The Last of Us’s showrunner discussed how the HBO adaptation was able to include parts from The Last of Us Part II in the latest episode.
As you are probably aware, the inclusion was rather surprising since season one was only expected to cover the first Naughty Dog game and not the second.
Naughty Dog did, however, release the first game in 2013, and the two chief creatives later worked on Uncharted 4 for a while.
It’s reasonable to conclude that Naughty Dog didn’t really have a clear notion for the sequel’s direction when developing the first game because The Last of Us Part II wasn’t officially published until 2020.
But the same can’t be said about the TV adaptation.
Therefore, it may sow the seeds for plot points and sets that will become more important in the second season since it has the advantage of hindsight and already knows the entire tale.
Showrunner Craig Mazin discussed how it was possible to incorporate elements like the introduction of Ellie’s horse, Shimmer, as well as things like her love of space which fans of the games know about from Part II.
Mazin said that “When I first started working with Neil [Druckmann] on this adaptation, it was before The Last of Us Part 2 came out. It was the first time I had gone to Naughty Dog, and he asked me if I wanted to see a sequence from part II, which touches on Ellie’s fascination with being an astronaut and with space travel, and it was such a beautiful moment. I said that we had this opportunity Neil did not have on the first game. We know more now. It was our chance to show how Joel knew Ellie. She asks him if he knows who her favorite astronaut is [in Part II], and he does. Instinctively he already knows her, and she is not shocked by this.”
Mazin continued by mentioning that one of the motivations for including space in the game was Ashley Johnson, who plays Ellie in the video game.
In a similar vein, Troy Baker, who plays Joel in the game, is a musician as well, which is a major factor in Joel’s desire to share his love of music with Ellie.
It is currently unknown if we will get any more significant The Last of Us Part II references this season, so it remains to be seen.
However, it’s safe to say that we shouldn’t be surprised if it happens.