The significance of Maria introducing Ellie to the newborn foal Shimmer in ‘The Last of Us’

Life-long The Last of Us fans will be reading this headline and thinking “I already know this, it’s not a secret,” but first-time viewers won’t be so privy to that information. Although HBO’s adaptation of Naughty Dog’s video game series was created by Neill Druckmann and Craig Mazin as a love letter to gamers everywhere, we’d bet a kidney that the majority of HBO’s weekly audience are newbies to the universe and haven’t ever had the pleasure of knowing Joel and Ellie before now. If that’s the case, young Padawans, then you’ll be curious to know why Maria Miller — Tommy’s charming wife — introducing Bella Ramsey’s Ellie to a horse named Shimmer is so significant to The Last of Us lore and how it inconspicuously hints at the upcoming second season.

If you’re reading this, you’ll be familiar with Joel and Ellie’s story, but just in case you’re not, The Last of Us sees the rough-and-ready smuggler Joel transport precious cargo Ellie, a loud-mouthed 14 year old who also happens to be immune to the Cordyceps infection ravaging the world, across a post-apocalyptic America to meet with a resistance group known as the Fireflies. From there, the Fireflies will concoct a cure using Ellie’s immune blood and hopefully end the pandemic. In the sixth episode, titled “Kin,” Joel reunites with his long-lost brother Tommy, the latter of whom introduces he and Ellie to his wife, Maria, who’s managed to build a self-sufficient and unprejudiced commune from the ground up.

While Joel reconnects with Tommy, Maria leads Ellie to the stables and gets her acquainted with a newborn foal called Shimmer. Ellie fawns over Shimmer, remarking that she’s beautiful and rubbing against her affectionately. It feels like such a small, trifling moment, but it actually sets the stage quite nicely for The Last of Us‘ upcoming second season, which has already been greenlit. Since season one has adapted the events of the first game, we can rightly assume that the second season will adapt the sequel, The Last of Us: Part II, which splits the focus evenly between a now-18-year-old Ellie and an ex-militia solider by the name of Abby Anderson, who becomes Ellie’s imposing archenemy.

So what does Shimmer have to do with this? Well, Part II sees Ellie and Joel settle in Jackson, integrating into Tommy and Maria’s community. By this time, Shimmer is four years older, which allows her to be ridden. At some point, Shimmer was assigned to be Ellie’s personal horse to ride during patrols throughout Wyoming. Ellie would soon ride her regularly, particularly with either Joel or her girlfriend Dina in tow.

We won’t give too much away about Ellie and Shimmer’s future together. That’s no fun, is it? Besides, it’s nothing that a quick Google search can’t tell you, but we’d advise against it unless you’re unfazed by spoilers. That being said, this was a nifty little detail that gives some insight into Ellie’s future and ties all the loose ends of the story together nicely. Kudos to Druckmann and Mazin. We see what you did there.