Joel Miller Plays Pearl Jam Song in New ‘The Last of Us’ Episode

Joel Miller, one of the main characters in the HBO series The Last of Us, played a song by a huge grunge band during the new episode that premiered last night (May 18).

If you’ve played the games that the series was adapted from, then you’ve likely been waiting to see Pedro Pascal, who portrays Joel, perform Pearl Jam‘s “Future Days” with an acoustic guitar for Ellie Williams (who’s played by Bella Ramsey).

It was actually teased during last week’s episode when Ellie picked up an acoustic guitar and sang the first line of the song — “If I ever were to lose you.” But last night’s episode consisted mainly of flashbacks that showed how Joel celebrated Ellie’s birthday every year in Jackson, and how their relationship changed overtime due to Ellie’s skepticism over what happened at the hospital in Salt Lake City years prior.

The first flashback featured Joel gifting Ellie a guitar for her 15th birthday. She asked him to play something, which was when he played “Future Days” from Pearl Jam’s 2013 album Lightning Bolt. As mentioned earlier, Joel also played the song in the second game.

Pedro Pascal Plays Pearl Jam’s ‘Future Days’ in ‘The Last of Us’

What’s Interesting About the Song Choice

What’s interesting about the inclusion of “Future Days” is that it technically never would have come out during the timeline of the show or the game. Lightning Bolt came out in October of 2013 — the Cordyceps outbreak started in September of 2013 in the game, and September of 2003 in the series.

“Initially, when we were making this episode, there would have been a different song. As we were exploring it, just felt like we were prioritizing the wrong thing, this timeline of events and when things would be available. Clearly, we’re not in the same timeline as our universe, so we have some leeway,” The Last of Us co-creator and executive producer Neil Druckmann told Variety.

READ MORE: The Rock Easter Eggs From ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Premiere

“And that song felt so important. Because it was in the game, because it has so much association, not only for fans, but even for myself, we changed course. The thing that we thought we cared about, we ultimately didn’t care about, and the emotional truth of the song was more important than the timeline truth of the world that we live in.”

People who played the game may have also noticed a Lightning Bolt poster on display in an abandoned record store in Seattle.

Pearl Jam Share ‘The Last of Us’ EP

On May 12, Pearl Jam shared a compilation EP of their songs that were featured in the show, which is available on streaming platforms. The EP, which is named after the show and game, features “Future Days,” “All or None” from their 2002 album Riot Act and a few others.

Other Rock References in ‘The Last of Us’

There were some other rock references during last night’s episode too, including a poster of Nirvana‘s Kurt Cobain on the outside of Ellie’s bedroom door, another poster of Radiohead‘s “Creep” and some others.

Earlier in the season, Nirvana’s cover of “Love Buzz” played during one of the episodes, and their final single “You Know You’re Right” was featured in the Season 2 trailer.