Tommy returns in The Last of Us Episode 6, alongside his new wife Maria – let’s break down their relationship and how they met since he left Joel in Boston.
In our review, we said Episode 6 is “a moving testament to the story’s pathos and tenderness, seamlessly adapted from game to screen; you will believe in Joel and Ellie.”
After the year-defining horror of Henry and Sam’s demise, we pick up with Joel and Ellie trudging through the Wyoming snow, where they find Tommy living a peaceful life in an extraordinary commune.
That’s not all: despite Joel not hearing from him, he’s now married to a woman named Maria – if you’re feeling a bit lost or just want a catch up, we’ve got all the details.
What happened to Tommy in The Last of Us?
Tommy left Boston after joining the Fireflies. While he doesn’t explain his reasoning, he ended up ditching the Fireflies, and soon after, Maria found him and brought him into their commune.
In Episode 4, Joel told Ellie: “Tommy’s what we used to call a joiner. Dreams of becoming a hero. So he enlisted in the army right outta high school.”
“A few months later, they ship him off to Desert Storm – that’s what they called that war, it doesn’t matter. The point is, being in the army didn’t make him feel much like a hero. Cut to 12 years later, outbreak happens. He convinces me to join a group making their way up to Boston, which I did… mostly to keep an eye on him, keep him alive.
“That’s where we met Tess, and that whole crew… well for what it was, it worked. Then Tommy meets Marlene, she talks him in to joining the Fireflies – the same mistake he made when he was 18… of course, last I heard, he quit the Fireflies too, so now he’s on his own out there and I gotta go get him.”
When Joel and Tommy get a moment to themselves, Tommy says Maria and her crew found him after he left the Fireflies and they took him in. “All they ask is that they follow their rules,” he says, which is why he stopped responding on the radio. They’re extremely secretive over their location, given their resources.
In the game, Tommy became disillusioned with the Fireflies for the same reasons he grew to hate FEDRA. As part of the rebel group, he carried out raids and bombings which resulted in the deaths of soldiers and civilians, as well as encountering the Washington Liberation Group in Seattle (those who know, know).
Where is Tommy and Maria’s commune?
The commune is located in Jackson, Wyoming.
All the other major cities in the state, such as Cody and Wind River, are all overrun by infected at this point, and Jackson is remote enough so they only need to deal with stragglers and raiders from afar.
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Who is Maria in The Last of Us?
Maria is Tommy’s wife and the pregnant mother of his child. She’s also on the Jackson council. She is played by Rutina Wesley, and in the game, she’s portrayed by Ashley Scott.
While her backstory hasn’t been detailed in the show, it’s noted briefly in the game. Maria and her father began leading their settlement shortly after the Cordyceps outbreak, using the nearby hydroelectric power plant to power the area.
As more families settled in, it became a commune with electricity, food, a church, a school, and other facilities and services you’d get in the good old days. In the show, Maria’s father is never mentioned, so we presume he passed away.
Maria met Tommy shortly after he left the Fireflies. As Tommy explains, they’re only hostile to outsiders as a preventative measure – they don’t actually want to kill anyone, especially good people like Tommy.
Tommy joined the commune, and over the course of his time there, they pair developed a romantic relationship and eventually got married, all without Joel’s knowledge.
Ellie asks Maria if she’s the leader in Jackson. “No one person is in charge. I’m on the council; democratically elected, serving 300 people including children,” she explains.
“Everyone pitches in, we rotate patrols, food prep, repairs, harvesting hunting.”
Later, Tommy reveals to Joel that Maria is pregnant with his child. “I’m gonna be a father, Maria is a few months along now, so I just gotta be more careful,” he says, justifying why he can’t take Ellie to Colorado.
Maria is aware of Tommy and Joel’s past and is quite open about her reservations about his brother. In a conversation with Ellie, she asks her what she knows about Joel, but she dismisses her concerns.
It’s likely Episode 6 won’t be the last we’ll see of Maria in the series – but don’t expect to see her again before Season 2, which will begin adapting the lengthy storyline of Part 2.
The Last of Us Episode 7 will be available to stream on February 26 in the US and February 27 in the UK. Check out the rest of our coverage here and the trailer for the weeks ahead here.