The Last of Us Included a Glaring Continuity Error in Season 2 Finale

The Last of Us is working overtime to fill the void left behind on HBO by Game of Thrones. The two series are similar in a lot of ways, including featuring undead hordes and young protagonists. However, there’s one massive difference between the properties that makes The Last of Us more relatable than Game of Thrones: the former takes place in a version of the real world. While Game of Thrones visits massive castles that have to fend off dragon attacks, The Last of Us sends Ellie and Joel to familiar cities like Salt Lake City and Pittsburgh. But setting something in the real world also comes with its fair share of challenges.

One of the problems HBO’s The Last of Us keeps running into is that, because it pushes its outbreak back ten years, placing it in 2003 instead of 2013 like the game, there are constant continuity errors. Some are easy to look past, but the one in the Season 2 finale is big enough to warrant an explanation.

The Last of Us Sends Ellie to an Iconic Seattle Location in the Season 2 Finale

As soon as Abby plunges the broken golf club into Joel’s skull, Ellie wants to learn as much about the former Firefly as possible. She spends three months in the hospital thinking about getting revenge, and thankfully, her good friend Dina has the same plan. Dina uses the information Eugene gave her about the Washington Liberation Front, aka the WLF, and puts together a plan to get to Seattle. Once Ellie and Dina get there, they fly by the seat of their pants, trying to avoid getting into the middle of the conflict between the WLF and the Seraphites.

Ellie eventually sneaks into the hospital where Nora works and tortures Abby’s friend for information. All she gets out of her is the words “whale” and “wheel,” which isn’t enough to go on when Jesse recommends heading back to Jackson because Dina’s not in great shape. Before they can head out, though, they have to grab Tommy, who’s in the middle of a firefight with WLF soldiers. Jesse and Ellie head to the top of a building to get a better vantage point before charging in, but Ellie notices an aquarium and a Ferris wheel in the distance. The two locations make Nora’s last words make a lot more sense, but the only problem is that the Ferris wheel shouldn’t be there.

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HBO’s The Last of Us Doesn’t Care About Continuity Errors

The developer of The Last of Us games, Naughty Dog, includes plenty of notable landmarks to make its title more realistic. One of the most notable is The Seattle Great Wheel, which officially opened in June 2012, a little over a year before Outbreak Day. And with the show following The Last of Us Part II‘s story so closely, the powers that be felt they had to include the Ferris wheel. The show’s timeline makes things much more complicated, though, as some suspension of disbelief is required to get onboard with the structure being there in 2003.

What helps HBO’s case is that Ferris wheels have been around since the 1800s, so it’s easy to say that, in the show’s reality, some Seattle bigwig got the idea earlier and made sure the attraction got done before Cordyceps took over the world. But even if they hadn’t, the show probably wouldn’t care because it’s already thrown caution to the wind when it comes to continuity errors. For example, the Pearl Jam song Joel sings to Ellie in Season 2, Episode 6, “Future Days,” didn’t come out until 2013, meaning it was already a hard sell for the game. However, HBO isn’t concerned about nitpicking, especially when it’s the only thing in the way of a good story coming to life.

The Last of Us Season 2 is streaming on HBO Max.

Did you know that the Ferris wheel in Seattle in The Last of Us wasn’t built until 2012? Does it bother you that the show really doesn’t care about continuity errors? Let us know in the comments below!