SAIT people and places featured in "The Last of Us"
HBO/Crave
How the school and our grads brought Joel and Ellie’s story to life
If your experience watching The Last of Us mostly consists of finger-pointing and shouting “Hey, I know that place!” — perhaps between gentle sobs or white-knuckling the remote — you’re not alone.
Albertans have been buzzing with pride ever since the series based off the PlayStation games premiered on HBO in January. Familiar Calgary landmarks, neighbouring Albertan locations and the Rocky Mountains serve as beautiful yet foreboding backdrops for the story of Joel and Ellie, fighting to survive in a deadly fungus-ridden world.
Between the heart-wrenching plot and the post-apocalyptic visual effects, The Last of Us had us at “Cordyceps.”
Like the underground network of mushroom strands we learn about in episode two, SAIT’s connections to the show are far-reaching and run deep. Here are just some of the people and places that have helped The Last of Us rack up impressive viewership numbers.
🔎 I spy SAIT
Episode two, “Infected”
You might remember the cold open from episode two because of how Professor Ibu Ratna, portrayed by Indonesian actress Christine Hakim, proposes Jakarta respond to the outbreak of the Cordyceps fungus in humans: “Bomb.”
This chilling scene was filmed in a staff lounge on the fourth floor of the Senator Burns building on campus. The show’s art department built an entire office — walls and all — inside the lounge to achieve the look they were going for.
It’s not the only time Senator Burns makes an appearance in the cold open:
The seating area in front of The Odyssey Café and The Station Market is made to look like a hospital front desk in Jakarta.
HBO/Crave
Indonesian writing on signage, whiteboards and sticky notes helped transform this fourth-floor hallway.
HBO/Crave
Students, employees and alumni recognized this blue tiling right away — it can be found in the Senator Burns basement (which funnily enough is home to SAIT’s Film and Video Production studios). The show’s production team built a door frame and false wall (with blue tiling to match!) to complete the look.
Episode five, “Endure and Survive”
Here’s a quick SAIT sighting you may have missed: At the end of their long journey through Kansas City’s maintenance tunnels — and just before an adrenaline-pumping thrill ride of a shootout in the suburbs — we see Joel, Ellie, Henry and Sam walk carefully through a door into a dark parkade.
This was filmed on the third level of SAIT’s parking garage.
Episode six, “Kin”
At long last, Joel and Ellie triumphantly arrive on horseback at their destination: the University of Eastern Colorado, said to be the home of a group of Fireflies who can extract a cure from Ellie. But wait, those buildings look familiar. (And where are these so-called Fireflies?!)
Check out a few shots of the “deserted” campus.
HBO/Crave
SAIT’s iconic 101-year-old Heritage Hall building can now add “being featured on a record-breaking zombie show” to its rich and storied history. (That grey structure in the first image is our parking garage, which sits beneath the Cohos Commons soccer field.)
The production crew spent six days decorating campus before filming began. Leaf piles, twisted old vines, and rusted bikes and newspaper boxes could be found across campus.
The red brick façade of Stan Grad Centre is easily recognizable as Joel and Ellie trot through campus.
👀 Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey sightings were a fun and unexpected perk for some students!
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🎬 Grads who worked behind the scenes
The Last of Us had its share of SAIT graduates working throughout its year-long production.
Hear what it was like being on set from:
- Bella Ramsey’s stand-in, Christina Riches (Business Administration '98)
- Sound Assistant Val Siu (Film and Video Production '10, Business Administration '08)
- Assistant Script Supervisor Ben Saracini (Film and Video Production ’19).
It was easy for 2019 Film and Video Production grad Jessica Rovansek to say yes to working on The Last of Us. After all, she was a big fan of the games.
“I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I mean, it’s The Last of Us, it’s HBO,” she says. “You play the game, you understand the story, but to see it come to life on a screen, with real people is kind of amazing.”
Learn about her role editing dailies and other SAIT grads making their mark on Alberta’s film scene.
🍄 Medicine, batteries and ants: Fun(gi) facts
We wanted to learn more about the fungus that inspired The Last of Us, and fungi in general. Trained to understand how the earth supports life in areas of biological, physical and earth sciences, Pablo Pina seemed like our fun-guy. (We hope Ellie would approve of that pun.)
Pina is Academic Chair of Sustainability within SAIT’s MacPhail School of Energy. Pina has a bioscience undergraduate degree, a master’s in environmental biology and a doctorate in water and land resources. He’s also worked as a research associate at the University of Calgary and consulted with clients across the non-profit sector, industry and government.
With his help, we pulled these cool (and sometimes disturbing) facts:
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🍯 The largest living organism is a honey mushroom in the Blue Mountains of Oregon. While it may sound sweet, this fungus — covering almost 10 square kilometres and estimated to be anywhere from 2,400 to 8,650 years old — feeds off nutrients in the trees, literally sucking the life out of them.
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💊 Fungi gave us the world’s first antibiotic and researchers continue to look for new medical uses from this natural resource. In 1928, Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming found the Penicillium fungi to have antibacterial properties and after experimenting with the fungal extract it successfully treated an eye infection. Large scale production of penicillin began in the 1940s.
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🌲 Alberta’s pine forests are facing a double threat. The mountain pine beetle is a parasite that burrows into tree trunks and introduces a blue-stain fungi which clogs conductive tissue destroying the tree. Between the fungi and mountain pine beetle larval, an infested pine tree can be destroyed within a month.
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📱 Scientists have used portobello mushroom to create a rechargeable battery in their search for an alternative option for smartphone batteries. A study published in Nature Scientific Reports suggests the pores which give mushrooms a spongy texture are capable of storing and transferring energy, and have the potential to improve with usage as opposed to conventional batteries which worsen over time.
The Last of Us fan-favourite fungi fact:
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🐜 Fungi found deep in the Amazon rainforest are turning carpenter ants into zombies by consuming the bug from the inside, eventually taking over its brain. This forces the ant to seek out a new environment fit for fungus growth with a capsule of spores sprouting from its head ready to infect other innocent prey.
🍄 What’s next
The Last of Us has been renewed for a second season. Will the show return to Calgary? We sure hope so. The more pressing question we’re asking ourselves though, now that season one has wrapped, is...
🎥 Lights, camera, action
Alberta’s the new Hollywood, and SAIT is on set. Check out SAIT’s Film and Video Production program.
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SAIT is located on the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of Treaty 7 which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Îyârhe Nakoda of Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney.
We are situated in an area the Blackfoot tribes traditionally called Moh’kinsstis, where the Bow River meets the Elbow River. We now call it the city of Calgary, which is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta.