‘The Last Of Us’ Costume Designer Ann Foley Interview

EXCLUSIVE: Jumping into the second season of The Last of Us, costume designer Ann Foley had a lot to live up to from the success of the first season. Luckily, a five year time jump between seasons gave Foley enough of a chance to put her own twist on the Emmy-nominated costume designs.

As a fan of the show herself, Foley was inspired by the love and passion co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have for both the series and the game. “I had never played the game,” she says, “but I did watch the play through for my interview and was really blown away by how many moments in the show match the game.”

Below, Foley gives Deadline the breakdown of how the costumes changed for season two with exclusive sketches from illustrator Imogene Chayes.

Ellie (Bella Ramsey)

“When it came to Ellie,” says Foley, “one of the most fun parts for me personally was getting to show Ellie’s progression from a 14-year-old to a 19-year-old, while also staying true to Ellie in the game.” Once Ellie reaches Seattle in the video game, her clothing doesn’t change since she’s hyper focused on her quest for revenge. “This was an incredibly important costume to not only design with Craig and with Neil, but also for Bella to help her find who Ellie is 1747155848.”

A new aspect of Ellie’s character design is her tattoo, which covers her bite mark and allows her to wear short sleeve shirts without fear of people discovering who she is. “Rebecca Lee, who led our makeup team on the show, did a brilliant job with that tattoo,” says Foley. “We wanted to be able to show it off as much as possible.”

The color palette for Ellie this season is on the cooler side, focusing on intense blues and greens. “It’s a little sadder and it reflects Joel’s color palette as well,” says Foley. “They might not be biologically related, but they are very much partners in the world.

Joel (Pedro Pascal)

While Ellie’s designs changes are large enough to indicate a teenager growing up over five years, Joel’s changes are much more subtle. “I had several conversations with Pedro about this, and Joel is Joel,” says Foley. “He’s not going to change dramatically from who he was. But we are seeing some very small, subtle things like Joel is tucking his shirt in now that he’s taking on that older dad role.”

Foley opted to keep the Flint and Tinder jacket Joel wore in Season 1, which became an iconic jacket for the character. “The parka is brand new,” says Foley. “I based it on a ’90s style silhouette and it was made out of a cotton canvas that we then waterproofed so it would actually be practical up there in Alberta.” Since all of the scenes in the snow were shot in real snow, Foley had to make sure all of the parkas created for the cast were functional while also “keeping true to a ’90s, early 2000s silhouette.”

Although Foley wants to keep things as true to the game as she can, the parkas were a necessary addition for the frigid environment compared to what Joel wears in the game. “In a blizzard, in the game, I think Joel is wearing a very flimsy jacket,” she says. “This is great for the game, but we have to take a lot of this practical considerations into it when we’re designing for real practical elements and locations.”

Abby (Kaitlyn Dever)

Abby was another character that changed from the game to “work for the elements”, since her character in the game approaches Jackson in only a nylon bomber jacket. “I had a knitter in Vancouver who made Abby’s knit beanie and this wonderful cowl around her neck, for some extra warmth there,” says Foley.

While not initially known, Abby is part of a soldier group called WLF which replaced FEDRA as the occupying military force in Washington. “The idea for them was, what would they have access to?” says Foley. “So, we broke down all those FEDRA uniforms – stripped them of color, ripped the patches off and kept the rips in the sleeves.”

Since WLF is not introduced before Abby arrives in Jackson, Foley used the WLF color palette when designing her costume to give a subtle nod to where she comes from. “The color palette for WLF is lots of browns and lots of grays with pops of navy in there,” she says. “We don’t know when we first meet Abby that she is in WLF but, in retrospect, you can see the brown pants, the gray jacket and the navy beanie.”

Seraphite Priest

While the costumes for Ellie and Joel have a basis in the first season, and the WLF costumes come from FEDRA, the Seraphite faction is new for this season. “They’re a very Luddite group,” says Foley. “They’re living off what they can find in the woods, probably even around the old abandoned marinas in Seattle. And when I was talking to Craig and Neil about the Seraphites and what they looked like in the game, they were really interested in staying true to the Luddite quality and the handmade quality of clothing.”

The color palette was kept “true to the forest”, with tree bark browns and greens from moss and leaves. The materials used also needed to be something that could be salvaged from around the area. “The tabard this priest is wearing is all canvas,” says Foley. “It’s an oiled canvas that we broke down, and the idea behind that is that maybe they pulled these off of old boat tarps by the marina to create these ponchos and tabards.”

For the priest himself, his costume became a little more extreme than the other Seraphites. “He’s got the Seraphite symbols, but then we took it to the next level because of what he does for the group,” says Foley. “As the priest, you’re going to see some blood spatters on that tabard, old and new. Those are the little details that really bring it to life and make it real.”