Is the Meat in HBO’s The Last of Us Actually Venison? Answered

As you might expect, food is exceptionally hard to come by in a post-apocalyptic world. While vegetables can be grown, it’s not easy to get ahold of large quantities of meat to feed a settlement like the one seen in Silver Lake in the game and show. While the meat eaten by David and his people is explained to be venison, it’s not immediately easy to tell if that’s the truth. Here’s the full answer regarding whether the meat in The Last of Us is actually venison.

Are the People in Silver Lake Actually Eating Venison in The Last of Us?

As you might have picked up through many hints, the people of Silver Lake are most certainly not eating venison. The Silver Lake group led by David are cannibals that have been eating people to stay alive.

One of the biggest hints of this is that, despite the freshly killed deer only just then being brought into the mess hall, people are already eating meat. While this isn’t the biggest red flag, it does give eagle-eyed viewers an inkling that things aren’t exactly cool.

The foreshadowing is neatly sprinkled throughout the episode, such as the suggestion that they aren’t burying a body in the winter because the ground would be too hard, but that’s obviously not the whole story.

There are much more overt hints later in the episode, such as actual bodies hanging out in a meat locker and the human ear that Ellie sees on the ground.

Joel and Ellie have had several bad experiences with other people, so it’s not the biggest surprise this new group turned out to be off in some way.

This is everything you need to know regarding whether the meat in The Last of Us is actually venison. For more guides and content about the Last of Us, check out the links below.