Through all listed episodes — ongoing or ending not confirmed
Coverage is limited to the scope described in this write-up. Recording changes, further installments or an unwritten ending may remain outside it.
S1E1 · When You're Lost in the Darkness
In 2003, a mass fungal infection of mutated Cordyceps sparks a global pandemic and societal collapse. Joel flees from his home in Austin, Texas, with his daughter, Sarah, and brother, Tommy, but Sarah is shot by a soldier. Joel pleads with his "baby girl" as she dies in his arms. Twenty years later, Joel works as a smuggler with his partner, Tess in the Boston quarantine zone (QZ) under authoritarian control of the Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA). When Tommy fails to contact them from Wyoming, Joel and Tess set out to find him. They buy a truck battery from Robert, a local dealer, but he scams them and sells it to the Fireflies, a rebel group opposing FEDRA. While tracking Robert, Joel and Tess encounter the Fireflies' leader Marlene. She hires them to escort a teenage girl named Ellie to the Massachusetts State House in exchange for a working truck. While escaping the QZ, they are intercepted by a FEDRA soldier. He discovers that Ellie is infected, but she claims to be immune. Joel kills the soldier and leads them away.
S1E2 · Infected
Two days before the global outbreak, Ratna, a mycologist in Jakarta, Indonesia, analyzes an infected corpse. She reveals that there is no cure and advises military bombings to contain the outbreak. In the present, Ellie explains to Joel and Tess that her immunity might be the key to a cure, which the Fireflies hope to synthesize in a laboratory out west. The path to the State House is blocked by an infected horde, so they cut through a museum but are attacked by blind infected known as "clickers". Ellie is bitten but shows no symptoms, proving her immunity. They arrive at the State House, where the Firefly squadron is dead. Tess reveals she was bitten and, as her dying wish, implores Joel to finish Ellie's mission. As the infected horde swarms the State House, Tess stays behind to destroy it while Joel leads Ellie to safety.
S1E3 · Long, Long Time
Joel takes Ellie to Lincoln, Massachusetts, hoping to pass her and the mission to his allies Bill and Frank. In a flashback, Frank stumbles upon Bill, a paranoid survivalist who reluctantly takes him in. The two form a romantic relationship, sharing a love of music and food. Years later, Frank contacts Tess by radio and the couples enter a tenuous friendship. In the present, Frank is terminally ill and asks Bill to marry him and assist his suicide. Unable to live without him, Bill takes his life alongside Frank. Joel and Ellie arrive and discover a letter from Bill: he explains that safeguarding Frank gave his life meaning and leaves all his equipment for Joel to protect Tess. Swallowing his grief, Joel reluctantly agrees to bring Ellie with him to find Tommy, hoping he can help them locate the Fireflies. Ellie secretly steals Frank's pistol before she and Joel depart for Wyoming in Bill's truck.
S1E4 · Please Hold to My Hand
Joel and Ellie are forced to detour through Kansas City, Missouri, where they are ambushed by bandits. Joel kills two, but Ellie must save him from a third with Frank's pistol. Joel feels guilty for this and apologizes to Ellie. He then counsels her about the firefight and teaches her to use the pistol. The bandits' leader, Kathleen, believes Joel and Ellie to be in contact with a man named Henry and orders a city-wide manhunt. Perry, Kathleen's deputy, discovers something growing under the building, but Kathleen prioritizes the manhunt. Joel and Ellie sleep in a high-rise apartment, hoping to scout a way out of the city, but are awoken by two strangers holding them at gunpoint.
S1E5 · Endure and Survive
The strangers reveal themselves to be Henry and his younger brother Sam. They form a tentative truce with Joel and Ellie and together prepare to escape the city. Ellie and Sam quickly become friends while Henry confesses to Joel that he was responsible for the death of Kathleen's brother, Michael. When Sam developed leukemia, Henry turned Michael over to FEDRA in exchange for medication. After escaping through the tunnels, the group is attacked by a sniper, who calls Kathleen. She arrives with her militia to kill Henry, but a horde of infected emerge from underground, including a large "bloater". Kathleen and Perry are killed while Joel's group escapes seemingly unharmed. However, that night, Sam shows Ellie that he was bitten on the leg. Ellie uses her blood to try to cure him, but wakes the next morning to find Sam infected. He attacks her, but Henry puts down Sam and takes his own life. Devastated, Joel and Ellie bury them and set off for Wyoming on foot.
S1E6 · Kin
Three months later, Joel and Ellie reach a small, thriving community in Jackson, Wyoming, where Joel is reunited with Tommy and meets his pregnant wife Maria. Ellie learns about Sarah's fate while Joel begs Tommy to take her, fearing that he will fail to protect her. Ellie overhears them and confronts Joel, who changes his mind after reflecting on Sarah. Joel and Ellie travel to Colorado on horseback to discover the Fireflies have vacated their lab, relocating to a hospital in Utah. While they leave the lab, raiders attack and Joel is severely wounded.
S1E7 · Left Behind
Ellie shelters Joel in an abandoned house, but as his condition worsens, he urges Ellie to leave him behind. In a flashback, Ellie remembers her best friend Riley, who left FEDRA school to join the Fireflies. Riley returns to visit Ellie and takes her to an abandoned mall, where they explore a carousel, a photo booth, and an arcade. Riley tells Ellie that she is leaving the next day to take a Firefly post in Atlanta. Ellie is distraught but convinces Riley to stay, and they kiss. A dormant infected suddenly attacks and infects them both. Tearfully, they decide to stay together and make the most of their time. In the present, Ellie decides to stay with Joel and finds a sewing needle to stitch his wound.
S1E8 · When We Are in Need
Ellie goes hunting to secure food for her and Joel. While tracking a deer, she meets a preacher, David, and his deputy James. Ellie trades her deer for penicillin to treat Joel's wound, which has become severely infected. David reveals the raider Joel killed was a member of his group. He lets Ellie go, but follows her with his team to seek revenge on Joel. Ellie flees to draw them away, but David captures her and reveals he has turned to cannibalism to feed his group. Meanwhile, Joel awakens and tortures some of David's men to locate Ellie. She kills James, but David hunts her down and tries to rape her. Ellie kills David with a meat cleaver and escapes, traumatized. Joel reunites with Ellie and calls her "baby girl" as he comforts her in his arms.
S1E9 · Look for the Light
In a flashback, Ellie's mother Anna is bitten by an infected while giving birth. In her final moments, Anna entrusts Marlene, her close friend, to put her down and rescue Ellie. In the present, Joel and Ellie reach Salt Lake City, Utah, where Joel tries to persuade Ellie to abandon the cure mission, but she insists on finishing it. He shares the story of his suicide attempt after Sarah's death and credits Ellie for healing his trauma. They are captured by Firefly soldiers and delivered to the hospital. Joel awakens to Marlene, who explains that the head doctor is preparing Ellie for surgery to synthesize a cure. When Joel learns the procedure will be fatal, he goes on a brutal rampage, slaughtering the Fireflies and their head doctor to rescue Ellie. Marlene intercepts Joel and begs him to let them do the surgery, but Joel kills her. When Ellie wakes, Joel lies that the Fireflies had already failed to develop a cure from other immune patients. At Ellie's demand, Joel swears that this story is true. Ellie replies "Okay".
Season 2
S2E1 · Future Days
Five years after Joel massacred Fireflies at the Salt Lake City hospital and rescued Ellie, they have settled in Jackson, Wyoming. The time interval has left their relationship strained, for which Joel receives counseling from psychotherapist Gail. She admits her resentment towards Joel for killing her husband, Eugene, and pushes him to tell the truth. Joel admits to saving Ellie. On patrol, Ellie and Dina encounter a new kind of "stalker" infected in a supermarket and warn Jackson's council. Ellie and Dina kiss at a New Year's Eve dance, prompting a homophobic slur from the bar owner, Seth. Joel intervenes and shoves him, which angers Ellie. She chastises Joel and he leaves. Infected tendrils begin to enter Jackson through a broken pipe while Abby —who swore revenge on Joel for the hospital massacre—approaches the town with her friends, Owen, Nora, Mel, and Manny.
S2E2 · Through the Valley
Abby shelters with her team in a lodge near Jackson and considers a plan to kill Joel, but the others secretly consider retreating, concerned about Jackson's security. While Abby scopes out the town, she accidentally awakens a large horde of infected hiding under the snow. She escapes narrowly and is saved by Joel, on patrol with Dina. The horde attacks Jackson, which suffers heavy casualties in the ensuing battle. Abby brings Joel and Dina to the lodge, where she sedates Dina and corners Joel, revealing the Firefly doctor Joel killed was her father. Abby shoots Joel in the leg and brutally beats him with a golf club. Ellie enters the lodge but is restrained by Abby's party, who force her to watch helplessly as Abby stabs Joel in the neck and kills him. Ellie swears to kill Abby in return as her group leaves. While Jackson begins to recover from the battle, Ellie, Dina, and Jesse return home with Joel's body.
S2E3 · The Path
Three months later, Dina tells Ellie that the group who killed Joel—members of the Washington Liberation Front (WLF)—are based in Seattle. At a town hall meeting, Ellie tries to persuade the council to send a group to Seattle out of justice, not revenge, but they oppose. Ellie gathers weapons to leave for Seattle alone but Dina joins and helps her prepare. Seth, who vocally supported Ellie during the town hall, helps them leave Jackson. The next morning, Ellie leaves coffee beans on Joel's grave. Later, she and Dina encounter a group of dead Seraphites—a religious group based in Seattle—including a young child, the sight of which causes Dina to vomit. They arrive in Seattle and note the lack of WLF members. Elsewhere, a convoy of WLF soldiers march through Seattle with armored vehicles.
S2E4 · Day One
In 2018, Isaac kills his FEDRA squad and switches his allegiance to the WLF. Eleven years later, now the WLF's leader, he tortures and kills a Seraphite who refuses to share information about his group. Taking refuge in a music store, Ellie serenades Dina with a guitar, a skill she learned from Joel. At night, they find several WLF soldiers brutally killed by the Seraphites. They escape a WLF backup squad and an infected horde in the subway, but Ellie takes a bite to save Dina from infection. As they hide in an abandoned theater, a heartbroken Dina prepares to shoot Ellie, who explains her immunity. Dina confesses to Ellie that she is pregnant, and they have sex. The next morning, they learn by radio that Nora is based at the Lakehill hospital. Dina vows to finish the mission with Ellie.
S2E5 · Feel Her Love
En route to the hospital, Ellie and Dina encounter more dead Seraphites. Ellie questions bringing Dina, but Dina reaffirms her commitment to their revenge quest. They are ambushed by stalkers in an abandoned warehouse and saved by Jesse, who traveled to Seattle with Tommy to rescue them. Pursued by the WLF, the three enter a local park and witness the Seraphites disembowel a WLF soldier. Dina is shot in the leg with an arrow, and Jesse carries her out of the park while Ellie creates a diversion. After evading the Seraphites, Ellie continues to the hospital and corners Nora in a quarantined basement filled with airborne Cordyceps spores. Nora, becoming infected, realizes Ellie was the immune girl from the Salt Lake City hospital. Ellie shares that she already knows what Joel did to save her, and beats Nora with a pipe to learn Abby's location.
S2E6 · The Price
A series of flashbacks show the decline of Joel and Ellie's relationship: for her fifteenth birthday, he gifts her a homemade guitar; on her sixteenth, he takes her to an abandoned museum, where she is enamored with its space exhibits; on her seventeenth, he angrily interrupts a moment of intimacy between Ellie and Kat, causing tension; on her nineteenth, he takes her out on her first patrol. They rescue Gail's husband Eugene, who has been bitten. Joel promises to escort him back to Jackson to say goodbye to Gail, but executes him instead. Joel then lies, telling Gail that Eugene chose to kill himself rather than endanger her. Ellie reveals the truth, deducing that Joel also lied about the Fireflies. Nine months later, after the New Year's Eve dance, Ellie confronts Joel. He tearfully confesses the truth about his actions at the hospital but admits he has no regrets. Ellie doubts that she can forgive him but pledges to try.
S2E7 · Convergence
Ellie regroups with Dina and Jesse, shaken by her own brutality against Nora. She shares a clue from Nora about Abby's location, then divulges the story of Joel's massacre to Dina, who suggests they return home. Jesse and Ellie search for Tommy, but Ellie deduces that Abby is hiding in an aquarium and leaves to pursue her. Ellie is captured and nearly executed by the Seraphites, but escapes to the aquarium to find Owen and Mel. She holds them at gunpoint and demands Abby's location. When Owen grabs a gun, Ellie fatally shoots him and the bullet strikes Mel, who reveals that she is pregnant; she asks Ellie to save the baby via a caesarean, to no avail. Jesse and Tommy recover a devastated Ellie and bring her back to the theater. Later, Abby ambushes them, killing Jesse, injuring Tommy, and holding Ellie at gunpoint. A gunshot rings out. Three days earlier, Manny wakes up Abby, having both been summoned by Isaac.
Sources and content license
Source and revision history ↗ · Exact listed stories combined in catalog order. Sources retain their stated license; formatting and headings adjusted. Exact listed stories combined in catalog order. Sources retain their stated license; formatting and headings adjusted. Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, The Last of Us season 1. HTML formatting and reference markers removed. Exact listed stories combined in catalog order. Sources retain their stated license; formatting and headings adjusted. Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, The Last of Us season 2. HTML formatting and reference markers removed. · Content license