The Last of Us will premiere its highly anticipated second season on Sunday, April 13 — but before diving into the next chapter of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) story, there’s a lot to remember.
Based on the 2013 video game of the same name, the HBO series tells the story of Joel —a hardened contractor with some major trauma — and Ellie— a feisty teenager —as they travel across a post-apocalyptic America ravaged by humans infected with the cordyceps virus.
From how the outbreak started to why Ellie is immune, the first season leaves no stone unturned when it comes to answering viewers’ questions.
Keep reading for a comprehensive recap of The Last of Us season 1:
Episode 1: ‘When You’re Lost in the Darkness’
The nearly 90-minute premiere is a masterclass in worldbuilding, introducing viewers to the key players starting with Joel (Pascal) and his family, Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and Sarah (Nico Parker), on his 36th birthday in 2003. What they don’t know is that later that same evening, the cordyceps outbreak will change the trajectory of their lives.
When Sarah wakes up in the middle of the night to find her dad, Joel, out of the house (he went to bail his brother, Tommy, out of jail) she runs over to the neighbor’s house and encounters the first of many infected that will appear on screen. Joel saves the day (duh), and the trio attempts to flee their native Austin. Tommy goes missing and Sarah gets injured, which leads to a soldier shooting and killing her.
Flash-forward 20 years to 2023, Joel is now 56 and hates everyone. The world is taken over by FEDRA, a militaristic authority that emerged after the outbreak, and Joel is smuggling contraband in and out of the quarantine zones (QZ) along with his maybe girlfriend, Tess (Anna Torv).
Elsewhere, Ellie (Ramsey) is in captivity by the Fireflies, a militia group fighting against FEDRA, and their leader Marlene (Merle Dandridge). Joel and Tess, looking for a truck to go find Tommy who went “out west,” end up taking Ellie on their travels as “cargo.” It’s then revealed that the teen has been bit by an infected — and is seemingly immune to the virus.
Episode 2: ‘Infected’
It’s confirmed through a flashback that the cordyceps outbreak started at a flour factory in Jakarta, explaining how the virus spread through the world so easily. (Tess later shares that “most” of the big cities were bombed to slow the spread.)
In the present day, Joel and Tess contemplate killing Ellie because she was bitten. Ellie eventually discloses to them that she is supposed to go “out west” to find a group of Fireflies working on a cure for the virus — she might be the key to their vaccine.
While the trio continues their jaunt around Boston, more is revealed about the Infected, namely that they’re connected to each other and the cordyceps fungus that continues to grow. As a result, the Infected can easily find humans. They come face-to-face with Infected multiple times (Ellie gets bit again) throughout the episode and by the end, it’s revealed that Tess was also bitten, but she’s not immune. Tess sacrifices herself — blowing up Boston City Hall — so that Joel and Ellie can escape.
Episode 3: ‘Long, Long Time’
Forget Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, because Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) are truly the greatest love story ever told.
Bill avoids evacuating in the wake of the cordyceps outbreak because he’s a skilled survivalist and, as a result, creates a perfect life for himself. When he finds Frank, the couple create a beautiful love story. They help Joel and Tess by offering them food, running water and goods to smuggle back into the QZ.
When Ellie and Joel go to Bill and Frank’s, the pair finds both of them dead by suicide. They take showers, supplies from the house, get in Bill’s truck and start driving west.
Episode 4: ‘Please Hold to My Hand’
Joel and Ellie find themselves trapped in Kansas City after a run-in with several men forces them to hide in the city. Carless and on foot, they attempt to figure out the best way to continue on their journey.
Elsewhere in the city, a woman named Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) is leading a local resistance group who overthrew FEDRA. She’s now looking for Ellie and Joel, along with two men named Henry and Sam.
Episode 5: ‘Endure and Survive’
Joel and Ellie meet Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Montreal Woodard), a brother duo hiding out from Kathleen. They band together and create a plan to escape Kansas City without angering Kathleen any further.
Of course, things do not go as planned and the foursome ends up coming face-to-face with Kathleen and her army. Thankfully, they’re able to escape after a sinkhole opens in the middle of the city and hordes of Infected start attacking. Joel saves everyone (again, duh) and he along with Ellie, Henry and Sam seek shelter in an abandoned hotel.
Sam reveals to Ellie that he was bitten during the attack. In a last-ditch effort, she attempts to heal him with her blood before they go to sleep. The following morning, Sam attacks Ellie, which forces Henry to kill his brother before turning the gun on himself.
Episode 6: ‘Kin’
Joel and Ellie make it to Jackson, Wyoming, after traveling for three months on foot. There, they are reunited with Joel’s brother Tommy, who runs a survivor community with his wife, Maria (Rutina Wesley).
Eventually, Joel tells Tommy the truth about what he’s doing with Ellie — after he starts having panic attacks and she finds out about Sarah. Joel also asks his brother to take Ellie on the rest of their journey, as he does not believe he’s capable of making it across the proverbial finish line. Ellie hears their conversation and starts a major argument with Joel, bringing up Sarah.
“I’m sorry about your daughter Joel, but I’ve lost people, too,” Ellie says. Joel replies, “You have no idea what loss is.”
Ellie, getting emotional, pushes Joel out of the room.
“Everybody I have cared for has either died or left me. Everybody f***ing except for you,” she yells. “So don’t tell me I’d be safer with somebody else because the truth is, I would just be more scared.”
Joel draws a line in the sand, telling Ellie that they’re going their separate ways. In the morning, however, he turns up on a horse ready to complete their travels. They make it to Colorado, where the Fireflies are allegedly waiting. Instead, the two get ambushed by raiders and Joel gets stabbed.
Episode 7: ‘Left Behind’
By some miracle, Ellie keeps Joel alive and drags him — still bleeding— into an abandoned home and stitches up his knife wound.
Through flashbacks, Ellie’s life in the QZ is revealed. From gym class to FEDRA school bullies, she had all the makings of a normal childhood — but in a post-apocalyptic world. How did Ellie get bit (the first time)? She and best friend Riley (Storm Reid), who left school to join the Firefiles, snuck into the abandoned mall. While they played video games in the old arcade, played dress up in a costume store and shared their first kiss, the duo attracted the attention of an Infected hiding in the mall.
Both Riley and Ellie get bitten during the ensuing fight, but only one started to turn.
Episode 8: ‘When We Are in Need’
If they hadn’t already been through enough, Ellie unknowingly finds herself kidnapped by a religious cannibal cult.
After Joel’s wound gets infected, Ellie leaves the house they’re hiding in to hunt for food. She comes across two men who promise her medicine in exchange for the deer she killed. One of the men leaves to get the medicine while the other, David (Scott Shepherd), reveals to Ellie that his men attacked her and Joel in Colorado.
Ellie goes back to the house and administers the medicine to Joel, but David and his group of followers go on the hunt for them. Ellie, attempting to deter the men, gets herself kidnapped. Back at the house, Joel (with a second wind, thanks to modern medicine) saves himself from the remaining members of David’s group — yes, he kills them — and goes on the hunt for Ellie.
At the cult’s base camp Ellie is being held in a cage. David and his followers try to kill Ellie to feed their people. (“So now what? You gonna chop me up into tiny pieces?” she asks.) She escapes and gets trapped in a building, which is on fire, with David hunting her down. He attempts to assault Ellie before she gets the upper hand, brutally killing him. After escaping the burning building, Ellie runs into Joel’s embrace.
“It’s OK, babygirl, I got you,” he says.
Episode 9: ‘Look for the Light’
The season 1 finale opens with a flashback of Ellie’s mom Anna (Ashley Johnson) in active labor as she’s chased by an Infected. After making it to an abandoned house, Anna gets into a fight with the Infected — and gets bitten — while giving birth to Ellie, which seemingly explains her immunity. Marlene enters the chat once again, revealing herself to be Anna’s best friend and promising to take care of Ellie. Marlene then shoots Anna.
Present day has Ellie still reeling over her experience with David and his followers. Joel and Ellie’s bond has continued to strengthen, and he reveals that the scar on his head — which she previously asked about — was from a self-inflicted gunshot wound he suffered after Sarah’s death.
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“So time heals all wounds, I guess,” Ellie says. Joel replies, “It wasn’t time that did it.”
The duo gets attacked by Fireflies, ruining the heartfelt moment, and Joel wakes up in a hospital where Marlene reveals that Ellie is being prepped for surgery. She confirms that the cordyceps cure is in her brain, which means the surgery would kill Ellie.
Joel goes on a rampage, killing everyone in the hospital to save Ellie — including her doctor and Marlene. When Ellie wakes up and asks what happens, he lies, saying there were more people immune to the virus so the surgery was no longer necessary and she did not have to be the so-called sacrificial lamb.
“Swear to me that everything you said about the Fireflies is true,” Ellie says. Joel responds, “I swear.”
The Last of Us season 2 premieres on HBO Sunday, April 13, at 9 p.m. ET.
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