Warning, spoilers. It is recommended that you watch The Last of Us Episode 5 before you continue reading this article.
Fans of the famous video game franchise have been waiting for The Last Of Us series to be the event of the beginning of 2023. This HBO-branded work was overseen by Neil Druckman (the creator of the video game) and Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), who had the difficult task of translating a tale that moved many gamers.
In addition to faithfully retelling the story of the source material, the shocking duo allowed themselves some deviations and narrative innovations. And to add some plot twists, the co-showrunners were inspired by works of pop culture.
The Lord of the Rings as inspiration for The Last of Us
This is the case with The Lord of the Rings, and more specifically the movie The Fellowship of the Ring, which inspired one of the standout scenes in Episode 5 titled “Endure and Survive.”
This episode introduces two of the game’s characters: Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Kevon Woodard), two brothers who are being chased by the Kansas City Huntsmen and their leader Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey).
But this chapter halts the progress of the two brothers who had everything to become companions for Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), as Henry ends his life after killing Sam.
If he had to make that choice, it was because Sam had been bitten by the Infected in a terrifying onslaught of Runners, Rangers, and other Clickers, but also by Colossus, straight from the tunnels of Kansas City.
And Craig Mazin told Empire (Mith CBR) that the production of this epic sequence changed along the way, citing the Mines of Moria scene from The Fellowship of the Ring as a major inspiration for the aesthetic and direction of Attack of the Colossus in the final episode of Episode 5. from us:
“This scene was supposed to take place during the day, but at this point in production we learned that the infected looked better when they were more mysterious.
So I figured it would be better that way at night. But it condemned me and a thousand others to endure three weeks of night filming!”
To remind you, in the first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the society finds itself in the ruined dwarven kingdom of Middle Earth. He is forced to flee through dark tunnels as he is chased by hordes of orcs, a cave troll, and finally a ferocious Balrog.
The end of The Last of Us episode “Endure and Survive” is quite close. Joel and Ellie try to escape Kathleen, the leader of the resistance in Kansas City, using the darkness of the night.
But their tracks are interrupted by hordes of infected who have escaped from the vaults of the locked FEDRA buildings, and a particularly huge colossus that decapitates Perry, Catelyn’s commander.
The Last of Us series is available on Prime Video.
Source: Allocine
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
