'The Last of Us' Season Finale: Hidden Meaning Behind Abby's Book

Newsweek

26-05-2025

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
The Last of Us season finale took place on Sunday, and the hidden meaning behind a book Abigail "Abby" Anderson was reading in the final scene may have gone unnoticed by some fans.
The Context
The Last of Us is an HBO drama based on a popular video game of the same name. Following its release in 2023, it's become a major hit. The Season 1 premiere totaled 32 million viewers—"the largest audience for an HBO and Max debut season ever," Deadline reported.
Left to right: Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal and Kaitlyn Dever arrive at "The Last of Us: Cast and Creators on Season 2" panel during SXSW on March 8, 2025, in Austin, Texas.
Left to right: Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal and Kaitlyn Dever arrive at "The Last of Us: Cast and Creators on Season 2" panel during SXSW on March 8, 2025, in Austin, Texas.
Mat Hayward/WireImage
What To Know
In The Last of Us Season 2 finale, Anderson—played by actor Kaitlyn Dever—was reading a book titled Thieves of the City by Ben Davidoff. While both the book and the author's names don't exist, they are based on a real novel and writer.
The subtle gesture referred to the 2008 World War II historical fiction novel City of Thieves, which was written by David Benioff. Benioff is a novelist and screenwriter best known for co-creating HBO's Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin's book series.
Newsweek reached out to Benioff's representative via email for comment on Monday.
On X, formerly Twitter, eagle-eyed X user @ScubaSteve1219 pointed out the blink-and-you'll-miss-it-moment.
"idk who else noticed this but in this finale of #TheLastOfUs Abby is reading 'Thieves of the City' by Ben Davidoff which is clearly a fun nod to another big name in HBO programming and his book," they wrote.
idk who else noticed this but in this finale of #TheLastOfUs Abby is reading "Thieves of the City" by Ben Davidoff which is clearly a fun nod to another big name in HBO programming and his book pic.twitter.com/B3UwAI43ak — Steve (@ScubaSteve1219) May 26, 2025
Two of The Last of Us' stars—Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel Miller, and Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie Williams—starred in Game of Thrones. While Pascal played Prince Oberyn Martell, Ramsey played Lyanna Mormont.
What People Are Saying
The Last of Us co-creator Craig Mazin spoke about the Season 2 finale, while hinting at a potential perspective change for Season 3, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Sunday: "We're clearly breaking quite a few rules, and I love that. And I love it because that is the point. This is not something we're doing as a gimmick.
"The point of this story—and this is looked at from so many different angles in so many different ways—is that the entire concept of protagonist is flawed. The entire concept of villain is flawed. Our way of processing the world through heroes and villains is a mistake. It ends up creating these barriers between people that shouldn't be there. It ends up giving ourselves justifications and conveniences for bad behavior, and it ends up allowing us to judge others summarily for things that we don't quite understand the motivation behind it.
"We know this is a challenging thing to keep track of emotionally. We understand people are going to be provoked. But part of this story is about examining why we're so comfortable with following one person's point of view about everything."
The Last of Us' other co-creator Neil Druckman also teased details about Season 3 in the same Reporter interview: "We're telling you that next season, one, there's an epic nature to everything that's about to happen. But this other story is going to be really important coming backing to Joel and Ellie and everything we've seen so far."
What Happens Next
While The Last of Us Season 3 has been confirmed, a release date has not yet been revealed.