In ‘The Last of Us,’ Every Watch Has a Hidden Meaning

Another noticeable watch, an Easter egg for those unfamiliar with the game, also appears at the beginning of the series. In the moment when Abby sets out her intention to avenge her father’s death by murdering Joel, we see her place her father’s dog tags on his grave. Her watch in shot is strikingly similar to that of Joel’s. Swain confirms this was no accident and provides a clue for those who don’t know the game that Abby will get her revenge. “While selecting the watches for the cast, we tried to keep the rest of the watches far away from Joel’s, except for Abby. Here, Craig wanted something similar to Joel’s while still being slightly different. We played around with the colours of the strap until we landed on the khaki one you see in the show.”

The other interesting watch choice is the one worn by Tommy, Joel’s brother, seen in the shot when he takes Joel’s timepiece off his dead body as he cleans it in episode three. Swain confirms that Tommy’s watch is a Mortima Datomatic, a dive watch from the ’70s made by a French brand from the company Cattin & Cie. Swain didn’t say why this specific timepiece was chosen but it does speak to the carefully crafted aesthetic: the Texan plant Indian paintbrush on his boots and his First Nations-crafted belt buckle, which actor Gabriel Luna chose specifically for his character because he felt he was a man who would treasure well made things from before.

The final teaser for fans is that we haven’t seen the last of Joel’s watch. “Spoiler warning. We do see it in flashbacks in future episodes in season two,’ Swain says. But will Ellie ever wear it? “Not as of yet,” Swain replies. That ‘yet’ has us hypothesizing. I guess we’ll have to wait until season three of The Last of Us to find out.

This story originally appeared on British GQ.