Episode 7ofThe Last of Usserved as a slight departure from the rest of the series thus far, opting to cover the content of the beloved DLC expansion to the original game,Left Behind. In doing so, it told the story of Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Riley (Storm Reid) as they enjoy one last amazing night together at an abandoned mall and arcade before everything comes crumbling down. The beautifully-lit locale is a stunning backdrop as the night unfolds, going through the run-down, nostalgia-filled mall with a carousel and an arcade filled with classic games likeMortal Kombat II. Speaking toVariety, the show’s production designerJohn Painowent in-depth on how the team was able to create a set that evoked memories of a bygone age while sprinkling in references to the original games.
At the center of the night is the mall which Paino described as a window for Ellie into the world prior to the apocalypse. Once Riley flips the lights on, it becomes as if the old world was still alive for one night. The production team had a field day, creating various dilapidated storefronts of staple mall stores like Foot Locker, Panda Express, and, of course, the American Girl doll store. The connection to the real world also drove home the point of the episode—that Ellie never grew up with or really understood many of the things that people enjoyed when the world was still normal. “She’s fascinated with lingerie and can’t believe that people had the time for that, but it’s sad because she’s denied what is typical for us, such as understanding the bigger world outside of trying to stay alive,” Paino said.
In finding the location for the mall, Paino wanted something that was not only near whereThe Last of Uswas filming but also evoked the same feel of the great American mall of his youth. He told Variety:
“I’m a child of the ’70s, and the mall was a temple. The size of 10 football fields. I’d spend a lot of time there and in the video arcade. So, we were hoping to find something like that. We found an abandoned mall that was completely stripped and didn’t have a second floor. We built the rooftops and the stores, but what they look from the balcony, it’s all CGI because our mall didn’t have a second floor.”
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Paino and his team shipped the carousel, which he says was previously in another mall, to the location and spruced it up to make it shine while Ellie and Riley rode along. The result is a glowing ride that gave rise to some of the best shots of the episode that, out of context, seem like they’re from a fair and not a post-apocalyptic nightmare.
The Last of Us' Mall and Arcade Were Full of References to the Game
One thing that Paino and the team had at the forefront when designing the mall and arcade set waseaster eggs. There’s no shortage of them in the episode, from “Take on Me” to Ellie’s shirt, but the mall is packed with nods to the games like the fictional knock-off restaurant Macho Nacho. The big one to Paino, however, was the arcade Raja’s which was recreated fromLeft Behindin a further show of how faithful the episode is to the original story. “We copied the name, which is in the game, and we copied the front,” Paino added. “We gave it a bit of retro-ness through games likeFrogger,Tetris, andMortal Kombat.” The team even went as far as to create working machines atNeil DruckmannandCraig Mazin’s request to ensure as much realism as possible.
One of the funnier references snuck in is aDawn of the Wolf Part 2poster in the mall. Fans of the games will remember that Joel’s daughter Sarah was a fan of the fictionalTwilight-like franchise, keeping a poster in her bedroom. Naughty Dog made it a bit of a running gag with theDawn of the Wolffranchise appearing on DVD cases, billboards, and more throughout bothThe Last of Usgames, even drawing the ire of Joel as a “dumb teen movie.” It’s not even the first appearance of the reference in the series as Episode 1 had a brief glimpse of the movie playing in a local theater. Paino couldn’t resist sticking it in the abandoned Boston mall, however. “It was such a mall thing to have and fun to get that in.”
The Last of Usreturns forEpisode 8next Sunday at 9 p.m. ET withTroy Baker, the original voice of Joel from the games, joining Ramsey andPedro Pascalon the show. Check out the trailer below.
