The Last of Us
What is The Last of Us about?
Who are the main characters in The Last of Us?
What is the source of the infection in The Last of Us?
Are there zombies in The Last of Us?
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The Last of Us, American post-apocalyptic television drama series, adapted from a popular video game franchise of the same name developed by the studio Naughty Dog. Showrunner Craig Mazin cocreated the television series with Neil Druckmann, who is also the writer and creative director of the video games. The show is set in a dystopian world where a parasitic fungal pandemic turns people into violent, bloodthirsty creatures, and survivors cling on to what remains of their humanity as they struggle to ward off the infection. The series has received widespread acclaim for staying true to the original storyline of the source material while adding depth to the characters and expanding the worldbuilding. The Last of Us first aired on HBO on January 15, 2023, and returned for a second season on April 13, 2025. A third season is slated for release in 2027.
(The following discussion may contain spoilers.)
Plot summary
The fungus that turns people into mindless zombie-like creatures in The Last of Us is a fictionalized, mutated version of the real-life zombie-ant fungus Cordyceps (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis). In nature, the parasitic fungus infects ants or spiders, taking control of their mind and body. It then forces them to climb to a high place suitable for fungal reproduction before killing them and sprouting fungal growths and spores from their bodies. In the real world, scientists consider a fungal outbreak as depicted in the show extremely unlikely, as humans are generally protected from such fungi by their immune system and high body temperatures.
The central storyline ofThe Last of Us deals with the relationship between Joel (Pedro Pascal), a man hardened by the grief of his daughterâs death, and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a brave but vulnerable teenage girl who may be the key to the survival of the human race. Over the course of a harrowing cross-country journey, the two come to love and depend on each other. Like the video game, the television series eschews the usual tropes of the zombie horror genre and spotlights the charactersâ interpersonal relationships in a post-apocalyptic world.
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Season one
Though the show premiered a decade after the launch of the first video game, they share some common threads in terms of production and casting:
- Argentina-born Gustavo Santaolalla, who composed the plaintive soundtrack for the original game and its sequel, also scored the HBO series.
- Merle Dandridge, who voiced and later played Fireflies leader Marlene, is the only cast member from the video game to reprise her role in the series.
- Troy Baker (who voices Joel in the games) and Ashley Johnson (who voices Ellie in the games) feature on the show, but in different roles from their video game characters. Baker played a member of a cannibalistic cult in the first season while Johnson was cast as Ellieâs mother on the showâa character who was given more of a backstory on the show.
A global pandemic caused by a fast-spreading parasitic fungus hits in 2003 and turns most of the worldâs human population into hordes of âinfected.â When the fungus takes over a personâs brain, it causes them to attack anyone not already contaminated. Humans contract the infection by being bitten or by breathing air that contains spores from the fungus.
In the chaos of the early days of the pandemic, Joelâs 14-year-old daughter, Sarah (Nico Parker), is killed by a soldier. The show then jumps twenty years into the future. Joel and his partner Tess (Anna Torv) run a smuggling operation in the Boston Quarantine Zone, controlled by the Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA)âa remnant of the U.S. military that, early on in the pandemic, herded survivors into guarded areas where it imposed martial law. The few remaining quarantine zones in the U.S. are periodically attacked by members of the Fireflies, a militia group fighting against the oppression of FEDRA.
Marlene (Merle Dandridge), the leader of the Fireflies, enlists Joel and Tess to smuggle the 14-year-old Ellie out of the zone and hand her over to a squad of Fireflies, who want to take her to a laboratory in the western United States. Because of the unique circumstances of her birth, Ellie is immune to the infection, and the Fireflies hope to create a vaccine or cure for the infection from her DNA. However, the plan to meet Fireflies outside the quarantine zone fails, and Tess sacrifices herself to help them escape a swarm of infected, leaving Joel and Ellie to journey west on their own.
Along the way they seek refuge at the home of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett), a loving couple who are friends of Joel. One of the seriesâ standout episodes, âLong, Long Time,â breaks from the central narrative to tell Bill and Frankâs love story in flashback, tracing their lifeâand eventual deathâamid the pandemic. Later in the series, Joel and Ellie face several deadly threats, including a dangerous resistance group led by the vengeful Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) and a cannibalistic cult headed by the preacher David (Scott Shepherd).
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When the pair finally reach the Firefliesâ outpost, Marlene tells Joel that the surgery to create a cure would come at the cost of Ellieâs life. Having come to care deeply for Ellie, Joel goes on a killing spree, gunning down Marlene, dozens of other Fireflies, and their head doctor to rescue Ellie, who lies unconscious through the massacre. When Ellie wakes, Joel lies to her and says the doctors could not manufacture a cure, setting up the events of season two.
Although the fungus-infected creatures in The Last of Us are popularly referred to as zombies and share a likeness to how zombies are depicted in film and media, the show itself avoids using the term. This is because zombie technically describes a dead body that comes back to lifeâwhich the infected on The Last of Us are not. Instead, on the show, those infected by the fungus are technically still alive, though they cannot think or act on their own.
Season two
The second season is set five years later. Joel and Ellie have settled in Jackson, Wyoming, in a community led by Joelâs younger brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and his wife Maria (Rutina Wesley). Joel and Ellie now have a strained relationship, partly because Ellie senses that Joel has lied to her. Ellie spends much of her time with her friends, the community-minded Jesse (Young Mazino) and the adventurous, determined Dina (Isabela Merced).
The most shocking and tragic event of the season comes when Joel is captured and then brutally murdered by Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), the daughter of the head doctor Joel had killed when rescuing Ellie. Abby is also a former Firefly and current member of the Washington Liberation Front (WLF), a Seattle-based militia. Seeking revenge, Ellie and Dina set out for Seattle. While on their journey, Dina discovers that she is pregnant with Jesseâs child. Simultaneously, her bond with Ellie deepens into a romantic relationship. Despite having new reasons to live, Ellie is obsessed with finding Abby, ignoring the toll it takes on her soulâand the danger it poses to those she loves. Jesse comes to help Ellie and Dina but is killed by Abby. In the seasonâs final moments, Abby points her gun at Ellie. Abruptly, the screen cuts to black, and a gunshot is heardâbut it is unclear who was shot.
The final scene of the season rewinds the clock a few days but shifts the narrative point of view to Abby, likely hinting that season three will unfold through her eyes.
Development
The Last of Us video game series, originally released in 2013 by cocreators Druckmann and Bruce Straley, has long been regarded as a modern-day classic of the medium for its layered storytelling and character-centric gameplay. Plans for a film adaptation were publicized as soon as 2014, with Sam Raimi set to direct and Druckmann handling the script. However, work on the script had come to a standstill by 2016, with Raimi stating that Druckmannâs ideas conflicted with those of executives at Sony, the filmâs distributor. By 2020 plans for a big-screen adaptation were scrapped, and Druckmann teamed up with Mazin to pitch a television series to HBO; it was approved that same year. Mazin and Druckmann wrote the first two seasons together. For the second season, they were joined by Halley Wegryn Gross, a cowriter on the video game entry The Last of Us Part II (2020). Both Druckmann and Gross stepped down from their roles on the show after the season two finale aired, leaving Mazin as the sole showrunner.
Reception and accolades
The showâs first season averaged 32 million viewers per episode in the United States within about three monthsâthe best-performing debut season in HBO history. The second season debuted stronger than the first but lost a significant number of viewers by the finale. Still, the second season averaged 37 million viewers worldwide across all platforms.
The television series is widely considered one of the best adaptations of a video game. Pascal and Ramseyâs performances and on-screen chemistry has been especially commended. When jurors awarded The Last of Us a Peabody Award in 2024, they singled out âLong, Long Timeâ for praise, noting that the episode âimagines what a life of love and fulfillment can look like at the end of the world.â For his heartfelt performance in the episode, Offerman was also awarded the 2023 Emmy Award for outstanding guest actor in a drama series. The first season was nominated for 24 Emmys, winning seven. In 2025 the second season was nominated for 16 Emmys and won one.