Page 1 of 1
In the game, Joel finds a devastating note written by Frank to Bill before Frank takes his own life. The HBO show flips the whole scene around - it's Bill who leaves the letter, addressed to whoever finds his house after he and Frank die together. Same heartbreak, told from the opposite direction.
That spine-chilling clicking sound the Clickers make isn't some purely digital effect - it starts with live voice actors physically performing the noise. Misty Lee, who's provided clicking for both the game and the HBO adaptation, has spoken about the process, and once you know real vocal cords are behind it, it somehow gets creepier.
Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, the voices behind Joel and Ellie in the games, both turn up in the HBO series - just not as Joel and Ellie. Baker plays James, part of David's group in season one, while Johnson appears as Anna, Ellie's mother, giving longtime fans a proper nod without any recasting confusion.
Somewhere in Part 2's dialogue, Joel and Ellie bond over a fictional action-movie franchise called Curtis and Viper 2, a series that only exists inside this world. It clearly meant something to the writers too, because the HBO adaptation brought the same made-up franchise back when Dina mentions wanting to watch it with Joel.
