"Day One" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American post-apocalyptic drama television series The Last of Us. Written by series co-creator Craig Mazin and directed by Kate Herron, it aired on HBO on May 4, 2025. The episode follows Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) in Seattle as they search for Abby, a member of the Washington Liberation Front (WLF) who killed Joel. It introduces WLF leader Isaac (Jeffrey Wright), who joined the group after defecting from the Federal Disaster Response Agency.

The episode adapts and expands upon several scenes from The Last of Us Part II (2020), the video game on which the season is based. Ellie's performance of A-ha's "Take On Me" was adapted directly; Mazin and Herron considered it among the most important scenes. Similar importance was placed upon Ellie and Dina's intimacy scenes, which occurred earlier in the game. Critics praised the direction, cinematography, writing, action sequences, and Merced and Wright's performances; the latter was nominated for Guest Actor in a Drama Series at the 77th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. The episode had 774,000 viewers on linear television.

Plot In 2018, Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA) sergeant Isaac Dixon chastises his team for mocking civilians they have harassed. They encounter a Washington Liberation Front (WLF) group led by Hanrahan. Isaac kills his squad, only sparing the idealistic Burton, and reveals his allegiance to the WLF. Eleven years later, Isaac, now the WLF's leader, interrogates Malcolm—a member of the Seraphites, a religious group in Seattle—for his group's location while torturing him with a heated pan. After realizing the Seraphite would rather be tortured than share the truth, he shoots him dead. Burton, standing guard outside with another WLF member, says he deserved it.

Ellie and Dina begin their first day exploring Seattle in their search for Abby, with Dina covertly taking a pregnancy test. In Capitol Hill, the two stumble upon the aftermath of conflicts between FEDRA and the WLF. Deciding to advance by night, they decide to hide out in a music store where Ellie discovers a guitar and serenades Dina with A-ha's song "Take On Me".

While proceeding through a former television station that night, they encounter the bodies of several WLF soldiers brutally disemboweled by the Seraphites, causing Dina to vomit again. Evading an incoming WLF squad, Ellie and Dina escape through the subway, where the WLF squad unintentionally attracts the infected and is killed. Ellie allows an infected to bite her arm to save Dina before they escape to an abandoned theater together. A heartbroken Dina prepares to shoot Ellie, but Ellie reveals her immunity and offers to sleep in isolation to prove that she will not turn.

Once it is clear to Dina that Ellie is immune, Dina confesses that she is pregnant. Fueled by their emotional intensity, the two have sex for the first time, finally consummating their feelings for one another. The next morning, Dina admits that Jesse fathered her baby, but shares that she wants a future and a family together with Ellie, who reciprocates the sentiment. The two overhear chatter on a walkie-talkie that the WLF—including Abby's friend Nora—are based at the Lakehill hospital. Ellie suggests Dina stay behind and protect her pregnancy, but Dina insists on going forward with Ellie.

Production Conception and writing

"Day One" was written by The Last of Us series co-creator Craig Mazin and directed by Kate Herron. A fan of the games on which the series is based, having played them during COVID-19 lockdowns, Herron reached out to the showrunners in hopes of working on an episode. Eben Bolter, her friend who worked as a director of photography on the first season, "put a good word in" for her. Herron was excited to speak with Neil Druckmann, the co-showrunner who co-directed and co-wrote the games, even if she did not secure the job; she considered dressing as Ellie for her Zoom meeting. She spoke with Mazin and Druckmann about her love for the games and series, and they later asked her to direct an episode. Herron thought they assigned her "Day One" because she talked "a lot about Ellie and Dina"; she felt their relationship was the episode's "guiding light". She enjoyed the tonal shifts, such as the discussion of pride flags immediately before encountering the burned-out tank. She compared the tonal shifts to a music scale, feeling some scenes built up to others—like the Capitol Hill scenes to the music store, and the television station to the subway—while others reset the tone entirely, such as Isaac's interrogation sequence.

The episode's opening with FEDRA soldiers was inspired by environmental storytelling in The Last of Us Part II (2020), the game on which the second season is based; the player can discover a burned-out tank and notes revealing that some FEDRA soldiers began deserting. Herron felt that focusing on Burton, a new recruit who asks questions, could help the audience learn the soldiers' dynamics. The writers were intrigued by the similarities between Ellie and the Seraphites, with both attempting to respect and protect deceased figures: Ellie with Joel, and the Seraphites with their Prophet. Druckmann felt that with the passage of time since their deaths, the deceased evolved from being real people into more of an idea. The television station scenes were inspired by the game's stealth gameplay, which Mazin partly wanted to replicate; he showed production designer Don Macauley the in-game location as a reference before the set was built. Herron felt the nighttime setting, instead of daytime like in the game, was more frightening and intimidating. She largely planned the scene independently as the crew was working on "Through the Valley". Mazin had intentionally added references to Ellie's love of space and astronauts in the first season (like mentioning Sally Ride in "Kin") to set up the second season; in "Day One", she mentions the fate of the Apollo 1 astronauts to Dina.

The Capitol Hill scenes were adapted closely from the game, in which they are optional; Druckmann was interested to discover which ones Mazin would include. They considered the music store scene especially important; it was one of Herron's favorite from the game, and she sought to make it feel "safe" rather than frightening for viewers. Ellie's performance of "Take On Me" matches the scene in the game. Druckmann sent a clip of it during filming to A-ha guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, who was moved. Mazin thought the inclusion of the song was justified by narrative events: Dina falls in love with Ellie as she performs. Herron found the scene among the most intimidating to film, and Mazin was nervous as he felt it was one of the most meaningful to many people. He thought the scene matched the game's version in some ways while still remaining unique in others, such as the context of Ellie and Dina's relationship; by the time it took place in the game, they were already a couple. For Herron, playing a song for one's crush made the scene relatable to viewers. She filmed several different takes, including some where Ellie avoided eye contact and Dina was "really into the song", to allow the best version to be selected during editing. Mazin approved Herron's request to add a caterpillar in the background, which she felt reflected his willingness to collaborate.

The scene in which Ellie reveals her immunity was altered to delay Dina's belief due to the series's use of tendrils instead of spores (the vector through which infection is spread in the games). Mazin considered the scene an enjoyable exercise in writing and acting, likening it to defusing a bomb. Herron found it challenging to balance the trust levels of both characters, requiring several takes. Ellie's decision to isolate herself from Dina to prove her immunity was based on Joel and Tess's similar treatment of Ellie in "Infected". Herron wanted the scene to maintain tension until the moment Ellie and Dina kiss, making it feel earned and "like a relief, but also enough of a surprise". Their sex scene was different in the game, taking place much earlier in Jackson, and the writers' decision to move it to Seattle prompted other changes in earlier episodes. Herron appreciated the change, considering it more impactful and logical considering the series's episodic nature, but wondered if fans of the game would accept it. Mazin felt the more fearful state of LGBTQ rights in 2003—when the outbreak occurs in the series—meant Dina was scared to reveal herself to Ellie. Herron, who came out as bisexual in her 30s, found Dina's coming out "very relatable and beautiful" and wanted to portray it authentically, hoping viewers would realize they are not alone. She considered Ellie and Dina's relationship relatable, particularly in their mutual hesitancy.

Casting and characters

During the performance of "Take On Me", Bella Ramsey (who portrays Ellie) was asked to "tone it down" and perform "worse" to make Ellie sound "more like a regular person picking up a guitar" rather than an experienced player like Ramsey. They took lessons to learn the song and felt their vocal performance—they are experienced with "more choral and operatic-like singing"—reflected Ellie's shyness during the scene. They were more nervous about the scene than their stunt work due to the character's vulnerability. Isabela Merced (Dina) had not intended for the character to become emotional during the music store scene, but she cried due the "stunning" set and Ramsey's "angelic and pure" voice; even when Herron asked her not to cry, Merced struggled to remain composed. She felt Dina was emotional due to her love for Ellie and Joel, as well as her fear about her pregnancy and her romantic connection with Ellie. She performed the scene as if it was the moment Dina fell in love with Ellie. Both actors had earpieces during the scene, which frequently malfunctioned.

As a queer woman, Merced understood Dina's hesitancy to come out. She attributed the scene's authenticity to Halley Gross for her work on both the game and series. Merced and Ramsey improvised some moments based on their mutual comfort, like adding additional kisses. Merced wanted viewers to believe that Dina "could potentially shoot Ellie in the face" and feel conflicted about it. She "went to a really dark place" to understand Dina's internal conflict and found the scene difficult to film, citing the wet weather and the gun's weight, but felt they contributed to its authenticity. Merced appreciated the scene's uniqueness as it occurred differently in the games, and found it paralleled Ellie and Riley's scenes in the first-season episode "Left Behind". She was nervous about the "emotionally charged" scene wherein Dina reveals her pregnancy but was comforted that the cinematography mostly conceals her face; it gave her an opportunity to "hype [herself] up, and really just feel anxious". Regarding Dina's decision to continue despite her pregnancy, Merced considered her own mother, thinking "if she were able to somehow secure the safety of others and herself and her baby, nothing would really stop her".