10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About The Last Of Us

4. The Comic Prequel Influenced The Game

Writing for the prequel comic, American Dreams, began while The Last Of Us was still in development, so all sorts of cool little nods and references found their way into the game - Ellie's favorite videogame character for instance, the awesomely named Angel Knives, was actually created by the comic's artist and co-writer, Faith Erin Hicks, who said that the character was based on her idea of a dream Mortal Kombat character. Faith Erin Hicks artwork was also featured in the game as well, adorning an arcade machine of Ellie's favorite game "The Turning", a reference to Druckmann's scrapped comic book. Ashley Johnson also read the prequel comic in preparation for her reprisal of Ellie in the DLC, Left Behind, along with Yaani King, the actress behind Riley. Neil Druckmann had also intended to explore much more of Ellie's backstory in The Last Of Us, but decided against it as he felt that it disturbed the natural flow of the narrative. However, when he was offered the opportunity to do the comic, he jumped at the chance and included details of Ellie's history such as the origin of her switchblade, and her mother's letter.