Naughty Dog shows off a slightly more… whimsical alternate ending for ‘The Last of Us’

By Ryan Fleming September 26, 2013

naughty dog shows off a slightly more whimsical alternate ending for the last of us sunset — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Earlier this year at PAX Prime, Naughty Dog showed off a clip at its PAX Prime panel that featured an alternate ending for The Last of Us. That video has now been released.

Two things worth noting before you watch this clip: First, since this is an ending, alternate or not, it should go without saying that it is spoiler heavy. Simply put, you should not watch this unless you have completed the game. Second, this ending does have a few key differences from the one that made it into the game, but really it is meant to be lighthearted and not a serious alternate ending. Don’t expect Ellie to grab an LMG and lay waste to those around her, for aliens to appear, or anything like that. Call that managing expectations.

With that said, beyond the ending itself, the clip offers an interesting look at the work that went on behind-the-scenes of The Last of Us, including how the characters were fleshed out and digitized.

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Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…

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With an impressive 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and a steadily increasing viewership week after week, The Last of Us has already become the greatest video game adaptation ever made and now ranks among some of HBO's biggest shows. In case anyone is anxious to see more of the series, here are some shows/films similar to The Last of Us that will make the wait for season 2 easier.
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Ellie and Riley ride a merry-go-round in The Last of Us.

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Left Behind is a 2014 expansion for The Last of Us that would later be purchasable as a standalone release. It's set in the middle of The Last of Us, as Ellie hunts for medical supplies for Joel in an abandoned Colorado mall. That setup acts as a frame tale, as the bulk of the game is a playable flashback. In it, we get to see a slice of Ellie’s life before she met Joel, as she explores another mall with her friend and budding love interest, Riley. It was a significant chapter of the series, as it confirmed Ellie’s sexual identity, but its also an important moment for games in general. Lesbian relationships weren’t generally depicted in AAA video games in 2014, and the idea of a tender kiss between two women was especially unheard of.

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Ellie stares at Joel and Tess in the The Last of Us TV show.

HBO has confirmed that the critically acclaimed The Last of Us TV show will return for a second season.
This announcement comes from a tweet posted after only two of the series' episodes have aired. That said, the show garnered critical acclaim, broke some HBO viewership records, and doesn't yet appear to incorporate many plot elements from The Last of Us Part II, so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that the series is continuing. According to the tweet, the second season of the show will air on HBO Max (or whatever that service ends up becoming later this year).
https://twitter.com/TheLastofUsHBO/status/1619017515581018112
No release window, story, or casting announcements were made in relation to The Last of Us Season 2, although that isn't very surprising as the show's first season is still airing. That said, it seems extremely likely that it would follow the plot of The Last of Us Part II, which sees Ellie go on a quest for revenge after an extremely traumatic event that we won't spoil here. While the second game in this series proved to be much more divisive than the first, there's certainly no shortage of dramatic moments and intriguing plot developments for Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin to adapt to television in another season. The Last of Us is currently airing on HBO and streaming on HBO Max every Sunday night. Digital Trends gave the series a four-star review, with Alex Welch writing that The Last of Us is a "lovingly made, often emotionally riveting adaptation of what is one of the most treasured titles in video game history."