How old is Joel in ‘The Last of Us’?

HBO’s adaptation of the Sony video game The Last of Us was one of the biggest TV shows of 2023 and received stellar reviews from both critics and audiences. 

There’s an interesting character dynamic to be seen between the pair of lead characters, given that Joel knew the peace and domestic bliss of the world before it ended, whereas Ellie (Bella Ramsey) grew up in, and has only ever known the world in the post-apocalypse. This begs the question: exactly how old is Joel (Pedro Pascal)? We did some digging for you. 

Joel’s age in The Last of Us

While Joel’s age is never explicitly stated in The Last of Us game, some eagle-eyed sleuths across the internet have been able to put a few puzzle pieces together thanks to Joel’s passport.

Due to the original game’s technical limitations, the details on the document weren’t quite visible. In The Last of Us: Part One remake for PlayStation 5, however, the enhanced visuals allowed a Reddit user to glean that Joel was born on Sep. 6, 1981, making him 52 years old during the events of the game.

It should be noted, however, that the time skips were adjusted for the purposes of the HBO adaptation. While the initial outbreak occurred in 2013 for the game, The Last of Us TV show was set in 2003. Both then jump 20-odd years into the future, so the bulk of the game takes place in 2033, but the show is in 2023.

With that in mind, we can likely surmise that Joel as played by Pascal is the same age, albeit born a decade earlier in 1971.