The Last of Us: Top five changes from game to series
By Rodrigo Verney, March 27 2023—
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers to HBO’s The Last of Us
The Last of Us, is a series that has swept the world faster than any cordyceps fungus ever could. Famous for not only contributing to our childhoods as we played the games, but for making us cry well into our adulthood with a brilliantly simple love story. The series and the games are here to show us just how much we can fall and get back up. Even when reduced to the very last of us, hope is human nature. To celebrate this franchise, here’s a list of the five best moments that were unique in the series and in the games.
The infection and the way it spreads
This is one of the most famous ones. The way that the infection was spreading in the games was explicitly told as the jump of the fungus from insects to humans. It was also obvious that it travelled through spores that the fungus would breathe into the atmosphere. In the series, it’s much more subtle. It had its start in a huge flour factory in Jakarta, Indonesia as the writers thought that it might be too hard to believe that the spores wouldn’t be able to just take over every space in the world.
The bloater’s hellish introduction
Everyone who’s played the game knows the chills you get when you see this massive zombie survive every bullet you shoot at him. The bloater’s first game appearance came while Joel and Ellie were travelling with Bill and they managed to barely escape the encounter alive. In the series, the monster first appears on a rampage against Kathleen’s forces.
Tess’ last goodbye
Tess is one of the most unforgettable characters. The person that changed Joel’s mind and made him swear that he would take Ellie to where she needed to be taken has two very different storylines in the two mediums. In the games, Tess gets her heroic moment as a last stand against some firefly guards before she is finally taken down. In the series, Tess blows herself up in an explosion after a kiss from an infected — almost as if he recognized her as another as she is forced to look into a mirror of what she might have turned into.
Bill and Frank’s relationship
The development of Bill and Frank’s romance is one of the absolute highlights of the series. While in the game we never get to see the two together, the series holds nothing back and develops one of the most beautiful love stories.
Ellie tries to cure Sam
One of the biggest gut punches of the series was this scene in which Ellie tries to cure Sam with her blood. The soothing hope is revealed to be nothing more than an illusion as the little boy still wakes up a zombie and Ellie has to watch Sam’s death at the hands of his own brother. Truly a testament to how these kids are being forced to grow up in a world that seems devoid of hope.