As it turns out, HBO’s The Last of Us TV series is connected–in a way–to the popular The Lord of the Rings series. The connection doesn’t stem from an in-game Easter egg or anything like that. But it’s come to light that one of the main designers of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, Gino Acevedo, designed the Bloater from The Last of Us. This story contains spoilers for The Last of Us.
Speaking to Comicbook.com, Weta FX supervisor Simon Jung said Acevedo was “heavily involved” in bringing the Bloater to life. “He figured out all the proportions and some of the growths,” Jung said.
Acevedo worked off reference materials from the video game and elements from the prosthetic suit that the actor who played the Bloater was wearing. Naughty Dog also shared previously unreleased concept art with Weta VFX, Jung said.