The following article contains minor spoilers for The Last of Us Season 1, Episode 7, "Left Behind," which aired Sunday, Feb. 26 on HBO.
The Last of Us: American Dreams co-writer and artist Faith Erin Hicks has opened up about the significance of the fighting video game Mortal Kombat II appearing in Episode 7 of HBO's live-action series adaptation of The Last of Us, revealing that the reference was years in the making.
HBO's The Last of Us is, of course, based on the PlayStation video game of the same name, which was developed by Naughty Dog and originally released in 2013. The television show's seventh episode, "Left Behind," takes inspiration from both The Last of Us: Left Behind, a 2014 add-on to the original game, and the aforementioned American Dreams, a four-issue comic book limited series published by Dark Horse Comics in 2013 to coincide with the game's initial release. Hicks co-wrote American Dreams with Neil Druckmann, creative director of the original game and co-creator of the HBO series.
In The Last of Us Episode 7, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Riley (Storm Reid) pay a visit to the abandoned shopping mall that was first introduced to the franchise in American Dreams and later appeared in Left Behind. While there, the two play on a Mortal Kombat II arcade cabinet. According to Hicks, she first pitched a Mortal Kombat game appearing in the mall when she and Druckmann were developing American Dreams a decade ago. The idea stemmed from the fact that The Last of Us' original trailer was criticized by some for its depiction of violence.
"We were just sort of talking about instances in our childhood history where a video game had been really brought to task for portraying violence," Hicks said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. "I remember at the time I was like, 'Why don't we have them go to the arcade? And they can play Mortal Kombat and it'll be a fun little commentary on violence in video games in the '90s and violence in video games in 2012-2013.'"
However, Hicks' idea initially went unrealized, owing to the fact that -- as Druckmann pointed out at the time -- rights issues prevented them from using Mortal Kombat in the comic. As such, Hicks created a fictional fighting came called The Turning, which appeared in both American Dreams and Left Behind. As previously mentioned, though, a Mortal Kombat II cabinet ultimately appeared in the HBO series' latest episode. This was likely made possible -- or at least made a lot easier -- by the fact that HBO is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the same company that currently owns the Mortal Kombat franchise.
What's Next for Mortal Kombat?
Warner Bros. co-published 2008's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe -- the eighth main-series Mortal Kombat game -- alongside the franchise's original developer/publisher, Midway Games. Midway filed for bankruptcy in 2009, with Warner Bros. moving to acquire Mortal Kombat (among other Midway properties) outright. Since then, three additional Mortal Kombat games have been released under the Warner Bros. banner, with a fourth (the franchise's 12th main-series game overall) set to launch sometime this year.
New episodes of The Last of Us air Sundays on HBO.
Source: Los Angeles Times