The following article contains spoilers for Episode 6 of The Last of Us and The Last of Us game franchise.
Another week, another Easter-egg filled episode of The Last of Us arrives. Week after week, fans take to social media to discuss the various references to the game in each episode. While the plot so far is majorly adapted from the first game in the franchise, with some changes to the characters’ backstories, fans of the game have been feeling quite pleased with the HBO adaptation. Adding in the various Easter eggs in every episode is the icing on top of the almost perfect cake.
In its six weeks, The Last of Us has introduced several characters from the game, but the main focus has been Joel and Ellie and their adventurous journey to the West. In this week’s episode of The Last of Us, fans see Joel reunite with his brother Tommy, followed by an explosion of emotions. His bond with Ellie has finally been cemented, and there is no going back for either of those characters. While fans of the game already know how this journey ends, they can still cherish the moments that the surrogate father-daughter duo share before things get botched up.
In Episode 6 of The Last of Us, there are several conversations and moments that are lifted directly from the game, similar to previous episodes. However, some references are intentionally planted into the dialogue or background to offer fans a chance to reminisce over the extremely popular game franchise. There are a lot of references to The Last of Us - Part II, which displays how the show runners are already planning ahead for Season 2.
Joel’s dream of living at a ranch
In a quieter moment in the episode, Joel and Ellie sit around a campfire and discuss their dreams. When Ellie asks Joel what he’d like to do after their journey is over, he talks about wanting to live “at a farmhouse, with open land... A ranch.” After Ellie’s further questioning, he reveals that he’d like to raise sheep. This is a reference to The Last of Us - Part II where Ellie eventually goes to live at a ranch with her partner Dina and there is an entire sequence of Ellie shepherding some sheep into a barn.
Ellie’s astronaut dreams
During the same campfire sequence, Ellie talks about how growing up inside the walls of Boston’s quarantine zone forced her to always look up at the sky. This is when she started dreaming of becoming an astronaut and going to space, “like Sally Ride.” This conversation takes place in The Last of Us - Part II when Joel and Ellie visit an abandoned museum.
The dam
Before Joel and Ellie arrive at the compound in Wyoming, they stop at a dam momentarily before moving on. This is the location of a significant mission in The Last of Us game, where Joel and Ellie have to fight several hunters. However, the fight sequence is not included in the HBO series, and instead Ellie makes another punny joke about the dam.
Ellie cannot whistle
As Joel and Ellie trek through the vast landscapes, Joel and the viewers notice Ellie making a strange sound. When Joel turns around to look at her, she says “I’m learning how to whistle.” Joel is surprised that she doesn’t know how to whistle, an emotion he expresses in The Last of Us game as well.
The Jackson settlement
When Joel and Ellie arrive at Tommy’s Wyoming community, the area might seem familiar to fans of the game franchise. This is the community that Joel and Ellie live in towards the beginning of The Last of Us - Part II. Fans get a glimpse of the outdoors, the theater, the cafeteria, and the community center where Ellie and Dina have their first dance together in the game.
Is that Dina?
Speaking of Dina... At the settlement, Ellie is evidently different from the children living there. She is loud, uses foul language, and demands things. When eating her first proper meal, she spots someone staring at her from behind a pillar. “What?” She loudly asks, and the camera pans to a young girl who quickly walks away. Her appearance is exactly like Dina from The Last of Us - Part II, a character who goes on to become one of the main factors in the second game. It seems like the show runners decided to hint at Ellie and Dina’s future relationship early on in the series.
Meet Shimmer
While there’s no confirmation whether Ellie sees Dina in the cafeteria or not, another character from The Last of Us - Part II makes a confirmed cameo in this week’s episode of The Last of Us. When Maria is showing Ellie around the stables, the latter spots a newborn horse, who Maria introduces as Shimmer. This is the horse that Ellie rides in The Last of Us - Part II.
Maria gives Ellie a familiar jacket
The characters’ clothes and appearances have been fairly well adapted from the games. In this week’s episode of The Last of Us, Maria gives Ellie a new jacket to wear. It is identical to the one the character is seen wearing in the game.
Ellie’s sniper lessons
Towards the end of the episode, Tommy hands over his sniper rifle to Joel, to help him survive the upcoming trek. As Joel and Ellie head out of the compound, they decide to stop nearby so that Joel can teach Ellie how to snipe. This is a callback to a sequence in The Last of Us - Part II where Tommy teaches Ellie to use a sniper rifle. She first shoots at wooden targets, and then upgrades to shooting infected in the distance.
Joel’s singing aspirations
Towards the end of the episode, Joel reveals that his true dream was to become a singer. At this point, Ellie makes a deal with him to sing for her later as she’s going to “save the f***ing world.” This is another reference to The Last of Us - Part II where Joel eventually does sing a song for Ellie, a beautiful melody that still haunts fans of the game.
First time seeing a monkey?
As Joel and Ellie explore the university campus in Colorado, they come across a bunch of monkeys who Joel assumes must have escaped from the labs. The conversation plays out similar to The Last of Us game, and further details about the monkeys are revealed through a recording left behind by a Firefly. The recording confirms that the Fireflies were testing on monkeys, and one of the scientists sets a batch of the “tainted” monkeys free.
The Last of Us is streaming on HBO Max.