Eagle-eyed ‘The Last of Us’ fan catches a nod to the second game in episode five 

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for ‘The Last of Us’ episode five, ‘Endure and Survive’ and ‘The Last of Us: Part II’ video game.

The Last of Us has turned out to be a resounding hit among newcomers to the series as well as veterans of the series of Naughty Dog games the show is adapting. 

The most recent episode, ‘Endure and Survive’, broke our hearts all over again before we could even recover from the emotional damage we endured after bearing witness to Bill and Frank’s storyline as depicted on the HBO series. 

Those that are familiar with the games, know that things only get worse from here – and a particularly observant fan spotted a very niche detail that may well serve as a nod to the second game, and by extension, season two of the show:

To save you some gameplay video-diving, Joel does indeed don a different style of backpack in the original game compared to the one he carries in Part II, which as Twitter user and YouTube personality DomTheBomb points out, is essentially identical to Henry’s pack which Joel picks up at the end of the episode. 

Without diving into full-blown spoiler territory (if you know, you know), this inclusion may well be intentional and perhaps a bit of foreshadowing for what faces Joel in the future of the series. 

It still feels like an age away, considering last week’s episode aired early, but The Last of Us will be back to simultaneously terrify and tug on our heartstrings with a new episode this Sunday on HBO Max.