Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Last of Us” Season 2.
HBO’s adaptation of the hit Naughty Dog and PlayStation video game franchise “The Last of Us” is back, with Joel and Ellie set to face off against new threats in the brutal post-apocalypse.
Season 2, which takes place five years after the events of the first season and is based on the original game’s 2020 sequel “The Last of Us: Part II,” finds the pair, portrayed by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, respectively, settled down in Jackson, Wyoming.
Over the course of seven episodes, audiences will see the impact of Joel’s decision to pull Ellie out of the Firefly hospital play out as the duo is drawn into a conflict with both each other and a world that’s even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left.
Below is TheWrap’s round-up of all the Easter eggs and changes from the second game in Season 2.
Episode 1
Changes From The Game
One of the biggest changes from the source material found in Episode 1 is Joel deciding to go to therapy with Gail (Catherine O’Hara), a completely new character. Later in the episode, we learn that she is the wife of Eugene, whom she reveals Joel has killed.
In the game, Eugene is a Firefly that served with Tommy, who leaves behind his wife and kid to join the cause. He ultimately takes Dina under his wing and during her conversations with Ellie while on patrol, it’s revealed that Eugene passed away from a stroke.
Other characters brought into live-action are Ellie’s ex-girlfriend Cat, who is mentioned but never seen on screen in the game and is the person who gives Ellie the tattoo that covers her bite mark. Another character who is completely new is Tommy and Maria’s young son, Benjamin.
Additional changes include showing Dina bonding with Joel, a council led by Tommy and Maria that handles decision-making inside the Jackson settlement, introducing Abby and the rest of her Firefly crew earlier on and the tendrils spotted in the pipe as they descend upon Jackson in the final minutes of Episode 1.
Pedro Pascal as Joel and Ezra Agbonkhese as Benjamin
Gabriel Luna and Rutina Wesley as Tommy and Maria
Pedro Pascal as Joel and Catherine O’Hara as Gail
Easter Eggs
When Ellie and Dina are on patrol, the latter mentions that she and Joel are planning on watching “Curtis and Viper 2,” a film franchise mentioned in “The Last of Us Part II” that Joel and Ellie bond over.
The duo also come across an Employee of the Month board hanging on wall, which features a dog claiming one of the top spots. The board is a direct recreation from the game, which holds clues to find a code for one of the various safes throughout the game that will give players additional supplies and ammo.
Also brought into live-action is Ellie’s journal, which features updated entries throughout the game that players can read that give more insight into Ellie, her relationships and the new threats she comes into contact with.
Viewers also get to see a new version of the infected from the games: the Stalker, which hides behind corners and attacks by surprise.
There is also two notable Easter eggs during the episode’s dance sequence: the first being the song, “Little Sadie” by Crooked Still, and the second being a blink and you’ll miss it moment of a man playing the banjo. That man is none other than the game’s composer, Gustavo Santaolalla.
Episode 2
Changes from the game
The most notable change of Episode 2 of “The Last of Us” is that the patrol pairings are switched to Dina and Joel and Ellie and Jesse. In the game, Tommy is on patrol with Joel is on patrol when they come across Abby and is subsequently present for his brother’s death. Meanwhile, Ellie and Dina are on patrol together when they find Eugene’s weed den, resulting in a romantic encounter between the two characters that does not appear in episode 2.
The flashback sequence at St. Mary’s Hospital was also changed to show Abby warning herself not to go see her father’s dead body. The revelation that her father is the Firefly doctor is also mentioned much earlier than in the game as she’s torturing Joel, as opposed to after Ellie’s version of Seattle Day 3. Additionally, the second episode shows more of the dynamic between Abby, Owen, Mel, Nora and Manny as they all plot how to find Joel – a conversation that happens solely between Abby and Owen in the game.
In addition to Dina being present for Joel’s death, the show displays more of Abby beating Joel up than in the game, despite the scene in the show being less intense overall compared to the game. Three WLF members from the game, Nick, Leah and Jordan, are also not included in Joel’s death scene.
Easter Eggs
The easter eggs in episode 2 can be found when Ellie and Jesse are in Eugene’s weed den, which include his firefly pendant and a gas mask with a bong attached.
Additionally, Ashley Johnson, who portrayed Ellie in “The Last of Us” video game franchise through both voice and motion capture, can be heard singing “Through the Valley” at the end of the episode. The song sung by Johnson was first heard by video game fans during one of the trailers for “The Last of Us: Part II.”
Episode 3
Changes from the game
The third episode of “The Last of Us” Season 2 expands on the fallout after Joel’s death, showing a new scene featuring Tommy in which is cleaning Joel’s body and tells him to “give my love to Sarah.”
It also jumps three months after the events, showing the town of Jackson rebuilding and deciding whether to dedicate more resources to going after Abby. Gail also has conversations with both Ellie and Tommy, neither of which were included in the game.
While Ellie does visit Joel’s house before leaving for Seattle in the game, she and Dina are confronted by Maria after this scene in the game, rather than talking about who the WLF were over cookies. Ellie and Tommy’s conversation also happens in a different part of Jackson during the daytime with Dina present as opposed to the two of them alone in Ellie’s garage at night. The show also makes the key change of Ellie and Dina sneaking out in the middle of the night – and helped out by Seth – rather than the pair going after Tommy, who has fled to Seattle on his own in the game.
The conversation about rating the kiss at the New Year’s Eve dance also happens inside a tent on the way to Seattle, rather than in Eugene’s weed den. Dialogue from the scene is also swapped, with Ellie rating the New Year’s Eve dance kiss between her and Dina a six instead of the latter. The scene is also used to expand on Dina’s character in the show, instead of Ellie telling Dina about her bite mark in the game.
Ellie and Dina also come across the dead bodies of Seraphites, characters who aren’t introduced until later in the game that only Ellie encounters. It also shows Manny on duty in the TV station, as opposed to Leah, a character from the game not featured in the show.
Easter Eggs
The Seraphites can be heard talking about their prophet, who is mentioned throughout the “Last of Us Part: II” and seen in drawings and collectibles but never as a character on screen.
Ellie also tells Dina about the first person she ever killed while the two are headed to Seattle, a moment of dialogue directly from the game.
Episode 4
Changes from the game
The opening minutes of episode 4 introduce the backstory of Isaac Dixon, a key antagonist from “The Last of Us Part II” that leads the Washington Liberation Front.
The episode reveals Isaac was a FEDRA soldier who turned on others in his group, locking them inside an armored vehicle and killing them with a live grenade. He also meets a woman named Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach), a completely new character added in the show.
The biggest change in Episode 4 is how Dina learns Ellie is immune. In the game, Ellie’s gas mask gets broken while the pair are running away from the infected horde in the abandoned subway system. Dina quickly offers her gas mask to Ellie, who immediately stops her and informs her that she’s immune.
Because of the absence of spores in the HBO adaptation, Ellie is instead bitten by an infected during the chase sequence. This goes on to change how Dina reacts once they get to the theater as she threatens to shoot Ellie and does not initially believer her when she says she’s immune.
Additionally, the moment where Isaac is torturing and interrogating a Seraphite doesn’t happen until the back half of “The Last of Us: Part II” and the conversation between the two isn’t actually seen on screen.
Easter Eggs
Isaac is portrayed by Jeffrey Wright, who originated the character in the HBO adaptation’s source material, “The Last of Us: Part II.”
Dina learns she’s pregnant after finding a test inside a Weston’s Pharmacy. The pharmacy is an actual location that Ellie and Dina visit in “The Last of Us: Part II” during the Seattle Day 1 section of the game.
The “Take on Me” sequence where Ellie serenades Dina is also a cutscene from the game that can be found when players visit Valiant music shop during the Seattle Day 1 section of the video game. The pair also come across rainbow flags and a tank with dead bodies inside, which both can be found while exploring Seattle.
Ellie and Dina also come across the bodies of dead WLF members hanging up in a TV station, an encounter that happens in its source material as well. The pair also find the words “Feel Her Love” written on a wall, a reference to the Seraphite prophet.
Episode 5
Changes from the game
Episode 5 features the return of Hanrahan, who met up with Isaac in the beginning of Episode 4, and another new character Dr. Elise Park, who discuss how the outbreak in Seattle started.
The episode also expands upon Dina’s backstory, revealing that her mother and sister were killed by a raider when she was eight years old. Dina would end up shooting the raider, who would become the first ever person she killed.
The HBO adaptation also changes Jesse’s appearance in Seattle, having him save Ellie and Dina from a pack of Stalkers instead of helping Ellie escape a group of the WLF in the game. He also reveals that he and Tommy came together to save them but got separated, whereas in the game Tommy leaves for Seattle before Ellie and Dina.
Another key change from the game is Ellie, Dina and Jesse all encountering the Seraphites at the same time, as well as Dina getting shot in the leg with an arrow. In the game, only Ellie comes across the Seraphites since she goes by herself to the hospital to find Nora.
Lastly, Nora telling Ellie what Joel did to Abby’s father as she’s dying from spores was added dialogue to the original scene from the game.
Easter eggs
While Ellie and Dina are walking they encounter more Feel Her Love imagery, this time with a sketch of the Seraphite prophet.
Episode 5 also finally introduces spores to the show, which can infect people, with the exception of Ellie, just by breathing them in. In the game, the characters wear a gas mask to avoid exposure.
Additionally, Ellie and Dina run away from a WLF member with a dog. In “The Last of Us Part II,” dogs are one of the key enemies players come across, who can track you while you’re hiding from the WLF.
We also hear Ellie briefly sing Pearl Jam’s “Future Days,” a song that has significant meaning between her and Joel in the game.
Episode 6
Changes from the game
The opening of the episode introduces a character never seen or mentioned in the game: Joel and Tommy’s father, portrayed by Tony Dalton. It also reveals that their father beat them when they were growing up for misbehaving.
When Ellie are walking back from the museum, she sees a group of fireflies in the air, reminding her of what happened at St. Mary’s hospital. In the game, she stumbles upon various messages from Fireflies written on the walls of the museum, with the final shot reading ‘liars’ – foreshadowing her falling out with Joel over his lie.
The show also brings Cat, Ellie’s ex-girlfriend, and Eugene, an ex-Firefly who served as a mentor and patrol partner to Dina, into live-action. The game talks about Cat and Ellie’s relationship briefly, but is mostly mentioned in journal entries in the game. It also reveals that Eugene had a wife and kid that he left behind to join the Fireflies and that he ultimately died of a stroke. In the show, Eugene is married to Gail and is killed by Joel after being infected.
The episode also combines Joel telling the truth to Ellie about what happened at St. Mary’s hospital with the porch scene, in which the two attempt to make amends the day before Joel is killed. In the game, Ellie finds out the truth in a separate flashback where she returns to St. Mary’s hospital and finds a recorder from one of the Fireflies who reveals that Joel killed the only doctor who could make a vaccine. Joel shows up shortly after and begrudgingly tells Ellie the truth after being confronted by her. She agrees to return to Jackson but tells him their relationship is over.
Easter Eggs
Joel makes a guitar for Ellie that has a moth logo on the neck, the same as the one featured in the game. It’s later used by Joel to sing Pearl Jam’s “Future Days” makes a return and is given to Ellie as a gift.
A conversation between Ellie and Joel on the way to the museum in which the latter mistakenly believes the former has a crush on Jesse is dialogue pulled straight out of the game from one of the various flashback sequences. The moments where Ellie climbs the dinosaur statue and is sitting in the space capsule with Joel are also moments pulled straight from the source material.
The show also expands upon Ellie’s relationship with her ex-girlfriend Cat, who is only talked about in Ellie’s journal and is responsible for creating the tattoo on her arm that covers her bite mark. A Savage Starlight poster can also be seen on Ellie’s wall – a reference to the fictional comic book from the original “The Last of Us” video game.
Though Ellie finding out the truth about what happened at St. Mary’s hospital is combined into the porch scene rather than given its own flashback, the remainder of the scene recreates their conversation from the game, with Joel telling Ellie that if given a second chance, he’d do it all over again and Ellie telling him that she’d like to try to have a relationship with him again.
Episode 7
Changes from the game
Though the Season 2 finale largely sticks to the source material, there are several added scenes, such as Jesse removing the arrow in Dina’s leg in the opening moments. Rather than finding out the news while at the theater, Ellie accidentally reveals Dina’s pregnancy to Jesse while the pair are going to find Tommy.
There are also added scenes of Jesse discussing how he found the theater and revealing that Ellie’s horse Shimmer is still alive, talking about a girl who he met and fell in love with but ultimately didn’t leave Jackson for because he felt a sense of duty to Jackson, and him stopping Ellie from intervening in a Seraphite getting kidnapped by the WLF. The show also expands on the conversation between Ellie and Jesse right before she goes after Abby on her own, with added dialogue about why Jesse chose not to vote to go after Abby’s crew in episode 3.
Additionally, Ellie’s journey to the aquarium sees added moments of her evading the WLF and washing up on the shore of the Seraphite Island and nearly getting lynched. There’s also a brief added scene of Isaac talking about how he hoped Abby would be the leader of the WLF in the event he dies during their surprise attack on the Seraphite island.
Once at the aquarium, Ellie does not encounter a Owen and Mel’s dog, Alice, who does not appear at all in the show. There is also an added moment in Mel’s death scene where she tries to guide Ellie through removing her baby as she slowly passes away.
Easter Eggs
Easter eggs from the Season 2 finale include Dina giving Ellie her bracelet for good luck, the library where Jesse and Ellie hide out from the rain,
There’s also a book called Thieves of the City, which Abby can be seen reading in the final moments of the episode – a nod to her reading David Benioff’s historical fiction novel City of Thieves in the game.
New episodes of “The Last of Us” air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and stream on Max.
