before a single zombie has even spawned? Well, if you did die at this point in the game then the song Samantha’s Lullaby will play. Samantha’s Lullaby was composed by Brian Tuey and is available on the Mob of the Dead soundtrack. It first appeared on the Black Ops map Moon’s loading screen and has subsequently reappeared as a leitmotif over a dozen more times since. Usually, Samantha’s Lullaby is tied to completing a puzzle or destroying/collecting a number of objects on the map. In Mob of the Dead though, you just need to die before the game has even begun. The game wants you to do the exact opposite of everything players have come to expect from Call of Duty zombies.

There are so many Easter Eggs, secrets, and references in the Call of Duty franchise that this list could have had dozens more entries. What’s your favorite Easter Egg in the franchise? For more news and features on everything Call of Duty, check out the links below.

About the author

Alex Johnson

Alex has been writing about games for over four years and if there is one thing he fears in life it is writing a bio. He studied film at the University of Lincoln, has a small obsession with Fortnite and hopes to actually finish a FromSoftware game one day.

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Alex Johnson

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November 23, 2023
‘The Last of Us’ Season 1: All the Easter Eggs You May Have Missed

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Apocalypse Now

Joel, Tommy (Gabriel Luna), and Sarah’s journey through Austin, Texas plays out incredibly similarly to the way it plays in the game—most importantly, it roots the viewer in Sarah’s point of view. The player controls Sarah for the first sequence of the game, ending with her death in the first (but certainly not last) brutal twist. The show bears this out with great fidelity, from camera angles shot from the back of Tommy’s truck, to seeing a neighbor’s home completely on fire, through the car crash in Austin proper. (The exploding airplane is a flashy innovation for the show.) It all culminates at the same point: Sarah’s death in the arms of her father, a scene that’s almost exactly one-to-one between the game and the show, from dialogue down to choreography.

“Do I Look Like Your Mother?”

It’s one of the most quotable lines from the premiere, coming from the lips of Fireflies Boston leader, Marlene. Notably, Marlene is played on the show by Merle Dandridge, who also voiced the character in the original Last of Us game. What’s more, Marlene’s line here—and even more specifically, that she’s the reason Ellie grew up under tight FEDRA supervision—speaks to an offhanded remark from Ellie within the first couple hours of the game, in which she says her mother and Marlene were old friends. How that backstory plays out on the show, if it plays out at all, is anyone’s guess.

THE LAST OF US: Merle Dandridge and Natasha Mumba.Courtesy of HBO.

Who is Riley?

“Was Riley a terrorist?” It’s another pointed piece of dialogue from the conversation between Ellie and Marlene. At this point, viewers rightly have no idea who Marlene’s talking about. But fans of the games know better—at least, the ones who played The Last of Us: Left Behind bonus story know better. Left Behind is a downloadable content tale featuring Ellie’s experience before the events of the first game, and it prominently features a character named Riley. This isn’t just a simple nod toward Ellie’s backstory, either. Actress Storm Reid has been cast as Riley for a future episode, so Left Behind fans can count on seeing the DLC play out at some point in the first season of The Last of Us.

The First Ending

The first episode of The Last of Us ends on a major cliffhanger: Ellie tests positive for Cordyceps, but insists she’s not infected. She shows a bite mark that’s weeks old, an aberration from everything known about Cordyceps infection. The show’s version of the twist plays out very similarly to how it goes down in the game. The game doesn’t have a backstory for the soldier Joel, Ellie, and Tess encounter in this scene, and indeed, there are two soldiers who swoop in to scan the traveling trio. But everything else—the pouring rain, the bobbing and weaving through a mess of obstacles at night—comes right from the video game, and is yet another one of the show’s examples of how HBO’s The Last of Us is going to feel a whole lot like the Naughty Dog original.

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Josh Wigler

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January 15, 2023