HBO's The Last of Us has just wrapped up, and as far as video game adaptations go, it was pretty much perfect. It had phenomenal casting and acting, heaps of authenticity, and plenty of extra bits of lore and insight into the Last of Us universe for long-time fans of the series. But while HBO's The Last of Us has reviewed extremely well across the board, the show isn't without its fair share of light criticisms, and one has the potential to bleed over into a possible The Last of Us Part 3.
Though Naughty Dog has repeatedly refuted any reports related to it, a Last of Us Part 3 seems inevitable, and that's even more so true with the release and reception of HBO's adaptation. That being said, The Last of Us Part 3 could still be a while away, and if it follows the same general route as its predecessor with the help of a time-jump, then one criticism of the show could make its way over to the game: a severe lack of infected.
The Last of Us Part 3 Might Not Have Many Infected
Possibly the biggest criticism coming out of HBO's The Last of Us is that hardly any screen time was dedicated to the infected. While this criticism is arguably being blown out of proportion a little by some, the point isn't entirely wrong, since much of The Last of Us' screen time focuses on human interactions. For long-time fans of the game series, where infected take up the vast majority of its runtime, it's understandable why their limited part in the show would be upsetting, but for the most part, it was a pretty smart decision.
In The Last of Us game series, the infected's main purpose is to be an obstacle for the player that they need to kill or avoid. While there's a lot more nuance and world-building associated with The Last of Us' infected, that is their primary goal, with human interactions taking place around it. For a live-action adaptation with limited screen time and budget, it's natural that the human relationships are what The Last of Us show would focus on, with the infected taking a backseat, and only being used at the most necessary moments.
A hypothetical The Last of Us Part 3 could end up following a similar path to the HBO show, albeit due to more practical, in-universe reasoning. It seems logical that as time moves on in The Last of Us' world, infected numbers would dwindle. This isn't guaranteed, as there are still plenty of infected after the 20-year jump after the game's prologue, but it does seem like this would be a likely direction for the series, especially if more communes like Jackson start cropping up across America. These careful communities could lead to the eradication of the world's infected population, or at least to the point where they're no longer roaming the streets in hordes.
This could be a bit of a double-edged sword for The Last of Us. On one hand, losing the series' infected-centric gameplay could cause it to lose a big part of its identity, with Clickers, Runners, Stalkers, and Bloaters all offering some of the most iconic imagery from the series. On the other hand, making infected encounters much less common could serve to make their eventual appearance all the more terrifying. If The Last of Us' infected only grow more horrifying and dangerous as time passes on, then who knows what type of monstrosities are awaiting future generations of survivors.
The Last of Us Part 1 is available now on PS5, and a PC port will be released on March 28.