HBO’s adaptation of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is taking the world by storm, as each fresh episode pulls new viewers into the post-apocalyptic story.
The show is already garnering high praise for its third episode, which delved deep into a side story with two gay characters at its core. Its stellar representation is already cause for celebration, and there’s plenty more where that came from in the show’s future. Several more gay characters are scattered among the game’s cast, and future episodes — and seasons — will see these fresh characters realized in live-action for the first time.
Ellie
That’s right, the lead character in The Last of Us is part of the gay community. Ellie’s already dropped a minor hint or two about her status as a lesbian in the show, but unaware viewers likely won’t be properly tuned into her sexuality until later in the season.
Ellie hasn’t had many opportunities to explore her sexuality, thus far, in the story. A storyline that’s only been hinted at should give viewers their first glimpse at this exploration, and it’s likely right around the corner. One of Ellie’s first crushes, Riley, is a vital part of Ellie’s backstory, and early trailers made it clear that she’ll play a role in season one.
In later seasons, Ellie’s sexuality will become even more explicit. As she grows up, she has several girlfriends, before settling down — for a while at least — with her longest-term girlfriend, Dina. The pair is a couple throughout The Last of Us Part II’s storyline, and their romance caught many fans by storm.
Riley
One of Ellie’s first crushes, Riley, was introduced via a spin-off DLC titled The Last of Us: Left Behind. The game takes players through the events that led up to Ellie getting bit for the first time and centers around the youngster’s close bond with her brave, brazen friend Riley.
Riley isn’t explicitly laid out as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, but she and Ellie do share a kiss in the popular DLC. After pecking her friend on the lips, Ellie is quick to apologize, but Riley’s insistence that no apology is needed prompts some fans to believe that she was harboring a crush of her own. Unfortunately, her demise soon after fated any blossoming romance between the two to be short-lived.
Bill
Bill’s relationship with Frank is already alighting the internet, and for good reason. The character’s sexuality is hinted at in the Last of Us games, and many players determined that he was gay, but players didn’t get nearly the romance in the original that HBO delivered with “Long Long Time.”
The third episode of HBO’s series fixated on Bill and Frank’s heartwarming story. It followed them over the course of their relationship, and fans quickly fell in love. The pair’s connection is far more background in the games, however, and Frank doesn’t actually have a role in the story. Joel, Bill, and Ellie do stumble across his corpse in a safe house, along with a brutally honest note, leading most fans to far prefer HBO’s treatment of the couple.
Dina
Ellie’s primary romantic interest in The Last of Us Part II is just the confident, bubbly antidote to Ellie’s many dour moments. She and Ellie have known each other for years by the time the plot in Part II rolls around, growing up together behind the sheltered Jackson walls. She’s bisexual, as evidenced by her various relationships with both men and women, but she’s had her eye on Ellie for a while when they finally share a kiss.
That kiss soon turns into more, leading Dina to sign on and accompany Ellie when she departs Jackson to set out on a brutal mission of revenge. Later, their relationship undergoes a period of strain, after Ellie learns that Dina is pregnant with the child of her ex, and Ellie’s friend, Jessie. The child was conceived before Ellie and Dina were together, but the complications of a pregnant person on a violent mission for vengeance still get in the way. Several brief bubbles of contentment — and even joy — help Ellie to lift her head above the grief that threatens to drown her over the course of the game, but the vicious cycle that dug its claws into Ellie at the beginning of the title isn’t so easily ignored.
Lev
The Last of Us universe’s first prominent trans character plays a vital role in The Last of Us Part II. Lev, born as “Lily” into the rigidly-religious Seraphites, struggled with gender dysphoria from a young age but was encouraged to ignore his true feelings. He manages to successfully bury his true identity for years, quietly questioning Seraphite traditions but never acting, until his desire to become a soldier, like his older sister Yara, is denied, and Lev is instead assigned to become a wife to one of the village’s elders.
This pushes Lev to finally embrace his identity and leads him to shave his head and change his name. In doing so, he marks himself as an apostate, and his community promptly turns against him. Lev, forced to flee, is quickly joined by his sister, who welcomes exile if it means protecting her little brother. The pair meet, and eventually befriend, the game’s deuteragonist, Abby Anderson, and Lev and Abby form a quick bond. It is Lev’s influence that stops Abby from killing Dina near the end of the game, and his continued presence in her life gives Abby the hope she needs to keep trudging onward.
Cat
Cat isn’t a major character in The Last of Us story, but she is identified as one of Ellie’s ex-girlfriends. At several points in The Last of Us Part II, the story jumps back in time to the four-year stretch between the first and second titles. During that time, Ellie employed the help of her girlfriend, Cat, to cover the bite mark on her arm with a tattoo. Cat barely gets a mention in the title and isn’t featured at all in the game itself, but it seems that she and Ellie remain close, even after their breakup.
