What song plays in the escalator scene in HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ episode seven?

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for HBO’s The Last of Us.

HBO’s newest series, The Last of Us, hasn’t strayed away from using music in some of the most poignant scenes, just like the games. The PlayStation games, which were developed by Naughty Dog, tended to have music played in-universe with characters playing the songs themselves on guitars. The show handles music in a similar way, mostly diegetically, through radios instead of the actors breaking out an acoustic guitar in the middle of a scene.

Episode seven of The Last of Us, which is entitled “Left Behind,” is an adaptation of most of the events in The Last of Us: Left Behind, which was downloadable content released after the first game. It is jam-packed full of different songs, as Ellie’s Walkman gets a fair amount of screen time. But one song in particular might have jumped out to fans of the games, so let’s discuss what plays during the escalator scene in The Last of Us.

What song plays while Ellie rides the escalator in The Last of Us?

In this episode Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is taken to a mall by her friend (later love interest) Riley (Storm Reid). At the start of the trip the pair venture down an escalator, a regular occurrence for the audience, but not for Ellie who has never seen one before. A song starts to play and of course, the song is “Take On Me” by A-ha, which has had prominence in popular culture since the song was first released in 1984. 

Of course, the end of the episode sees both Ellie and Riley bitten by the infected, making the lyrics “I’ll be gone in a day or two,” a brilliant piece of bittersweet foreshadowing. The song has appeared in many different games, shows, and movies such as Deadpool 2, Chuck, and Family Guy. “Take On Me” playing in the show is a nod to Ellie playing it on the acoustic guitar in The Last of Us Part II. We are not going to go into the context of why Ellie plays the song, because it will undoubtedly spoil the series. However, it is not just a coincidence that they picked the same song for both the game and the show, as contextually it works in both accounts. Let’s just try to see them play Pearl Jam’s “Future Days.” 

You can watch HBO’s The Last of Us on HBO Max on Sunday nights.