‘The Last of Us’: All the Easter Eggs and Changes From the Game in Season 2

Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 1.

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 Episode 1. Check back every Sunday for updates following each episode.

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.

New episodes of “The Last of Us” air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and stream on Max.

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