Warning! This article contains spoilers for both The Last of Us episode 1 and the original game.The Last of Us episode 1 featured many callbacks and references to the original game, none more overt than the truck scene in which the Miller family escapes the Cordyceps outbreak. The Last of Us episode 1 begins in 2003, with Joel, Tommy, and Sarah seemingly living a typical day before having to escape the infected residents of Austin, Texas. After Sarah is attacked by her neighbors, Tommy and Joel appear in a pick-up truck and flee with Sarah.
This scene in the truck will look familiar to those who have played the game. This is thanks primarily in part to the direct references to the original game made in The Last of Us through important game scenes. This was expected due to Neil Druckmann's direct involvement with the series, the writer-director of both The Last of Us Part I and The Last of Us Part II. The references to the original game are at their most overt during the scene in the truck, with Tommy driving Joel and Sarah out of Austin's suburbs.
How The Last Of Us' Outbreak Scene Compares To The Game
One of the main ways this scene in The Last of Us episode 1 compares to the game is through a distinct camera trick. In the original game, the sequence features a long take with players only able to see different points of interest by moving Sarah's point of view around the truck. The Last of Us episode 1 features a similar element, with the perspective of Nico Parker's Sarah being the main perspective rather than Pedro Pascal's Joel. While not done in a singular shot like the game, The Last of Us episode 1 positions the camera in the back of the truck in almost every shot.
Once the truck enters the small town, there is an almost two-minute-long sequence with only one cut, emulating the extra-long camerawork of the original game. The camera pans around the back seat of the truck, showing hordes of infected attacking civilians, as well as other elements of fallout from the outbreak. This technique allows The Last of Us episode 1 to subliminally place players of the game within the show in a way they recognize, all while displaying great filmmaking to engage newcomers to the story.
Every Video Game Easter Egg In The Truck Scene
While the camerawork in The Last of Us episode 1 emulates the game's truck scene, there are other easter eggs in HBO's video game adaptation referencing the same scene. The first is just after the Miller family enters the truck, with the camera showing them coming up to a T-junction with Joel saying to take highway 71 out of the city. This is almost a word-for-word recreation of the game. Shortly after this, the Millers drive past a burning farmhouse with Tommy knowing the owner in both iterations. Both scenes also feature Sarah asking if they are sick, with Tommy replying it is only people in the city.
Shortly after, in The Last of Us episode 1, the truck drives past parents stranded on the roadside with their child. Tommy wants to stop, but Joel tells him to keep driving. Tommy says that they have a kid, and Joel replies "So do we, keep driving. Somebody else will come along," emulating The Last of Us' game actor Troy Baker. This is again an almost word-for-word recreation of the same scene from the game, down to Sarah's distress. All of this just goes to show how HBO's The Last of Us is emulating its game counterpart, something that continues into the episode's time jump to 2023.
New episodes of The Last of Us release every Sunday on HBO.