Some Easter Eggs along with Announcements for Today’s The Last of Us Day 
Last of Us Day is underway and thus far, has released details on goods, a vinyl, posters, a new board game, some collectible statues, and a free PS4 theme all available online and on The Last of Us day’s store. They’ve also released some new GIF drops about the series for fun. There is also much anticipation of Naughty Dog’s big announcement that’s supposed to happen this weekend, which many fans are hoping will be an official statement about a possible online multiplayer mode. So, in honor of today’s celebration of my favorite game, here are 5, “Did you know?” snippets and easter eggs about today and The Last of Us Part II.
Z-Day
Originally labeled Outbreak Day (before becoming Last of Us Day due to Covid-19), today marks the moment that the cordyceps outbreak had gone widespread in the world of The Last of Us. However, this apocalyptic Z-Day also happens to fall just one day after the destruction of Racoon City in Resident Evil, which is the day that acclaimed zombie series had their official outbreak as well. Coincidentally (or not) both Z-Days also fall one week before the anniversary of the movie Night of The Living Dead, the Godfather of all zombie paraphernalia which kicked off the genre.
Ellen Page
The original and then final concept. Notice the similarity.
The original design concepts for Ellie seem awfully similar to actress Ellen Page and many fans debate about whether or not the company had stolen not just her image, but also, parts of her identity. The actress, much like Ellie, had also come out of the closet shortly after the game’s initial release. Naughty Dog claims that it’s a coincidence and that much of Ellie was modeled after her voice actress, Ashley Johnson. Yet, it’s strange that Ellie’s name is very close to the name Ellen. Even stranger, that Ellie’s girlfriend in the sequel, Dina, is portrayed by actress Shannon Woodward, whom many know from the HBO series Westworld as Elsie. Whose personality, name, and looks are yet again, awfully similar to Ellie’s.
Joel Coen
Joel Miller’s character was actually named after Joel Coen, one of the Coen brothers whose works had a heavy influence on the series. Originally, Joel’s character was inspired by Josh Brolin and his character from the movie No Country For Old Men. Who fans, including Troy Baker himself, had asked if he’d wanted to adapt for a live-action TV series. You can even see the similarities between Joel and Brolin’s character in the video above.
The Connection to Westworld
Actress Shannon Woodward in Westworld.
A lot of the developers on The Last of Us II had also worked for HBO. Halley Gross, the Last of Us II series’ co-creator, is actually a writer on the acclaimed HBO series Westworld. Atop of this, both Shannon Woodward (Dina) and Jeffrey Wright (Isaac) both work on Westworld too. All of these connections had likely helped with the creation of the upcoming TV series on HBO. In fact, it also wouldn’t be that surprising if The Last of Us featured as one of Westworld’s theme parks. They’ve already done it for Game of Thrones.
The Upcoming TV Series
The Last of Us show for HBO will be worked on by series creator Neil Druckman, along with the president of Naughty Dog Evan Wells, and acclaimed screenwriter, Craig Mazin. A self-professed gamer who had written the environmentally catastrophic ‘Chernobyl’ series, Mazin is a major budding name in the film industry, the second host of the popular Scriptnotes screenwriting podcast, and is also, writing the adaptation to Borderlands, as well as the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Recently, the series has also confirmed that it will feature cut scenes meant for the original game.
And that’s all for now. You can follow today’s announcements on the official Naughty Dog blog.
