Last of Us’ creators explain Cordyceps mushroom zombies, changing the game

You’ve probably noticed by now that the fungus in HBO’s Last of Us show works a bit differently than it does in the games — particularly in how the CordycepsThe fungus is based upon real-life fungi with the same name. It spreads between humans. The mushroom network has taken over and the spores have gone.

Spores in the games serve the game’s atmosphere: With the right light, you can see spores spilling out from cracked doors, a warning of the danger that lies within. It’s the signal that the characters, typically Joel, must put their masks on in order to avoid infection, though Ellie’s immunity means she’ll only ever need the mask to blend in. But there’s no way the gas masks could work in the show. You can’t have your main characters’ faces hidden behind a bulky mask; this isn’t Mandalorian, after all.

“The show [is] taking a more realistic approach to the story and the world,” Last of UsNeil Druckmann is the author and creator. “If we wanted to treat it realistically, and there are spores near, characters would wear gas masks all the time. Then we lose so much, which is maybe the most important part of the journey is what’s going on inside behind their eyes, in their soul, in their beings. This is the logistical reason why we looked like this. Let’s find a different vector.”

Druckmann is the vector Last of Us’ writers chose was the mushroom network. It’s a concept based on the real-life science of mushrooms: We see mushrooms when they burst through dirt. These are only the pieces of an organism. We can see what the entire organism looks like, but the rest of it is below the Earth’s surface. That part is called the mycelium, the threads that spread underground and connect mushrooms and trees into a “mycorrhizal network,” a natural network not unlike the internet — some mushroom experts call it the “woodwide web.” Trees, mushrooms, and other plants use these networks to transport water and other nutrients and to “communicate” in different ways, often extended for miles and miles.

Mushroom networks are made of sprawling tendrils and work in the exact same manner. Last of Us On HBO. However, instead of transmitting information about the location of nutrients, it alerts a network of infected people to potential hosts: humans. Individual infected people join the “network” as spindly tendrils grow into an opening in their body, often a bite. The second episode shows a unique way of spreading the virus: When an infected individual leans on Tess, tendrils grow from her mouth into his. It spreads rapidly and takes over all other functions, except for the desire to spread.

“[We wanted]To feel that all these things are connected. They can come out against us as a mass,” Druckmann said. “But also how they pass it from one person to the other, it just became this really disturbing thing, which was like, It is simply delicious. You must use it!.”

Infected people are now working in tension as they move from spores into tendrils to mushrooms. It’s no longer enough simply to stay stealthy and quiet — one wrong move could mean activating a network of monsters that move en masse and know your exact location.

It’s a good change — in the video game, spores themselves don’t pose a threat. You can’t choose when to put on a gas mask or when to take it off; developers made that decision for you, and the player is just along for the ride in that sense. Take the gas masks away, and the game wouldn’t change very much. It’s just something that happens: gas masks on and then gas masks off.

There’s also the consideration of framing the show around an airborne pandemic, like gaming website Kotaku wrote after the first episode premiered. Last of UsThat can prove to be difficult and a major reason for the removal of the concept of spores in favour of a network of mushrooms. After all, there’s still that same sense of mystery with the tendrils, but with the added tension of the communication between infected. Mushrooms have a map of the world that’s invisible to anyone else; their only goal is spreading the fungus.