The last time we saw Joel and Ellie in The Last of Us, they were both grappling with the events that transpired at the Fireflies’ hospital base in Salt Lake City.
Ellie (Bella Ramsey) was unconscious during Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) violent actions to prevent her sacrifice in the search for a Cordyceps cure. However, she seemed to suspect the truth about Joel’s actions by the end of the episode. Despite her hesitant “OK” when Joel insisted he was truthful about the Fireflies no longer needing her, Ellie’s expression suggested she understood what really happened.
Now, over two years after the Season 1 finale, The Last of Us is returning for its second season, incorporating a time jump. Based on the acclaimed video game and developed by Neil Druckmann, the game’s creator, and Chernobyl showrunner Craig Mazin, Season 1 of the HBO series revolved around the developing father-daughter dynamic between Joel, a hardened survivor, and Ellie, a 14-year-old orphan, as they journeyed across a post-apocalyptic America 20 years after the Cordyceps brain infection devastated civilization.
Here’s a recap of the key events from the first season of The Last of Us before Season 2 premieres on April 13.
What happened between Joel and Ellie?
Marlene (Merle Dandridge), the leader of the Fireflies, initially hired Joel to smuggle Ellie out of the FEDRA-controlled Boston quarantine zone to the old Massachusetts State House. He soon discovered Ellie was immune to the Cordyceps fungus after being bitten by a “clicker” three weeks prior. Marlene believed Ellie’s DNA held the key to creating a vaccine.
Despite his initial reservations, Joel eventually agreed to escort Ellie across the country to the Fireflies’ facility after finding the group meant to receive her dead. As they traveled and faced numerous dangers together, they formed a deep bond, giving them both a renewed purpose.
Why is Ellie immune?
The Season 1 finale revealed that Ellie’s mother, Anna (Ashley Johnson, who voiced Ellie in the video games) and a close friend of Marlene, was bitten by an infected person while giving birth to Ellie. As a result, traces of Cordyceps entered Ellie’s system through her umbilical cord. According to Marlene, this produced “a kind of chemical messenger” that tricks normal Cordyceps into thinking that Ellie is one of them.
However, Marlene made the mistake of informing Joel that the Firefly surgeon intended to remove Ellie’s brain without her consent to access these immune cells and attempt to develop a vaccine.
“Our doctor, he thinks that the Cordyceps in Ellie has grown with her since birth,” she explained. “He’s going to remove it from her, multiply the cells in a lab, produce those chemical messengers, and then we can give it to everyone. He thinks it could be a cure.”
Joel then killed almost everyone in the hospital, including the surgeon, to save Ellie, sacrificing humanity’s chance at a cure. “They were runnin’ some tests on you and some others,” Joel lied to her as she regained consciousness. “Turns out there’s a whole lot more like you, people who are immune. Dozens of ’em. And the doctors, they couldn’t make any of it work. They’ve actually stopped lookin’ for a cure.”
What to expect at the start of Season 2
Season 2 will jump ahead five years, depicting Joel and Ellie as deeply estranged while living in Jackson, Wyo., the settlement founded by Joel’s brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and his wife Maria (Rutina Wesley). However, a violent act will soon change everything.
Without spoiling specific plot points from The Last of Us Part II video game, expect a significantly darker narrative than Season 1 that pushes the story to new extremes. Even dedicated fans of the game will likely be surprised by what’s coming.
“I love the changes that we’ve made,” Druckmann told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s a different version of that story, but its DNA is in there. Maybe more than excited, I’m really curious what their reaction will be.”