The Last of Us spoilers follow. Watch episode one first!
The Last of Us isn't exactly your standard zombie thriller, and that's clear from the beginning of the very first episode. Instead of introducing us to Pedro Pascal's character off the bat, we instead open with two scientists discussing mushrooms at a talk show in 1968.
But before you assume the writers were dabbling in a few mushrooms of their own, it turns out that this talk is key to everything that follows, essentially setting up how the so-called "zombie" infection works. But how did it start exactly? How did the world go from bad noughties fashion in 2003 to post-apocalyptic chic in 2023?
Here's everything you need to know about the fungal outbreak and what the show leaves out.
The Last of Us — How the fungal virus outbreak really started
During that initial talk show, one expert suggests that fungi are potentially more dangerous than any bacteria or virus. The reason being that there are specific types of fungi that can take over living organisms like bugs, controlling them through parasitic means.
In 1968, there was no evidence that this same process could affect humans because the human body is simply too warm for these strains of fungi to survive in. However, if the climate were to gradually grow warmer, then these fungi could eventually evolve to live and even thrive in people...
The show then cuts ahead to 2003 where Joel and his daughter, Sarah, are finally introduced. Everything seems normal at first, but the usual apocalyptic warning signs are there. Sirens, lost phone connections, an eerie silence, creepy staring in the street... You know the drill.
When the narrative jumps ahead again, this time to 2023, we're introduced to a society that's learned to survive in a world where the fungus runs free. Humans now live in closed-off areas where guards check anyone coming in to see if they've been infected by the outbreak.
What we don't know though, at least in this first episode, anyway, is how the outbreak actually began. Yes, the scientist at the start hints climate change is responsible, but that's all we've got to go on for now. Later episodes do clarify things further, but until we reach that point, an answer for all this chaos actually lies in the video games that The Last of Us is based on.
At the start of the first game, set in 2013, an article from Joel's local newspaper can be spotted with a story that reveals how the fungus spread so quickly.
As revealed on the front page of The Texas Herald, (September 26 edition): "Admittance spikes at area hospitals! 300% increase due to mysterious infection" followed by an article that starts with the headline "FDA expands the list of contaminated crops. Massive recalls anticipated":
"The Food and Drug Administration's investigation of crops potentially tainted with mold continues across the country. Initial lists distributed to vendors nationwide warned against crops imported from South America, but now the scope has extended to include Central America and Mexico. Several companies have already voluntarily recalled their food products from the shelves."
It turns out that the infection didn't just pass via people like it usually does in zombie fare such as 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead. Yes, it definitely played a role in the spread, as seen in the show itself, but crucially, it was the distribution of food containing the fungi that really kickstarted everything on a global scale.
The Cordyceps brain infection, as it would come to be known, infected and/or killed roughly 60% of the population just a short time later. The amount who survive in the present day are likely to be much fewer, although exact numbers become much harder to come by as we go deeper into this post-apocalyptic period.
How do we know 60% of the population were lost so quickly? A newspaper clipping found in 'The University' chapter of the first game contains a report from the World Health Organisation, which contains that estimate along with some other key details too:
"With the latest WHO report estimating that as much as 60% of the world's population is either dead or infected by the CBI pandemic, the United States Military has released a statement that they're recalling all of their search efforts.
"Regions up to 10 miles from each quarantine zone's perimeter will remain under patrol for citizens attempting to enter, but no further effort will be made to evacuate those potentially trapped in hard-to-reach areas."
There's also a rather depressing annotation attached which simply reads:" Found this in town. WTF? No one's coming!!!"
Without spoiling too much, HBO's adaptation draws a lot of inspiration from the games in this regard, so expect a similar explanation onscreen later down the line as well.
The Last of Us — How does the Cordyceps fungal infection actually work?
Cordyceps can only survive in living hosts, so human corpses are safe from infection in that regard. Yay, we guess?
How it works is living hosts go through four stages of infection, each more messed up than the last. Stage one starts within the first two days. That's where we see the host lose their higher brain function, leaving behind those aggressive, irrational, zombie-like people we see at the start of the show and game.
Within two weeks of infection, the host begins to lose their sight as a fungal growth corrupts their visual cortex. That's stage two. Then after a year has passed, the fungus scars the host and blinds them completely, forcing them to use a new, primitive method of echolocation to find their way around. Those are the clickers who you're going to see a lot of this season.
Finally, in some rare cases, long-living hosts reach stage four where hardened fungal plates cover their body like an armour, making them even harder to kill. Whether one of those (nicknamed bloaters or shamblers) will pop up in the show remains to be seen, and for Joel's sake, we hope they don't.
In terms of infection, bites aren't the only way that this fungus can spread. Dead people might be free of active infection, but their corpses can still release airborne spores that hold the power to infect others still.
Gas masks are key to survival here, except this form of protection doesn't really show up in the series like it does the game, and that's because showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann decided to remove spores as a vector in the show.
Speaking with ComicBook.com, Mazin explained that:
"In the world that we're creating, if we put spores in the air, it would be pretty clear that they would spread around everywhere and everybody would have to wear a mask all the time and probably everybody would be completely infected by that point. So, we challenged ourselves to come up with an interesting new way for the fungus to spread."
That "new way" refers to the tendrils we see that connect each separate fungi together to create something larger and even more sinister.
Part of this change also comes down to the world we live in today, as explained by Mazin in a separate interview with Collider:
"It was also important for us to acknowledge that the audience is smarter about pandemics than they were five years ago. We don’t wanna pretend that they don’t know things. And in fact, a lot of the reason this show begins the way it does, with that scene in the ’60s, is to say, 'Look, the context is, there are viral pandemics and they are quite dangerous, but there’s something out there that’s worse. And it may sound funny to you, but let me explain why.'"
"And then, you start to realise, 'Oh, that’s not good.' And also, it’s been there all along. So, when the outbreak happens, it’s not happening suddenly or capriciously. It’s finally happening. It was always gonna happen. We just happen to be there today to see it."
It turns out that opening scene at the talk show is somehow even more chilling than you thought.
The Last of Us is available on HBO in US. In the UK, The Last of Us is available on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW with an Entertainment Membership for just £9.99.
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