The Last Of Us fans agree Ellie's real dad was right in front of us

It’s found family that sometimes matters the most

I’m going to need HBO to reveal The Last of Us’ season two premiere date soon.

Why? Well my self-titled TLOU January is in shambles.

I’m a major fan of the franchise and January has been a pretty prosperous month in recent years.

January 2023 saw The Last of Us premiere on HBO, while January 2024 brought us the release of The Last of Us Part II Remastered.

This month though? Well, there’s not a fat lot going on at the moment, but with season two of the HBO show set to air in ‘spring’, I have a sneaky feeling that a premiere date reveal will fall into our laps before we know it.

In the meantime, The Last of Us fans have taken to discussing the identity of Ellie’s ‘real dad’ with many in agreement that he’s been right in front of us this whole time.

Yes, I’m talking about Joel.

The Last of Us fans concur that it really doesn’t matter who Ellie’s biological father is.

Joel is the person who’s been there for her when it matters most, raising her and protecting her amidst all of the chaos of this post-apocalyptic landscape.

“Joel is her real dad. As far as her biological dad goes, he is not mentioned by Marlene or Anna in the letter, which means Ellie’s mom and dad probably didn’t have a great relationship,” wrote Reddit user Superb_Creme3452, garnering plenty of upvotes.

The Last of Us is a franchise that hugely explores the idea of ‘found family’, and I think that’s partly the reason why it’s never bothered to address the topic of Ellie’s biological father.

It doesn’t really matter as he’s irrelevant.

As the above Reddit user highlights, it’s not a topic broached by Marlene or Anna, nor is it something we touch upon in the HBO adaptation which does shed more light on Ellie’s birth – something which Ellie’s mum, Anna, is alone for.

I really hope it says that way. If Ellie is yet to utter a mention about her birth father, there’s no reason why she’d suddenly decide to do so in The Last of Us Part III.

She had a father in Joel, and now she has a family in Tommy, Marlene, Dina, and JJ. That’s what’s important.