The Last of Us finale has a hidden cameo from a major game star

Warning: This article contains spoilers from The Last of Us season 1 finale.

As it turns out, Merle Dandridge isn't the only original actor from The Last of Us video game to reprise their role in the HBO adaptation. Technically, Laura Bailey does too — just not the role fans immediately think of.

The climactic sequence to the season 1 finale sees Joel (Pedro Pascal) delivering Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to the Fireflies. But when he learns that in order to produce a vaccine, the doctors have to remove the cordyceps from her brain, effectively killing her, he goes on a rampage to rescue Ellie.

Shooting his way through the hospital, Joel busts through the operating room door, startling the doctor and two nurses about to operate on Ellie. The end credits of the episode confirm that Bailey is playing one of the nurses.

Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage; Naughty Dog Laura Bailey played the role of Abby, a pivotal character to 2020's 'The Last of Us Part II'

Fans of the games know Bailey well for her voice and motion-capture performance as Abby, a pivotal character from The Last of Us Part II that we won't talk about because it's that much of a spoiler. However, Bailey is a veteran voice actor in the gaming space who contributed voice work to the first entry, as well, 2013's The Last of Us.

Neil Druckmann, one of the showrunners on the HBO series who also co-created the video games, confirms Bailey voiced one of the nurses in the operating room. The actress is now serving in that same capacity in the adaptation.

"She was like, 'Come on! Lemme do it. Lemme be in the show,'" Craig Mazin, the other series showrunner, said during a virtual press conference with Druckmann. "We were like, 'We love you. Of course!'"

"I won't tell you which one she is, by the way," he added. "The two nurses look very similar."

Liane Hentscher/HBO Darren Dolynski as the surgeon and Laura Bailey and Ana Rice as the nurses in 'The Last of Us' season 1 finale

Naughty Dog A scene from 'The Last of Us' video game in which Joel stops the doctor from operating on Ellie

Neither executive producer ruled out casting Bailey in a larger cameo or guest-arc appearance in season 2 and beyond, similar to what they did with other veteran game actors like Ashley Johnson, Troy Baker, Jeffrey Pierce, and Dandridge. "Maybe we'll do something else with her in the next season," Druckmann said of Bailey.

"I mean, she's got a mask on, so we can make her anything we want in the next season," Mazin agreed.

Mazin also explained how they shot this scene in an abandoned hospital that was going to be demolished in Grande Prairie, Alberta, in Canada. When he gave Bailey a tour of the set, he said, "She cried just looking at it. It was the same thing that happened the first time Merle put the Marlene wig on. She cried. It's a common thing that the people that had come from Neil's game world felt like they were stepping into this impossible, like the most amazing VR adaptation of The Last of Us ever."

"[Bailey] sent me this very, very funny picture that she took the day that they shot that scene," Druckmann mentioned. "Because again, for those that know who she plays in the in the next story, it's very much related to that operating room. So maybe when the season's over, I'll tweet that picture up for her."

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