Warning: This piece accommodates spoilers for The Last of Us Part II recreation.
The second season of The Last of Us is premiering on April 13, 2025, and we simply obtained one other have a look at the collection in a new trailer over the weekend. But amidst all the joy for the acclaimed recreation adaptation’s subsequent entry, one thing stood out to us within the newest trailer: the affirmation that spores shall be included. This may seem to be a small element to the uninitiated, nevertheless it was truly one of many present’s largest deviations from the supply materials. Instead of spores, the primary season primarily used tendrils rising from contaminated people as the best way the cordyceps an infection spreads. When requested by Variety (throughout Season 1’s run) in regards to the shift to tendrils, collection creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann mentioned they needed to try new things with the present’s model of occasions. So why the change of coronary heart?
Well, there are a number of vital scenes in The Last of Us Part II recreation that hinge on the spores, and maybe the writing crew didn’t anticipate how a lot they’d want that story factor finally earlier than making the change for the primary season. Let’s check out why the spores are so vital to Part II and the way this speaks to the care creators must take when making sweeping adjustments in diversifications.
What Are Spores in The Last of Us?
If you’ve solely seen the present and never performed the video games, a fast refresher: the cordyceps an infection within the video games is primarily transmitted by way of bites or scratches from contaminated, however will also be transmitted by way of fungal spores, usually in underground areas the place the fungus can fester unabated. Many sections of the video games function the characters shifting by way of such areas whereas sporting fuel masks to forestall respiration within the lethal spores. This was purely for story and never gameplay (you possibly can’t lose your fuel masks and die, for instance), however the spores had been an vital atmospheric factor, serving as a visible metaphor for the way the fungus was altering and taking on the world proper from the basis, when you’ll pardon the pun.
In The Last of Us Season 1, the spores had been omitted, with the creators recycling the tendril concept from idea artwork for the primary recreation. Not that there’s something fallacious with making adjustments in diversifications (we’ve beforehand made the case for that about The Last of Us right here at IGN), however such adjustments must be purposeful. Getting rid of the spores felt like an arbitrary selection, particularly because it raises a number of questions in regards to the world-building now that they’re being included in Season 2. To be honest, Mazin mentioned within the Variety interview that “to say that our world is devoid of them wouldn’t be correct. We don’t fairly know but.” But that doesn’t change that the world as introduced in Season 1 doesn’t have them, so Season 2 together with them feels odd.
So a lot of day by day life as a survivor on the planet of the Last of Us video games revolves round doing every part potential to keep away from an infection, together with being conscious of how you can detect and keep away from spores, that their by no means arising within the final season is a bit jarring. The case may very well be made that the present’s fungus not too long ago advanced the spores, however that’s laborious to justify after we’re coping with such a brief time frame (a small handful of years at most) passing between seasons. Regarding the inclusion of spores in Season 2, Druckmann claimed at SXSW that there’s a “dramatic cause” why the spores are returning. We gained’t know precisely what he means till we see the brand new season, however trying on the second recreation, there are a number of large scenes the place not having the spores could be a critical impediment to attempt to write round.
The Biggest Spore Scenes That Could Appear in The Last of Us Season 2
With Season 2 leaping proper into adapting The Last of Us Part II, it’s price inspecting the methods the spores are doubtless for use in telling that recreation’s story. We already know Part II will take a number of seasons to adapt, so we’d not see all of those scenes within the upcoming season, however they’re good to bear in mind both means.
Ellie and Dina’s Subway System Attack
The earliest is when Dina, Ellie’s companion and love curiosity in Part II who shall be performed by Isabela Merced within the present, learns that Ellie is proof against an infection. While being attacked by contaminated within the stays of the spore-filled Seattle subway system, Ellie’s masks is broken, main her to take it off in entrance of a shocked Dina. Once they’re out of hazard, Ellie tells Dina that she is immune, which is an enormous flip of their relationship. This wouldn’t be simple to switch with a chunk or tendril scene as a result of an enormous a part of it’s Dina saying she will be able to share her masks with Ellie (proving how a lot she cares for Ellie), which is what prompts Ellie to take her personal masks off and save Dina’s life.
Nora’s Infection and Ellie’s Quest for Vengeance for Joel
Later on, Ellie confronts Nora, one in every of Abby’s associates and a goal on Ellie’s hit listing. While holding Nora at gunpoint in a confrontation with Washington Liberation Front troopers, Ellie purposefully tosses herself and Nora into the spore-filled basement, realizing that it’ll make it troublesome for the WLF to chase her. With Nora contaminated by spores, Ellie corners her within the basement and calls for to know Abby’s location. When Nora asks why she ought to give Abby up when she’s successfully already useless, Ellie says she will be able to make Nora’s dying fast or make her ultimate moments as tortuous as potential. Again, the spores are what makes the scene operate on an in-universe degree, however that is additionally a vital second dramatically as a result of it cements how hardened Ellie has turn into from Joel’s dying and the way darkish she’s prepared to go in her quest to avenge him.
Abby, Lev, and the WLF vs. the Seraphites
There’s additionally a spore-related scene that’s essential to Abby’s arc. While touring with new character Lev on a seek for surgical provides, Abby (who shall be performed by Kaitlyn Dever in Season 2) has to seek out an additional masks for Lev to allow them to journey by way of a spore-filled part of a resort. The proven fact that Lev doesn’t have a masks is a peek into the mentality of the island-dwelling Seraphite nation he comes from, the place they haven’t any want to fret about an infection from “demons” (as they seek advice from the contaminated), nevertheless it’s additionally a second the place Abby takes vital danger to assist each Lev with the masks and Lev’s sister Yara with the medical provides. Abby softening in direction of Lev and Yara regardless of them coming from an enemy faction (Abby is a member of the WLF, which is at warfare with the Seraphites) provides her new dimension after the sport initially establishes her as Joel’s cold-blooded killer.
Now, we don’t know for certain if the inventive crew on the collection checked out Part II and thought “what have we completed?” for not together with spores. But the truth that they’re strolling again a not-insignificant inventive selection from the primary season signifies that they realized the spores are a essential a part of the sport’s lore and narrative. Again, there’s nothing inherently fallacious with making adjustments in adaptation; completely different mediums have completely different priorities. But it’s additionally vital to contemplate the long-term ramifications of creating large adjustments to in-universe lore in case they turn into roadblocks down the road. At least for now, it appears like The Last of Us has folded on the spore entrance, however hopefully its creators and people of different diversifications suppose twice earlier than throwing away such vital world-building components of the supply materials.
Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can observe his fixations on Bluesky.
