The season finale of The Last of Us aired on Sunday night and people can't stop talking about it.
Episode nine of HBO's hit live-adaption saw Pedro Pascal (Joel) and Bella Ramsey (Ellie) re-create some of the game's most memorable scenes, including Joel's tense hospital shootout.
Thankfully, fans found some respite from the flurry of violence in the form of giraffes, a sight for sore eyes in a post-apocalyptic world.
In a heart-warming moment between the much-loved pair, Ellie giddily leads Joel through an abandoned building to see the majestic creatures up close. The scene looks too good to be true, leading many viewers to assume the animal was CGI, but they couldn't be more wrong.
Raking in 8.2 million views for the final episode alone, people lauded the sweet moment between the giraffe, Ellie and Joel, but their hearts were filled with even more joy when they realised that the giraffes were real.
Production designer John Paino has since revealed that the scene was created with a combination of a 'VFX stage, scenery and location shoot' where they shot with real giraffes on set.
He told Variety: "I'm sure Alex Wang, visual effects supervisor, could have made a CGI giraffe if we had the time."
"The trainers worked to get [giraffes] to eat out of a stranger's hand. So, when Ellie and Joel walk up at the enclosure, that's the giraffe eating those branches of food," Paino added.
Taking to Twitter to share their thoughts on the scene, fans assumed that the giraffes were solely made up of CGI - but they couldn't be more wrong.
On the social media app, one fan revealed their shock, tweeting: "Lol watching the last of us and thought the giraffes looked very CGI. But watching the making of... and they were real."
Another shot of Pedro Pascal petting the giraffe has since gone viral, as fans still can't get their head around the animal being real.
Utah's Hogle Zoo, located in Salt Lake City, is home to the giraffes from the show. They shared a selection of giraffe pictures on Twitter in honour of the final episode.
They wrote in their tweet: "In honour of The Last of Us, and THE giraffe scene, and being in Salt Lake, here are some members of our herd."
Jumping in to question the facts behind the episode, one viewer wrote: "How long do giraffes live? As the Zoo in SLC, and the outbreak happened 20 years ago (2003) and your giraffes got out, would this be one of your current herd or a descendant?"
In response, the Zoo's Twitter account replied: "Absolutely *could* be a current herd member! Giraffes can live up to 30 years under human care, and up to 25 in the wild."
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