The Big Picture

• The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic zombie game that tells an intimate story while also having an epic storyline.
• Players follow Joel and Ellie as they navigate a hostile world and the challenges they face on their journey.
• The game explores themes of trust, sacrifice, and the lengths one will go to protect someone they care about.

Many video games, comics, TV shows, and movies have done the whole “post-apocalyptic zombie” thing but few, if any, have done it better than Naughty Dog’s 2013 game The Last of Us. With an HBO television series adaptation now streaming, now is the perfect time to revisit and explain the game’s plot in detail, from the intense prologue to the startling and thought-provoking conclusion. One of the unique qualities of The Last of Us is its ability to tell an intimate and epic story in a way that feels consistently organic and compelling. Although adapting a video game into a TV series has historically been a challenge, especially since changes in adapting the story are inevitable, there’s no doubt that in this case, the showrunners have done an excellent job in adapting the brilliant source material.

The Last of Us opens dramatically as a young girl named Sarah Miller (Hana Hayes) desperately searches for her father, Joel (Troy Baker), while all hell breaks loose outside her home in Texas. Via a TV news report, we are told that a viral outbreak is ravaging the country, transforming normal humans into hyper-aggressive creatures dubbed simply “the infected.” When Sarah is reunited with Joel and her uncle Tommy (Jeffrey Pierce), they attempt to flee their home as people die, fires burn, and the Army mobilizes. In the chaos, their jeep crashes and Joel carries Sarah as they attempt to escape on foot. They come across a soldier who receives orders to shoot them. The soldier fires a few shots just before Tommy puts a bullet in his head. Joel emerges from the confrontation without any serious damage, but Sarah has been shot in the stomach. As Joel attempts to save her, Sarah dies tragically in his arms.

Joel Must Take Ellie to the Fireflies in 'The Last of Us'

As the opening credits roll, players are caught up with the story via a series of news broadcast audio snippets. We learn that attempts to manufacture a vaccine have failed, and the Army has declared martial law in major American cities. This provoked the formation of a revolutionary group called the Fireflies, who demand that democracy be restored. 20 years after Sarah’s death, Joel is now living in a militarized zone in Boston, earning a living as a smuggler. As we settle into the current setting, Tess (Annie Wersching), his partner in crime, bangs on his door and tells him a man named Robert (Robin Atkins Downes) sent a couple of goons to attack her. Joel and Tess track down Robert and discover that he’s sold a bunch of their guns to the Fireflies. After Robert is killed, a Firefly named Marlene (Merle Dandridge) offers Joel and Tess a deal: smuggle a young girl out of Boston, and they’ll get their weapons back. The young girl in question is named Ellie (Ashley Johnson) and, as Joel and Tess soon discover, she's naturally immune to the cordyceps virus that has devastated civilization. After accepting the deal, the trio make their way out of the militarized zone. Joel starts to take a liking to Ellie, who reminds him of his daughter Sarah. But 20 years of mercilessly killing any people in his path, infected or not, has hardened Joel’s heart and made him reluctant to become emotionally invested in anyone.

When they attempt to meet up with a small band of Fireflies to hand off Ellie, the group discovers that they're all dead. Making it worse, after a battle with the infected, Tess is bitten. Believing in the importance of saving Ellie’s life due to her immunity being used to develop a vaccine, Tess heroically sacrifices herself during a FEDRA invasion as Joel and Ellie escape. Now left with only each other and no plan in place, Joel figures that their best bet is to find his now estranged brother Tommy, who is also a former Firefly. This is in the hopes that Tommy can help them find other Fireflies. The problem is that Tommy lives out west and Joel and Ellie are on foot. So Joel decides they should seek out the help of an old friend of his, a grizzled old kook named Bill (W. Earl Brown) who lives alone in the suburbs outside Boston. Although Ellie is eager to be armed and help Joel, the latter is reluctant to trust her. Eventually, they find Bill, whose partner abandoned him and committed suicide. Bill, obviously nihilistic and hiding the pain he feels from being alone, advises Joel against helping Ellie. Nonetheless, owing a debt to him, Bill helps Joel and Ellie get a car. The two then hit the road, driving west in search of Tommy.

Joel and Ellie Must Fight Their Way Across the Country in 'The Last of Us'

When they reach Pittsburgh, Joel and Ellie are ambushed by a group of bandits. Their car is totaled, and they're again forced to travel on foot. In an intense fight with one of the bandits, Joel is nearly drowned. As he reaches desperately for his submerged gun, a hand grabs it and shoots the bandit, saving Joel’s life- It’s Ellie! Although he’s upset that Ellie violated his rule of not getting involved in any acts of violence, Joel reluctantly admits to himself and Ellie that he’s thankful she rescued him. While still in Pittsburgh, Joel and Ellie come across another duo, two brothers named Henry (Brandon Scott) and his younger brother, Sam (Nadji Jeter). Joel is, per usual, reluctant to trust or team up with them, but Ellie bonds with Sam. Joel and Henry hatch a plan for all of them to escape Pittsburgh, which seems successful until we learn Sam is infected. After trying to hide this from the group, he turns into an infected, attacking Ellie. Henry, seeing no alternative, shoots and kills his little brother before turning the gun on himself.

A few months later, we find Joel and Ellie outside of Jackson, Wyoming, where Tommy is living with a community of self-sufficient survivors. We discover that Joel and Tommy had a falling out due to their disagreement over the Fireflies. Tommy believed in the cause, but Joel didn’t. But when the brothers see each other, Tommy warmly embraces Joel, inviting him and Ellie to join the community. Joel explains Ellie's immunity to Tommy and that he should deliver her to the Fireflies, so their group can develop a vaccine. Tommy offers to lend Joel some gear for the journey but refuses to take her off Joel’s hands. When Ellie finds out that Joel tried to pawn her off, she lashes out, hurt that a man she’s come to see as a father figure is eager to abandon her. They have an intense argument in which Ellie brings up Joel’s deceased daughter, Sarah. Joel angrily tells Ellie that she’s not his daughter and that they must go their separate ways. He soon changes his mind, however, and he and Ellie set off on horseback to Colorado, where Tommy believes some Fireflies are stationed.

Bandits Aren't The Only Threat to Joel and Ellie in 'The Last of Us'

In Colorado, Joel and Ellie find the Firefly station abandoned but discover that they have relocated to Salt Lake City. Joel and Ellie are attacked by more bandits and Joel is severely wounded, causing Ellie to rescue him again. As the game flashes forward to Winter, Ellie is shown hunting deer on her own while trying to care for a still-unconscious Joel. Ellie soon runs into a man named David (Nolan North) who offers her some penicillin in exchange for deer meat. After bonding and fighting off some infected, David reveals that the bandits that attacked Ellie and Joel were his men. Nonetheless, he still gives Ellie the penicillin, which she administers to Joel at their hideout in the mountains.

The next day, David’s men track Ellie to her hideout and kidnap her. Locked in a prison cell, she realizes that David is the leader of a group of cannibals. David states that he doesn't want to kill Ellie and instead wants her to join his group. She refuses, managing to spring from her cell. Meanwhile, Joel has recovered enough to get up and realizes Ellie is gone. He sets out to find her, torturing some of David’s men to reveal her location. After escaping, Ellie has a final confrontation with David inside a burning building, where she kills him with a machete. Traumatized by what she's endured, she's rescued by Joel, who escorts her out of the burning building.

Joel and Ellie Finally Reach the Fireflies in 'The Last of Us'

In Salt Lake City, Joel and Ellie search for the Fireflies and have tender heart-to-heart moments, apologizing for hurting each other in the past. Ellie presents Joel with a pre-outbreak photo of him and Sarah which she got from Tommy. Joel gratefully accepts the photo, admitting that he’s never forgotten about his daughter. Finally, after several close calls battling the infected and traveling through the city, Joel and Ellie meet up with the remaining members of the Fireflies in St. Mary's Hospital. Joel meets back up with Marlene, who reveals that Ellie is being prepped for surgery. This will allow the Fireflies to develop a vaccine that will save humanity, but there’s one catch: Ellie will not survive the procedure.

After angrily confronting Marlene about the decision to sacrifice Ellie, Joel escapes from Firefly custody and rushes into the operating room. The surgeon attempts to convince Joel to think of all the lives they'll save, but Joel shoots him, grabbing the unconscious Ellie off the operating table and carrying her out of the hospital. As he escapes, Marlene stands in his way, telling Joel that it's Ellie's choice to sacrifice herself. Marlene lays down her weapon, begging him to do the right thing. After killing Marlene, Joel drives Ellie out of Salt Lake City as she wakes up from her anesthesia. After asking what happened, Joel lies, telling her the Fireflies have discovered many immune people and that they'd stopped trying to develop a vaccine. Ellie is quiet, seeming skeptical about Joel’s explanation. Another timehop brings them to Jackson as Joel and Ellie hike through a scenic forest. Joel tells Ellie stories about Sarah, saying the two of them would’ve been good friends if they had known each other. Ellie stops and confronts Joel, making him swear that everything he'd said about her immunity and the Fireflies is true. Joel swears it’s true and Ellie says “Okay” as the screen cuts to black and the game's powerful story ends.