The HBO adaptation of The Last Of Us brings the unforgettable story of the popular video game to life. As Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) travel across the United States and try to avoid infection by the Cordyceps fungus, more details of this horrible experience are shared. Although Ellie is immune, she and Joel are still in a dire and precarious situation.
Is the Cordyceps fungus real? How does it spread in The Last Of Us? And do the main characters get infected with it? There are many questions about the Cordyceps in The Last Of Us and the show does explain everything that viewers need to know.
What Is The Cordyceps Fungus In The Last Of Us?
The Last Of Us is one of the best survival games and centers around the Cordyceps fungus that completely changes people who are infected. At the end of September 2013, people living in the U.S. begin learning about this terrible fungus. When it started in crops in South America, people got sick.
Everyone changed their behavior, thinking that it would be tough to get infected if they were outside with a lot of room around them. And the characters began wearing gas masks. However, while the fungus starts in South America in the game, it starts in Jakarta in the TV show. This is one of the best creative changes The Last Of Us made.
In The Last Of Us, there are four parts to each Cordyceps brain infection. The person who has been infected will stop being able to think logically and will become scary and violent in a day or two after being infected. The next part of the infection starts in the next two weeks. It's then hard for them to see properly. Once the person has been infected for 12 months, they can't see anymore and they have terrible scars on their faces. While they might die at this point, they could live for another 10 years, and then they will move into the next phase of the infection. This is when they have "fungal plates" on them.
The scariest thing of all happens when the Cordyceps brain infection leads to someone's death. When someone has been infected, then spores come out of their body, and other people can be infected.
Cordyceps are real, and the infection does actually spread through ants. According to Discover Wildlife, ants are infected by O. unilateralis and then spores will be created so other ants can get the fungus. The Cordyceps fungus also infects insects. The goal of both of these is to find others to infect.
How Do People Get Infected By Cordyceps In The Last Of Us?
There are two ways that characters can get infected by Cordyceps in The Last Of Us. Someone can be infected by spores from a dead body of an infected person. Or, in other cases, the infected person bites them. Both situations are, of course, horrifying to imagine.
The Last Of Us pilot episode keeps things from the game, and that includes the origin story of the infection. It's true that the infected characters are scarier than zombies and that is partly because of how fast the infection spreads. As Joel and Ellie walk across the United States, the tension is high and terror is in the air. It's clear that something horrible could happen to them at any moment. And they are both all too aware of that fact.
Does Joel Get Infected In The Last Of Us?
Joel has always had strong character development and he is just as memorable in The Last Of Us TV series. A big question about season 1 of the HBO series is whether Joel gets infected. He doesn't get infected by the Cordyceps fungus and there is a reason why.
In one scene in the beautiful and moving episode "Long, Long Time," which is episode 3 of The Last Of Us season 1, Joel and Ellie talk about how people began getting the virus that turned them into zombie-like creatures. Viewers remember that in the first episode, Joel's daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) wanted to cook him pancakes but cooked some eggs. And because she changed her mind, she ensured that Joel wouldn't eat pancake mix or flour that had the Cordyceps fungus inside of it.
Joel explains, "Best guess… cordyceps mutated and some of it got into the food supply — probably a basic ingredient like flour or sugar. There were certain brands of food that were sold everywhere. All across the country, across the world. Bread, cereal, pancake mix. You eat enough of it, it'll get you infected."
While The Last Of Us changes Ellie in some ways, she and Joel are still smart and fascinating characters to follow. And their discussions of the Cordyceps fungus are some of the most chilling and memorable parts of the TV series.