Warning: The below article contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of HBO’s The Last of Us.
In unusually wholesome The Last of Us news: that giraffe in the Season 1 finale was real, and their name is Nabo.
Throughout Season 1, the hit HBO video game adaptation has used a mix of computer-generated and practical effects, and the scene where Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) encounter a giraffe shortly before they reach the Firefly hospital is no exception. During HBO Max’s Making of The Last of Us documentary (via Total Film), it was revealed that Pascal and Ramsey’s co-star was indeed Nobu, while VFX later filled in their surroundings.
“Giraffes are pretty massive,” Ramsey said in the documentary. “It’s like a spiritual experience almost, being so close to such a magnificent animal.”
“Shooting with Nabo the giraffe will certainly be one of my favorite experiences,” the episode’s location manager, Matt Palmer, added. “You can create a giraffe in visual effects, but it’s just not the same.”
Still, that didn’t stop some on social media from poking fun at the CGI of the giraffe (you know, the very real giraffe), and it also doesn’t mean that using an actual animal was the easy way out. Elaborating to Variety, production designer John Paino said that several keepers and trainers were needed to make sure the giraffe was comfortable around the green screens and actors.
“The trainers worked to get them to eat out of a stranger’s hand. So, when Ellie and Joel walk up at the enclosure, that’s the giraffe eating those branches of food,” Paino said.
“That was probably the most complicated piecing of VFX stage, scenery, and location I’ve worked on,” he added.
For more on last night’s The Last of Us finale, check out our interview with Marlene actress Merle Dandridge, our spoiler-filled review, and what that confirmed fan theory could mean for the show’s future.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
