50 Fun Facts About Hard the Last of Us

In 2004, student Neil Druckmann pitched a zombie game concept to which film director?

The idea merged the gameplay of Ico with a Night of the Living Dead setting and a lead based on Sin City's John Hartigan, whose heart condition would force players to control the girl he protected.

Under what codename did preliminary work on The Last of Us begin after Uncharted 2 shipped in 2009?

Also known as T1, it marked the first time Naughty Dog split into two teams, with the other making Uncharted 3.

Which character was originally The Last of Us's main antagonist, pursuing Joel for a year?

The team could not believe she would chase Joel that long, so the story was overhauled. Annie Wersching still praised Druckmann's writing of women.

Which animals were originally planned for the famous late-game scene that ended up featuring giraffes?

Concept artist John Sweeney said the scene was built to reignite Ellie's lust for life, capping the game's 'life goes on' motif.

Druckmann initially modelled Joel on Josh Brolin's performance in which film?

He wanted someone 'very quiet, very cool under pressure', but Troy Baker's more emotional reading changed the character. The Road and City of Thieves were also touchstones.

Roughly what share of the first game's animations were recorded with motion capture?

The remaining audio was recorded later in a studio. Uncharted's mocap director Gordon Hunt was replaced once the team realised the game needed a different tone.

Why did Gustavo Santaolalla start composing so early in the first game's development?

Druckmann simply described the story and themes rather than giving instructions. Straley and Druckmann had noticed that many tracks on their inspiration playlist were his.

How many copies did The Last of Us sell in its first seven days in June 2013?

It reached 3.4 million within three weeks, the biggest launch of an original game since L.A. Noire, and finished as the tenth-best-selling game of 2013.

As of January 2023, how many games had the franchise sold in total?

The Last of Us and Remastered alone had reached 17 million by April 2018; Part II sold four million in its launch weekend.

The Last of Us Part II won how many Game of the Year awards, according to the franchise article?

That is despite a review-bombing campaign on Metacritic over its story. The first game is routinely ranked among the greatest ever made.

In Left Behind, in which city's abandoned mall do Ellie and Riley spend their night together?

The flashback is set three weeks before Ellie meets Joel; the other half of the expansion has Ellie scouring a Colorado mall for medicine to save him.

Where does Ellie find the medical kit she needs for the injured Joel in Left Behind?

The expansion added the ability to distract the Infected into fighting human enemies by throwing objects.

Which actress voiced Riley in Left Behind?

Riley has run away from military boarding school and joined the Fireflies. Storm Reid played the part in the HBO series.

Under what codename was The Last of Us Part I first reported by Jason Schreier in 2021?

It began at Sony's Visual Arts Support Group before moving under Naughty Dog. A PlayStation Store listing leaked the title on June 9, 2022.

Which two directors led The Last of Us Part I, replacing Straley and Druckmann?

The remake was rebuilt on the Part II engine with new animations and character models. Critics questioned its price and necessity.

Part II was the first Naughty Dog game to split the game-director role between two people. Who were they?

Newman had designed the first game's melee combat; Margenau had directed Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Both were hired during Uncharted 2.

Roughly how large was the total workforce that built The Last of Us Part II?

Naughty Dog's own 350-person team led the work over more than five years. Story concepts began in late 2013.

Who co-wrote The Last of Us Part II with Neil Druckmann?

Gross later joined the HBO series as a writer for season two. Druckmann drew the game's revenge themes from his childhood in the West Bank.

Which real event did Druckmann cite as sparking the revenge themes of Part II?

He said his own violent thoughts on hearing the cheering crowds left him feeling 'gross and guilty', and he wanted players to feel that thirst before confronting it.

Which cut sequence from Part II had gameplay, art and performance fully completed before being removed?

An earlier draft also had five days in Seattle rather than three, including a side story on the Seraphite island meant to humanise the cult.

Which release date did Naughty Dog announce for Part II in September 2019, before the first delay?

Druckmann pushed it to May 29 for polish, and the pandemic then shifted it to June. At E3 2018 he had refused to name any date until the game was 'very close'.

Which character had Druckmann first considered Laura Bailey for, before she was cast as Abby?

He had wanted to avoid casting Bailey because she was in so many games. She later faced online death threats over the character.

Ellie's moth tattoo in Part II was designed by which outside artist after the team struggled to agree?

Hall drew it on a developer's arm so the team could see it. Adding the moth to Ellie's guitar created the link between the two.

Where do Abby and Lev learn the Fireflies are regrouping when they reach Santa Barbara?

They are captured by the slave-keeping Rattlers before Ellie arrives for the final confrontation.

Which two studios helped Naughty Dog build the 2025 Windows version of The Last of Us Part II Remastered?

The PS5 remaster had arrived in January 2024, with a $10 upgrade and modes including Guitar Free Play featuring a character modelled on Santaolalla.

Ellie's character was inspired by a mute character proposed for which earlier Naughty Dog game?

Ashley Johnson pushed Druckmann to make Ellie more independent and more capable in combat.

Where in Texas is Joel from, according to his backstory?

He was a single father in his late twenties or early thirties at the outbreak. Pedro Pascal, a non-gamer, watched his nephew play the opening rather than play it himself.

Which position did Neil Druckmann reach at Naughty Dog in 2024?

He had become vice president in 2018, co-president in 2020 and head of creative in 2023. He has won three BAFTA Games Awards and four Writers Guild awards.

Which 1994 game did Bruce Straley design at his own short-lived company Pacific Softscape?

He joined Naughty Dog in 1999 as an artist on Crash Team Racing and rose to direct Uncharted 2, The Last of Us and Uncharted 4.

A film adaptation of The Last of Us was announced in 2014. What happened to it?

When Druckmann met Craig Mazin that year they agreed the story needed a series' length. HBO announced the show in March 2020.

How much did the HBO series' first season generate for Alberta's economy?

It created 1,490 jobs and was the largest TV production ever filmed in the province. The season budget topped CA$100 million, more than each of Game of Thrones' first five seasons.

How many days did the first season of the HBO series spend filming?

That worked out to 18 or 19 days per episode. Filming began in Calgary on July 12, 2021, and a four-day Edmonton shoot cost CA$372,000.

Which two directors were attached to the HBO pilot before Craig Mazin ended up directing it himself?

Renck left over pandemic scheduling and Balagov over creative differences. HBO also merged the first two scripts into one long premiere.

The HBO premiere opens with a 1968 talk-show scene in which epidemiologists debate what?

The premiere drew 4.7 million viewers on day one and nearly 40 million within two months, and won Emmys for sound mixing and editing.

Where was the town of Lincoln for the episode 'Long, Long Time' built and filmed?

Production designer John Paino's team built it in six to twelve weeks. Director Peter Hoar had played the first game but not Part II.

Which 1968 play inspired a line of Bill's in 'Long, Long Time', as Mazin avoided equating homosexuality with tragedy?

Mazin deliberately never specified Frank's illness, saying it was either multiple sclerosis or early ALS. The final shot of an open window echoes the game's title screen.

Which two guest actors won Creative Arts Emmys for the HBO series' first season?

The season earned 24 Emmy nominations and eight Creative Arts wins, the first live-action game adaptation to draw major awards attention. Pascal won the SAG Award.

Which actress plays Kathleen, the Kansas City resistance leader created for the HBO series?

Kathleen Coghlan is soft-spoken but ruthless; Jeffrey Pierce, the games' voice of Tommy, plays her second-in-command Perry.

Which actor plays Isaac, the WLF leader, in the second season of the HBO series?

Wright had voiced Isaac in the game as well. Season two averaged almost 37 million viewers within two months of its April 2025 premiere.

Where was the HBO series' third season shot, from March to November 2026?

Season two also shot in British Columbia. Druckmann and his Part II co-writer stepped back from the show in July 2025, leaving Mazin as sole showrunner.

When did HBO renew The Last of Us for its second season?

The renewal came on January 27, 2023. Season three was greenlit on April 9, 2025, before season two had even premiered.

Which sequence did Naughty Dog keep secret before release, along with the heroine's immunity?

The team also hid the prologue in which players control Joel's daughter Sarah, and always intended two protagonists with their own arcs.

Where were the Part II performances captured, with motion and voice recorded simultaneously?

The writers' stated aim was to create 'the most multifaceted characters you've seen in games'.

The HBO series' first-season budget of over CA$100 million topped the first five seasons of which show?

At more than $10 million per episode, it ranks among the most expensive television series ever, and the budget rose again for season two.

Who served as casting director for the first season of HBO's The Last of Us, working via Zoom?

She wanted to honor the game without being limited by it; Pascal and Ramsey were cast on February 10, 2021.

In the HBO series, which physical frailties were added to Joel that he lacks in the game?

The show deliberately made Joel more physically vulnerable than his video-game counterpart.

Who composed the HBO score alongside Gustavo Santaolalla, handling the action-driven music?

Santaolalla wrote the character-driven material and the opening theme, treating the show as an expansion of the games.

Which actors play Abby's friends Owen, Nora, Mel and Manny in the second season?

Ramirez left in December 2025 over scheduling and was replaced as Manny by Jorge Lendeborg Jr. for season three.

Who illustrated The Last of Us: American Dreams, the 2013 Dark Horse prequel comic Druckmann wrote?

The four-issue miniseries follows a younger Ellie and Riley before the events of the game.

The Last of Us: Escape the Dark, the 2022-announced tabletop game, was made by Naughty Dog with which publisher?

Up to five players try to reach safety while exploring locations from the game; a separate CMON board game announced in 2020 went quiet.