HBO made a The Last of Us behind-the-scenes special — here’s when you can watch it

HBO’s The Last of Us show spotlights the series’ best game: Left Behind

While the bulk of HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation retells the story of the first game, The Last of Us episode 7 is a special exception. That’s because it dives into DLC territory to bring The Last of Us: Left Behind to the small screen and give Bella Ramsey’s Ellie an hour to shine.

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.

Can the zombie outbreak in The Last of Us actually happen? This microbiologist says it could

The extremely popular television adaptation of The Last of Us on HBO has exposed a vast new audience to a unique take on the zombie apocalypse. Rather than focusing on a worldwide viral infection, Naughty Dog’s shambling undead are the byproduct of an aggressive and deadly fungus that makes humans its host before spreading around the globe almost overnight.

Jennings Gabriele is a microbiologist and a teacher with a master’s degree in microbiology and molecular genetics from Oklahoma State University. He’s also a lifelong gamer, having grown up in the SNES and Sega Genesis era, who has been playing The Last of Us since it was first released a decade ago. Digital Trends sat down with him to discuss the science of The Last of Us, what those creepy tendrils are all about, why fungi are uniquely suited to be the perfect monsters, and how feasible a fungal zombie apocalypse really is.

HBO’s The Last of Us reinforces an important queer theme from the games

Spoilers for The Last of Us Part I, The Last of Us Part II, and The Last of Us HBO show.

The Last of Us video games put queer stories front and center in the narrative, and the HBO adaptation of the same name is following their lead with its focus on a gay relationship in its third episode, Long, Long Time, which aired recently. While the relationship between Bill and Frank was certainly present in the 2013 zombie action game, it was relegated to the background as Joel and Ellie navigate the beginnings of their complicated relationship. In the show, however, we’re shown the couple’s 20-year relationship as they grow from hesitant strangers to lifelong partners.