The primary season finale of HBO’s The Final of Us left viewers with a whole lot of questions unanswered. Chief amongst them: Was that an actual giraffe that Joel and Ellie had been feeding, or what? Loads of viewers thought it was CGI (and never very convincing CGI at that), nevertheless it seems that sure certainly, it was 100% flesh and blood.
The giraffe in query seems throughout a quiet interlude within the episode: Ellie and Joel uncover the creature roaming free amidst ruined buildings, and take a second to feed it and marvel at its presence. As Polygon (opens in new tab) famous, it is an essential scene within the sport, and was replicated virtually shot-for-shot within the present.
Followers all ready for the Giraffe scene… from r/ThelastofusHBOseries
“It is a joyful second for Ellie, and for Joel seeing Ellie lastly be a glimmer of who she was after the trauma that she confronted,” Bella Ramsey, who performs Ellie within the collection, stated within the “Contained in the Episode” documentary on the season finale.
“The whole lot that she’s skilled hasn’t simply gone away, it is simply this second of magnificence—so valuable it is virtually unhappy. However then, by way of chatting with Craig [showrunner Craig Mazin], I noticed it was simply dwelling the reality of it. Which was—it was bittersweet, however nonetheless so, so lovely.”
(There are spoilers on this video, naturally, so proceed past the giraffe bit with no matter warning you deem applicable.)
However to a whole lot of viewers, that giraffe simply did not look fairly proper. Was it CGI? Was it unhealthy CGI?
Nicely, no, and positively not. The giraffe, identical to Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, is actual: He is a 13-year-old male Masai giraffe named Nabo who calls the Calgary Zoo (opens in new tab) house. Mockingly, given the response, a part of the rationale HBO employed an actual giraffe was to maximise the scene’s realism.
Right here he’s!
Loads of folks on Reddit (opens in new tab) and social media copped to not having the ability to inform if the giraffe was actual, however they might have been faked out partly as a result of there have been loads of different CGI results concerned within the scene. The enclosure the place Nabo was being held, for instance, was surrounded by inexperienced screens.
Here is what it seemed like behind the scenes:
Sure, there actually was a giraffe on the set of The Final of Us pic.twitter.com/pN2SvSsufOMarch 13, 2023
“That’s Hollywood magic of Alex [VFX supervisor Alex Wang] isolating the giraffes and placing them on our set,” manufacturing designer John Paino advised Yahoo! Leisure. “That was in all probability probably the most sophisticated piecing of VFX stage, surroundings and placement I’ve labored on.”
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One other issue contributing to the confusion: Who the hell is aware of what an actual giraffe appears to be like like up shut anyway? Presumably different giraffes.
Folks, possibly not a lot.
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Nabo’s presence within the present was truly leaked, precisely, virtually a yr in the past, however apparently both no one seen or everybody forgot:
HBO could also be filming scenes for #TheLastofUs at a zoo. There may be additionally one other rumor that they might be making ready to movie in a hospital.“solid/crew have checked right into a lodge in Grande Prairie”(through dm on ig) pic.twitter.com/HIa0cKNmDmMay 10, 2022
HBO introduced in January that The Final of Us had already been renewed for a second season (opens in new tab). Extra not too long ago, showrunner Craig Mazin stated that, like the primary season, the present will deviate from the sport, typically “radically (opens in new tab),” at any time when and wherever it must.
