The Last of Us's finale was everything fans hoped for and more. ‘Look for the Light’ circled back to many pivotal moments and tied up loose ends. It showcased Ellie’s origins through her mother Anna and shines a light on why she is immune, and also highlights Joel’s conflicting decision, but amid all the hard-hitting plot points and revelations, the show takes a small pause for fans' delight as it recreates Joel and Ellie’s giraffe moment, and as per a report by Total Films, that giraffe was indeed real.
Fans had been long expecting to see the notable giraffe moment from the games and the makers had saved it for the last episode. After the events of the last episode, Joel is seen as the more talkative one trying to cheer up Ellie, who is going through an internal conflict as their journey comes to an end. While they are making their way into Salt Lake City, Ellie spots a giraffe and the scene pretty much follows the game beat by beat.
In the new Making Of documentary that followed the episode, Ramsey reveals, "Giraffes are pretty massive. "It's like a spiritual experience almost, being so close to such a magnificent animal." The actors shot with a real giraffe named Nabo, while their surroundings were digitally added in later. The episode's location manager Matt Palmer said, "Shooting with Nabo the giraffe will certainly be one of my favorite experiences. You can create a giraffe in visual effects, but it's just not the same." The final episode of The Last of Us has used many practical effects over the course of the season — the other scenes with Ashley Johnson’s Anna cast a pair of young twins to play the newborn Ellie.
The Team Behind The Last of Us
The series has been a satisfactory journey for video game fans as they’ve been very protective of their favorite franchise. Created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us hit all the right notes of a good adaptation by sticking to and sometimes borrowing right from the source material, and at the same time giving a lot of characters room to breathe and grow. The series casts Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Nick Offerman as Bill, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Rutina Wesley as Maria, and more. The video game cameos include Troy Baker as James, Johnson as Ellie’s mother Anna, and Jeffrey Pierce as Perry.
All episodes of The Last of Us are available to stream on HBO Max.