‘The Last of Us’ Showrunner Explains Episode 4’s Setting Change to Kansas City
The Last of Us Episode 4 resumes the show’s action in Kansas City. After Joel and Ellie leave the Boston QZ and head for Wyoming, a group of revolutionaries ambush them. They then learn that this group overthrew the city’s FEDRA Agents. In the video game version of The Last of Us, the action is very similar. However, it takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania. Series showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann break down the location change in this week’s episode.
[WARNING: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us Episode 4.]
Revolutionaries ambush Joel and Ellie in ‘The Last of Us’ Episode 4
When Joel first meets Ellie at the start of The Last of Us, he is living in a quarantine zone in Boston. Joel learns that Ellie is immune to the cordyceps fungus. Marlene and the other Fireflies want to transport Ellie to Wyoming, where there are doctors working on a cure for the infection.
After finding Bill and Frank’s note and taking their truck, Joel and Ellie begin a cross-country road trip from Boston to Wyoming. The action picks up again in Kansas City, where revolutionary members called “hunters” stop the pair and blow out the truck’s tires.
Here’s why ‘The Last of Us’ Episode 4 is set in Kansas City
In the game version of The Last of Us, Joel and Ellie face a similar ambush. However, the action takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, rather than in Kansas City. During an episode of HBO’s official The Last of Us podcast, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann explained the setting change.
“Really, what it came down to is, the Pittsburgh-ness of Pittsburgh wasn’t necessarily important,” Mazin explained. “We had certain environments we knew we could shoot in because we were shooting in Alberta — largely around Calgary, a little bit in Edmonton — and it looked closer to Kansas City.”
Additionally, setting episode 4 in Kansas City means that Ellie and Joel are further along in their trip than they would be in Pittsburgh. “We talked about distances and where we want them to be on the journey at a certain time of the year because of where the story’s going,” Druckmann added.
“We wanted that moment to be closer to the next beat,” the showrunner explained. “It’s just one of those things that I refer to as a superficial change. What city you’re in is not important. What happens to the characters and the choices they make in that city — that’s what’s really important.”
Joel and Ellie bond by the time they reach Kansas City
Troy Baker, who voiced Joel in The Last of Us video game, added that pushing the setting to Kansas City gave Ellie and Joel more time to talk and grow closer. “The thing that I liked about it being Kansas City is it made it believable that they would open up and they would talk to each other,” Baker stated.
“It made it believable that they were more comfortable.” Though neither of them will admit it, the pair have already begun to bond by the time they are ambushed.
New episodes of The Last of Us drop every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.
