The Last Of Us Season 2 Episode 6 focuses on flashback sequences. Costume designer Ann Foley breaks down the outfit evolution and more.
The Last Of Us series continues to feel as if it was ripped right out of the video games, thanks to the impressive set design, costumes, hair and makeup, and writing. The Last Of Us Season 2 Episode 6 is spent mostly in flashbacks, celebrating Ellie’s birthdays over the years and showcasing her evolution. While several moving parts come together to accomplish this, costume designer Ann Foley has a lot to do with it.
We spoke with Foley about the series as a whole, but also The Last Of Us Season 2 Episode 6 in detail. Not only is a fan favorite scene (the museum) brought to life on screen, but we really see the progression of Ellie over the course of several years, highlighted by what she is wearing.
Breaking Down The Costumes In The Museum Sequence
Tessa Smith: The Last Of Us Season 2 Episode 6 really allows viewers to see the evolution of these characters as we explore several of Ellie’s birthdays. Can you talk about the progression you included in this episode?
Costume Designer Ann Foley: We started with Ellie at 14 turning 15, so the clothes are baggier. T-shirts are baggier and bigger and so are the pants. There was color and pattern because Ellie was in a happier place and as you see the episode progress, you see it getting bluer and a little bit darker. That was definitely intentional to show that not only is she getting older, but she’s changing a little bit emotionally, as well. You even see that with Joel a little bit too. You see him moving into a bluer palette as well.
In the second season, as Ellie’s journey progresses emotionally and physically, you get the idea that she’s turning into Joel a little bit. The choices that we did with her costumes were intentional for that. But one of my favorite moments in episode six is when they go to the museum. It’s such a special moment in the game and because Neil Druckmann directed that episode, I wanted to make it as special as I could as well. That’s why we recreated that t-shirt for Ellie at the museum. I made my own little changes, mainly because in the game, she’s in a tank top, but I felt it was more important to have her in a baggy t-shirt to show that kid vibe. The tank top felt more adult to me so I wanted her to feel more like a kid.
But yeah, we screen printed that t-shirt in-house to make it match exactly what was in the game. A lot of Ellie’s clothes this season are custom-made because I wanted them to have a very, they’re Ellie’s, they’re nobody else’s, they’re Ellie’s. Even the jeans, Levi’s made those jeans for her. Fifty pairs. We had so many stages of aging throughout the season. It was bananas. We have riding doubles, stunt doubles. So we found a really great pair of Levi’s that we loved, but we couldn’t get them in the length that we needed them so Levi’s was kind enough to make them for us and make them at this perfect length that we needed. We needed so many because every episode, something else happens, so you have to build on top of that. I don’t remember how many stages Ellie ended up having, but there are multiple stages, at least six or seven, I think.
Ellie & Joel’s Evolution Are Heavily Displayed By Their Clothing
Tessa Smith: There is a time jump between The Last Of Us seasons one and two. How did you use costumes to help tell the story of what happened between Ellie and Joel over these years?
Costume Designer Ann Foley: With Joel, what I started to play with was what if he tucks his shirts in like Tommy does? Because Tommy is the pillar of the community and Jackson. And he is a dad. So Pedro Pascal and I talked about that in the fitting. It’s like, let’s maybe tuck the shirts in this time, because you’re trying to emulate your brother. You’re a pillar in the community as well, and you’re a dad now. So we started doing that and I think it’s those little subtle changes that make a big difference.
For Ellie, that was a much larger shift and a larger change, because we needed to show the difference between Ellie as a 14-year-old child to a 19-year-old young woman. Those conversations started really early with Bella, with Craig and Neil, and even with some of the artists over at Naughty Dog, because when I started illustrating with Imogene Chayes, who’s my costume concept illustrator, we wanted that information from Naughty Dog about how did you guys get to where you got to? And then we can use that information to inform where we need to go moving forward. That was always incredibly helpful.
It also helps us stay true to the characters, even if we have to make some subtle changes. But when we started illustrating Ellie, it was things like, we’re gonna narrow the jeans. We’re going to shorten the t-shirts a little bit, even the hem on the sleeve of the t-shirt and where it hits on her arm. Same with the shirts. They’re going to be a little closer to the body, not as baggy. It’s playing with the silhouette. Even the hiking boots that she wears going into Seattle, those lift her up a little bit and they lengthen that silhouette. It’s just little changes and little touches like that, that help us with that transition from teenager to young adult.
The Costumes In The Hospital Basement Were Actually Built Into The Set
Tessa Smith: In The Last Of Us Season 2 Episode 5, the basement of the hospital is stunning. How does creating the clothing that is, quite literally, in the walls, work?
Costume Designer Ann Foley: That Cordyceps room was stunningly beautiful. Don McCauley, our production designer. Barrie Gower, special effects makeup genius. Oh my god. That was one of the most beautiful sets I’ve ever walked onto and into. It was incredible. And getting to collaborate with them and building the clothes into the wall was such, it was gorgeous. It’s disgusting on one hand, but it’s beautiful on another. I would say it’s disgustingly beautiful.
The clothes were sort of built into it and then the actors step into it. It was a very cool collaboration. Barrie Gower and his team, thank god, they were right next door to us in our warehouse, where our department was, so we work so closely with them in creating the infected. They make all the cordyceps pieces for us that we then incorporate into the clothing. At the beginning of the season, there was a big conversation with Craig and Neil about that we really want to take it to the next place, the next level this season with the integration. So let’s see what that really looks like when the cordyceps starts to come through the fibers of the fabric, like fungus would do in real life.
So we started doing a lot of research about how that would happen, and it was such beautiful work that my team did. They’re like art pieces. That’s a 10-day process of getting all of that cordyceps integrated into the fibers for each Clicker. And then all of the painting over it so it looks like it’s dripping and sort of oozing. Like I said, disgustingly beautiful.
Ann Foley References The Last Of Us Games Constantly
Tessa Smith: How often do you go back and look at scenes from the The Last Of Us video games?
Costume Designer Ann Foley: Oh, constantly. I had boards in our office for every episode. We would literally pull all the characters in from the game and put them on boards for us in order of how we were shooting it in the episode, so that we had a complete visual reference of who the characters were and how they were dressed.
Not only is it helpful for me, it’s helpful for the cast. Everyone wants to know. Jeffrey Wright wanted to know, what does Isaac look like in the game. Well, here you go. This is what was in the game. Here’s the boards. It’s important. It’s important to me. It always has been. Every project that I work on, I always go directly to the source material and see what that source material is. Then I always try to stay as true to it as possible. Because it’s important to the fans and it’s important to the creators as well.
NEXT: Joel’s Emotional The Last Of Us Return Broke Me (2×6 Review)
About The Last Of Us Season 2
Five years after the events of the first season, Joel and Ellie are drawn into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind.
Returning cast includes Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, and Rutina Wesley as Maria. Previously announced new cast includes Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, Danny Ramirez as Manny, and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac. Catherine O’Hara also guest stars.
THE LAST OF US, based on the acclaimed video game franchise developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation® consoles, is written and executive produced by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. The series is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television and is also executive produced by Carolyn Strauss, Jacqueline Lesko, Cecil O’Connor, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Evan Wells; with writer/co-executive producer Halley Gross. Production companies: PlayStation Productions, Word Games, Mighty Mint, and Naughty Dog.
The seven-episode season two of The Last Of Us releases one new episode weekly through May 25 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max.
Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. On Camera personality and TV / Film Critic with 10+ years of experience in video editing, writing, editing, moderating, and hosting.