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

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.

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.