Many video games, comics, TV shows, and movies have explored the theme of post-apocalyptic zombies, but few have done it better than Naughty Dog’s 2013 game The Last of Us. Now with a TV series streaming on HBO, now is the perfect time to revisit and detail the game’s plot, from its intense prologue to its surprising, thought-provoking ending. One of the unique qualities of The Last of Us is its ability to tell a story that is both intimate and epic, in a way that is organic and compelling throughout. Adapting video games into a TV series has historically been difficult, especially since changes are inevitable when adapting a story, but in this case, there’s no doubt that the showrunners have done a great job adapting a great source material.

The Last of Us begins dramatically with a young girl named Sarah Miller (Hana Hayes) desperately searching for her father, Joel (Troy Baker), as an inferno begins outside her Texas home. Watching television news reports, she learns that a viral outbreak has swept across the country, turning ordinary people into highly aggressive creatures simply called “infected.” Sarah is reunited with Joel and her uncle Tommy (Jeffrey Pierce), but they attempt to flee their home as people die, fires rage, and the military is called in. In the confusion, the jeep crashes and Joel attempts to flee on foot with Sarah on his back. They are met by a soldier who is ordered to shoot them. The soldier fires several shots just before Tommy puts a bullet in his head. Joel escapes without serious injury, but Sarah is shot in the abdomen. While Joel tries to save her, Sarah tragically dies in his arms.

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

As the opening credits roll, players are introduced to the situation through a series of audio clips from news broadcasts. They learn that attempts to produce a vaccine have failed and the military has declared martial law in major American cities. This leads to the formation of the Fireflies, a revolutionary group seeking the restoration of democracy. Twenty years after Sarah’s death, Joel now lives in a military zone in Boston and makes a living as a smuggler. As he navigates his current environment, his accomplice Tess (Annie Wersching) knocks on his door, telling him that a man named Robert (Robin Atkins Downs) has sent several thugs to attack them. Joel and Tess track Robert down and discover that he has sold a large amount of weapons to the Fireflies. After Robert is killed, a Firefly named Marlene (Merle Dandridge) offers Joel and Tess a deal: smuggle a girl out of Boston to retrieve the guns. The girl’s name is Ellie (Ashley Johnson). As Joel and Tess soon discover, she has a natural immunity to the Cordyceps virus that destroyed civilization. After accepting the deal, the trio departs from the military zone. Joel begins to develop feelings for Ellie, who reminds him of his daughter, Sarah. But for the last 20 years he has ruthlessly murdered anyone who gets in his way, infected or not. This has hardened Joel’s heart and made him wary of getting emotionally involved with anyone.

When he attempts to meet up with a small group of Fireflies to hand over Ellie, he finds that the group is all dead. To make matters worse, Tess is bitten after a fight with the infected. Believing it is important to save Ellie’s life, as her immunity will be used to develop a vaccine, Tess heroically sacrifices herself during a FEDRA invasion while Joel and Ellie escape. Now they have nothing but loyalty to each other and no plan. Joel decides his best chance is to find his now estranged brother Tommy (also a former Firefly). This is done in hopes that it will help Tommy find the other Fireflies. The problem is, Tommy lives out West, where Joel and Ellie are within walking distance. So Joel decides that they should ask for help from an old friend, a grizzled weirdo named Bill (W. Earl Brown), who lives alone outside Boston. Ellie is armed and wants to help Joel, but Joel is hesitant to trust her. Eventually, they discover Bill, who has recently split up with his partner and committed suicide. Bill is clearly nihilistic and hides the pain of being alone, and advises Joel not to help Ellie. Nevertheless, Bill helps Joel and Ellie buy a car, as he owes them one. The pair then head west to find Tommy.

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

Upon arriving in Pittsburgh, Joel and Ellie are ambushed by a group of bandits. Their car is totaled, forcing them to continue on foot again. During a fierce fight with one of the bandits, Joel nearly drowns. As he desperately reaches for his submerged gun, a hand grabs it and shoots the bandit, saving Joel’s life – it’s Ellie! Joel is angry that Ellie broke the rule of not being violent, but reluctantly admits to himself and Ellie that he is grateful that Ellie saved him. While still in Pittsburgh, Joel and Ellie meet another duo, brothers named Henry (Brandon Scott) and his younger brother Sam (Naji Jeter). Ellie befriends Sam, though Joel is not willing to trust or cooperate with them as he normally does. Joel and Henry make a plan for them all to escape Pittsburgh. The plan seems to work until they discover that Sam is infected. After trying to hide this from the group, he transforms into an infected and attacks Ellie. Seeing no other option, Henry shoots his brother and then turns the gun on himself.

A few months later, Tommy finds Joel and Ellie outside of Jackson, Wyoming, where they are living with a group of self-sufficient survivors. We learn that Joel and Tommy had a falling out over a disagreement regarding the Fireflies. Tommy believed in the cause, but Joel did not. However, when the brothers meet, Tommy warmly embraces Joel and invites him and Ellie to join the community. Joel explains to Tommy that Ellie is immune and needs to be handed over to the Fireflies group so they can develop a vaccine. Tommy offers to lend Joel his travel gear, but he refuses to take it from Joel. Ellie is furious when she finds out Joel tried to separate from her. She is so hurt that the man she considers a father figure would abandon her. They get into a heated argument, and Ellie mentions Joel’s late daughter, Sarah. Joel angrily tells Ellie that she is not his daughter and that they should go their separate ways. However, he soon changes his mind and travels with Ellie to Colorado, where Tommy believes the Fireflies are.

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

In Colorado, Joel and Ellie find Firefly Station abandoned, but learn they are relocating to Salt Lake City. Joel and Ellie are attacked by more bandits and Joel is severely injured, forcing Ellie to save him again. As the game transitions to winter, Ellie is shown hunting a deer alone while still tending to the unconscious Joel. Ellie soon meets a man named David (Nolan North) who offers her penicillin in exchange for deer meat. After they become friends and fight off the infected, David reveals that the bandits who attacked Ellie and Joel were his men. Nevertheless, he gives Ellie penicillin, which she gives to Joel in his mountain hideout.

The next day, David’s men follow Ellie to her hiding place and kidnap her. Locked in a cell, she realizes that David is the leader of a gang of cannibals. David explains that he does not want to kill Ellie and wants her to join his group. She refuses and manages to escape from the cell. Meanwhile, Joel has recovered enough to stand and realizes that Ellie is gone. He begins searching for her, torturing some of David’s men to extract information about her location. After escaping, Ellie has a final confrontation with David in a burning building, where she murders him with a machete. Traumatized by her experiences, she is 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 share a heartfelt moment, sincerely apologizing for hurting each other in the past. Ellie gives Joel a photo of him and Sarah from before the outbreak that Tommy gave him. Joel gratefully accepts the photo, admitting that he has never forgotten his daughter. After several close calls with infected people and a journey around the city, Joel and Ellie finally meet with the rest of the Fireflies at St. Mary’s Hospital. Joel reunites with Marlene, who tells him that Ellie is being prepared for surgery. This will allow the Fireflies to develop a vaccine that will save humanity, but there’s a catch: Ellie will not survive this surgery.

After angrily confronting Marlene about his decision to sacrifice Ellie, Joel escapes from the Fireflies’ custody and rushes to the operating room. The surgeon tries to convince Joel to think about all the lives he can save, but Joel shoots him, then pulls an unconscious Ellie off the operating table and carries her out of the hospital. As they escape, Marine stands in their way and tells Joel that it was Ellie’s decision to sacrifice herself. Marine puts down her gun and pleads with him to do the right thing. After killing Marine, Joel drives Ellie out of Salt Lake City as she wakes up from anesthesia. When she asks what happened, Joel lies that the Fireflies discovered many vaccinated people and stopped developing the vaccine. Ellie is quiet and seems skeptical of Joel’s explanation. We jump back in time again to Jackson, where Joel and Ellie are hiking through a scenic forest. Joel tells Ellie the story of Sarah and says that the two would have been good friends if they had known each other. Ellie stops and confronts Joel, making him swear that everything he said about his immunity and the fireflies is true. Joel swears that it’s true, Ellie says “I get it,” and the screen goes black, ending the game’s exciting storyline.