Hunting for references and Easter Eggs in The Last of Us was truly fun but it looks like the series also had a hidden connection to another major franchise. It has just been confirmed that one of the most terrifying villains in the HBO adaptation was connected to The Lord of the Rings' own groundbreaking character.
It's no secret that Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was made possible by Weta FX, the digital division of Weta Workshop. Weta FX has done a lot of groundbreaking work in digital effects and motion capture, and they have done an excellent job on The Last of Us as well.
However, that's not where the connection ends. Gino Acevedo, who was one of the primary designers and sculptors behind Gollum's design in The Lord of the Rings, also helped bring the terrifying Bloater to life in The Last of Us Episode 5.
"Gino was heavily involved in the creation of the Bloater. He figured out all the proportions and some of the growths and yeah, it was a combination of game reference and what we had gotten from the prosthetic suit, and then what we had done in terms of concept work, and then some unreleased concept work from Naughty Dog as well, that Neil was generous enough to let us take a look at," Weta FX supervisor Simon Jung confirmed with ComicBook.com.
This is interesting news and we're hoping Gino Acevedo will continue to work on more character designs in The Last of Us Season 2.
For now, The Last of Us Season 2 has not yet been given an official release date. However, Bella Ramsey had previously suggested that production will begin later this year and that the series could return by the end of 2024. Stay tuned for more updates on this story.
Related: The Last of Us Creator Teases Abby's Season 2 Debut
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