HBO’s The Last of Us explains why the spores didn’t make the jump from the game

The Last of Us, HBO Max’s adaptation of the video game of the same name by Naughty Dog, has quite a few differences from the source material: from a larger depth of characterization for its protagonists to changes in the script and the world, amongst them the way in which humans get infected by the Cordyceps.

While in the game there’s two ways to get infected (bites and spores), in the series the only ways to be infected are through infected bites, and those disgusting tendrils that come out of the infected’s mouths. Since this caused quite a bit of controversy from the fans, co-creator of the series Craig Mazin admitted to Entertainment Weekly that they shouldn’t completely discard the possibility of spores being present in the series. And there's a good reason for it.

Bites and… spores? Craig Mazin responds

It was Mazin himself who justified the absence of the spores in the live-action version of The Last of Us: “Part of the issue with the spores is that you run into them quite a bit in the game, although not as much as people think, and if there were that many spores and they were airborne, that infection's gonna go even faster,” he said. “It's hard to imagine how anyone escapes it, and people would probably be wearing masks all the time. In the game, the second you leave a spore space, you're like, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa! Get a mile away.'"

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Even so, he also admitted that they haven’t completely discarded the idea of spores, and that they may bring them into the show if there’s a good way to do so. “I don't necessarily think we've eliminated spores from the universe of our show. We just haven't gotten there yet. It's possible that they may come back. We may have a plan, is my point."

The Last of Us is currently streaming on HBO Max, with the third episode on its way for this Sunday and a new episode every week on the same day.

Source | Entertainment Weekly