Fan-Made The Last Of Us Short Film Features Heartbreaking Ending

A VFX artist on big-name films like Deadpool 2 and Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker has released a short film inspired by Naughty Dog's The Last of Us with new characters and a rather heartbreaking ending.

The seven-minute film, titled Stay, follows new characters and lovers Emily and Sean as they explore--and try to escape from--the Santa Monica Pier. There are serene moments of the couple hanging out, Sean admiring Emily, interspersed between tense scenes of the two running from the Clickers. We even see an Ellie lookalike who bookends the film before its depressing end.

In a sequence reminiscent of The Last of Us gameplay, Emily falls into an abandoned building, alerting a Clicker while dealing with a bruised leg. Emily somehow gets infected in this perturbing exchange, much to Sean's chagrin. Check out Stay's gut-wrenching ending for yourself in the video below.

It's worth noting that this is just a fan project. As VFX artist turned director Joshua Toonen notes in the YouTube description, Stay is a collaboration between 40 artists and fans with no endorsement from Naughty Dog.

A Last of Us TV show is in the works at HBO, with filming supposedly having started this month. The series will star Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in the leading roles, with Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann writing the project together. Druckmann said the series will deviate significantly from the games.