Things are heating up in The Last of Us, and as HBO’s live-action adaptation of Naughty Dog’s video game series ticks along, we’re getting well stuck into the action of 2020’s The Last of Us Part II. There have been some major departures from the game, and alongside a changed timeline or expansion of Bill and Frank’s story, the introduction of Catherine O’Hara’s Gail, or giving Pedro Pascal’s Joel Miller an even more brutal demise, most of these changes have been given the thumbs up from fans. However, much like how these story changes are in danger of sidelining Gabriel Luna’s Tommy, there have been complaints that The Last of Us is missing a major mechanic from the games.
Much like AMC’s The Walking Dead, The Last of Us has taught is that it’s the human race that’s the real danger here… not the mushroom monsters of the Cordyceps infection. Still, the Infected are an important part of the story, with showrunner Craig Mazin telling Variety back in 2023 that there would be more Infected in season 2. There's already been the introduction of Stalkers and the return of the Bloaters, although Shamblers are still MIA. The fifth episode of the second season, "Feel Her Love", brings us back closer to the games, and although we still don’t get Shamblers, spores have finally made their debut.
The Last of Us finally adds Spores
In the video game version of The Last of Us, the Cordyceps infection is spread by spores, requiring players to spend whole sections of the game adorned in gas masks. Unless it’s Pascal in The Mandalorian, you don’t pay your lead actors all that HBO money to spend most of their screen time concealing their faces behind a gas mask. The use of spores led to the big reveal that Ellie was immune, while the show has handled things differently by having Bella Ramsey’s Ellie get bitten and having to reveal her secret to Dina (Isabela Merced). The show has also swapped out spores for tendrils, which are an arguably more terrifying way to transmit the infection, and also seem to connect the Infected via a sort of hive mind.
Explaining the change in a separate Variety interview around the time of season 1, Mazin said, “If you listen carefully, the word 'spores' is mentioned. I don’t necessarily know if we’re going to see any spores this time around, but to say that our world is devoid of them would not be accurate. We don’t quite know yet. That’s part of the fun of adaptation, leaving these blurry edges of the map for our characters to discover as the adventure continues." There was some backlash to a lack of spores, but for patient fans, they finally got a payoff in the latest outing. After Codyceps found its way into the pipes of Jackson and now the air around Seattle, it’s just another grim hurdle the scattered remnants of humanity will have to deal with.
— The Last of Us (@TheLastofUsHBO) May 12, 2025
While promoting season 2 at SXSW 2025, Mazin said that “spores are back,” while co-showrunner Neil Druckmann added: “The reason [we’re doing it now], I mean, we really wanted to figure it out, and again, everything has to be drama. There had to be a dramatic reason of introducing it now. And there is.” Episode 5 opens with a conversation between W.L.F. officers Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach) and Elise Park (Hettienne Park), discussing how a team didn’t encounter any Infected while trying to clear out the Lakeview Hospital basement. Instead, they were struggling to breathe, and the area was sealed off. We return to this idea when Ellie chases Nora (Tati Gabrielle) into the basement and discovers that the Cordyceps has grown into the walls. Taking an idea similar to how the Xenomorphs of the Alien movies keep their human hosts alive as hosts for their reproduction, the Cordyceps has affixed its human victims to the walls and is using their respiratory systems as a way to spread the spores.
We can’t technically call these Infected Shamblers, as the ones from the game spit acid-like defenses and spores when attacked. Ellie’s immunity sees her get up close and personal with Sergeant Park’s son, Leon, but it’s too late for Nora. Ellie was trying to torture her to get information on Abby’s (Kaitlyn Dever) whereabouts, but as Nora struggles to breathe, she quickly falls victim to Cordyceps thanks to the spores. Nora’s fate is similar to what happens to her in the game, but arguably, it's even more harrowing here.
Considering the hospital was ground zero for the outbreak in Seattle, it makes sense that there’s a more advanced evolution down in the fungus-conducive confines of its basement. Importantly, the introduction of spores can fundamentally change the future of the show. The human race is already being pushed to its limits by the Infected, but throw spores into the mix, and there’s a deadly new way for people to catch Cordyceps.