A story about two people

The Last of Us was released by Naughty Dog in 2013, and it changed what people thought a video game story could be. Twenty years after a fungal infection has collapsed civilisation, Joel, a smuggler hollowed out by grief, is hired to escort Ellie, a fourteen-year-old girl who may hold the key to a cure, across a ruined United States. The Last of Us Part II followed in 2020, and the HBO series, beginning in 2023, brought the story to millions of new viewers.

Its overgrown cities and quiet green landscapes make calm, beautiful designs for a living room.

Behind the danger, it's a story about love, loss and what people will do for each other. Its imagery is surprisingly gentle: empty cities swallowed by trees, sunlight through broken windows, a guitar, a giraffe. A Last of Us rug brings that quiet beauty into the room, rather than the horror. Ours are printed into short velvet, so mossy greens, faded concrete and warm, golden light come out with real depth, and they go in the washing machine.

Joel and Ellie

Joel, weathered and protective, and Ellie, sharp-tongued, funny and brave, are one of the great pairs in any medium. Their relationship, from reluctant partners to something like father and daughter, is the reason players remember the game. A design of the two of them, walking through an overgrown street or sitting together looking out over a city, is the most meaningful Last of Us rug, best in a bedroom or a quiet game room.

The Fireflies

The Fireflies, the resistance movement searching for a cure, use a simple emblem: a firefly, often stenciled on walls with their motto about looking for the light. It's one of the most recognizable symbols in modern gaming, and a firefly design, a small glowing insect on a dark ground, makes a subtle, beautiful rug. It looks like a gentle nature motif to visitors and carries the game's whole story for fans.

Ellie's tattoo

In Part II, Ellie has a tattoo on her forearm: a fern, with a moth drawn over the scar beneath. It's become one of the most copied designs in fandom, and many fans have the real thing. As a rug, the fern and moth make an elegant, botanical design that suits a bedroom or a plant-filled room, and our botanical rugs share the same green, leafy feel.

The giraffes

Near the end of the first game, in a ruined Salt Lake City, Ellie sees a herd of giraffes grazing among the abandoned buildings, and for a moment everything is calm. It's the scene players remember most. A giraffe design, a giraffe against a city skyline overgrown with trees and soft evening light, is a gentle, hopeful rug, perfect for a living room or bedroom. It simply looks like beautiful wildlife art to anyone who hasn't played. See our giraffe rugs for more.

The guitar

Music runs through the series. Joel promises to teach Ellie guitar, and in Part II she plays, alone and with others. Gustavo Santaolalla's score, built on spare, haunting acoustic guitar, is inseparable from the games. A guitar design, Ellie's guitar resting against a wall, a few notes and a sprig of fern, is a lovely rug for a music corner, beside a real guitar stand. Our guitar rugs have more ideas for that kind of room.

Nature reclaims the city

The Last of Us's most striking visual idea is a world going green again: skyscrapers wrapped in vines, streets turned to meadows, deer walking through hotel lobbies, rain falling into a flooded museum. Its palette, moss green, concrete grey, rust, soft gold light, is calm and natural, much easier to decorate with than most game art. An overgrown-city rug suits a living room with plants, wood and stone, and it reads as atmospheric landscape art.

The places

Joel and Ellie's journey crosses the country, and each place has its own look:

• The Boston quarantine zone, grey, walled and controlled.
• Pittsburgh and its bridges, autumn leaves among the ruins.
• Jackson, Wyoming, a snowy town that has learned to live again, with a dance hall, horses and a power dam.
• Salt Lake City in spring, and the giraffes.
• Seattle in Part II, rain-soaked and overgrown, with its theater, aquarium and the ruins around the Space Needle.

Jackson in winter, snow on wooden rooftops and a warm light in the windows, is one of the coziest Last of Us rugs, perfect for a living room in the colder months.

The museum

One of Part II's most loved moments is a flashback: for Ellie's birthday, Joel takes her to an abandoned natural history museum, past dinosaur skeletons, into a space exhibit where she climbs inside an old capsule and listens to a recording of a launch. It's pure joy in the middle of a dark story. A museum design, a dinosaur skeleton under a starry ceiling or a rocket against a night sky, is a wonderful rug for a child's room or a space-loving teenager. Our space rugs and dinosaur rugs carry the same wonder.

Jackson's dance

In Jackson, the town holds a winter dance in an old barn, with lanterns, a band and a crowd of people who have managed to build something like a normal life. It's where Ellie and Dina share one of the series' most famous scenes. A barn-dance design, string lights and snow outside the windows, is a warm, romantic rug for a couple who love the games.

Collectibles

Ellie collects things: issues of a fictional sci-fi comic called Savage Starlight, superhero trading cards scattered through Part II, coins from every state. Completionists hunt for every one. A collectibles design, a spread of comic covers and trading cards, is a playful, colorful rug for a fan who searched every drawer and backpack.

Left Behind and the mall

The Left Behind chapter takes Ellie and her best friend Riley through an abandoned mall at night: a carousel, a photo booth, Halloween masks, water-gun fights and a joke book. It's warm, funny and heartbreaking. A carousel design, its lights glowing in the dark, is a nostalgic, almost dreamlike rug for fans who loved that chapter.

Ellie's jokes

Ellie reads terrible puns aloud from a joke book, much to Joel's quiet amusement, and the book's punning title has become a fan favorite. A joke-book design is a playful, light-hearted Last of Us rug, a nod to the small moments of humor that made the story bearable.

Colors for real rooms

The Last of Us palette is one of the easiest in gaming to live with: moss and fern greens, weathered concrete, rusted metal, faded denim blues and the warm gold of late-afternoon light. Pair a Last of Us rug with plants, natural wood, linen and a warm lamp, and the room feels calm rather than themed. One small accent, a firefly print or a guitar on the wall, tells fans exactly what they're looking at.

The show

The HBO series, starring Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, introduced The Last of Us to a huge audience who had never played the games. Designs inspired by its look, cinematic, desaturated, with the same overgrown cities, suit a home theater as well as a game room. See our home theater rugs for the rest of the room.

A gentle note on the subject

The Last of Us is a mature story with frightening creatures and violence. For a shared or younger room, the firefly, the fern-and-moth, the giraffes or an overgrown landscape keep the theme without anything that might upset anyone. Save infected and combat scenes for an adults' game room, if you want them at all.

Sizes and levels

Under a gaming chair, choose Standard in 3.3×5 or 4×6 ft: its 5 mm crushed velvet on a non-slip faux leather back lets wheels roll freely. In a living room or bedroom, choose Premium, 7 mm plush velvet on a bamboo and cotton back, in 4×6 or 5×7 ft for a landscape or the giraffes. A firefly or fern suits a 3.3 to 3.9 ft (100 to 120 cm) round rug.

Gifts

A Last of Us rug is a thoughtful gift for someone who loved the story, played or watched. If you aren't sure which design to choose, the firefly or the giraffes are the gentlest and most universal choices. Every rug is printed to order in 1–3 business days and ships from Turkey; US delivery usually takes 2–5 business days after that.

Care

Vacuum on a low setting each week, blot spills with cold water straight away and wash the rug on a gentle, cold cycle when it needs it; let it air dry flat. The design is printed into the fibers, so the greens stay soft and the light stays warm for years to come.

A note on the series

Ellie's journal

In Part II, Ellie carries a journal full of sketches, notes and song lyrics: drawings of animals, landscapes, the people she loves and the places she passes through. Players flip through its pages as the story unfolds. A rug inspired by that journal, pencil sketches of a giraffe, a moth, a fern and a guitar on aged paper, is a gentle, personal design for fans who loved the quiet moments as much as the danger, and it suits a reading nook or a studio corner.

Padrift is an independent studio. The Last of Us and its characters are named to describe what our designs are inspired by; we are not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Naughty Dog, Sony Interactive Entertainment or HBO.