The Last of Us dev put a tribute to his wife into the game, now he's "reeling" after seeing it in the show

gamesradar.com:

There's a lot to unpack in The Last of Us episode 9, and a lot of it is terribly depressing, but this very subtle detail is refreshingly heartwarming.

Before we start, a quick spoiler warning for those who have yet to see the final episode of The Last of Us season 1. We'll be discussing light spoilers, so if you aren't caught up and you want to go into the episode completely fresh, turn back now.

In one of the more touching moments of the finale, Ellie is elated to find a tower of giraffes in an abandoned football field. Fans of the game were no doubt grinning from ear to ear when the scene arrived, but there's one tiny detail that holds special significance to a developer who worked on the original game.

Peter Field, who was a level designer on The Last of Us, revealed on Twitter (opens in new tab) that an Easter egg he put into the game managed to make it into the finale of the live-action adaptation, and naturally, he's stoked.

"I'm still reeling from this. A silly Easter Egg I put in the original The Last Of Us game has somehow survived the transition to live action TV. It's blurry but it's definitely there!!!" Field says. "I can't imagine the HBO team knew the name of the baseball field was a tribute to my wife."

One might be inclined to believe that HBO simply added in the the same sign in an effort to stay faithful to the game, but in a follow-up tweet (opens in new tab), Field notes that the sign appears to have been positioned in a way that makes it more visible in the shot. "So maybe they DID know?!?" he writes.

For more on the big finale, check out our deep dive into The Last of Us ending explained and all of the differences between episode 9 and the game.