The second episode of HBO’s TV adaptation of The Last of Us debuted yesterday, further solidifying it as a force to be reckoned with as it posted a 22% increase in first night viewership over the series’ premiere with 5.7 million viewers in the US alone.
Despite the continued success, and rave critical reviews (you can read ours here), some contention has already begun to creep in as fans have seen first-hand some of the larger narrative changes made in the attempt to bring the original game’s story to the TV format.
Spoilers for Episode 2 of The Last of Us are below. Stop reading here if you’re yet to watch!
Arguably the most prominent of those changes is the way that the cordyceps fungus infection spreads. In the game/s, airborne spores are largely to blame for turning ordinary people into the monstrous “Infected” alongside the obvious transmission by bite. While this works well from a gameplay perspective, giving players environmental hazards to deal with on top of everything else, with a TV series starring the likes of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, having those recognisable faces covered by gas masks 90% of the time could have been a deciding factor in doing away with this concept.
Instead, we see the Infected sprouting (frankly unsettling) fungal tendrils from their mouths which can enter and infect their victims. In an iconic scene from the original game, Joel’s long-time companion Tess becomes bitten and chooses to act as a sacrifice to help Joel and Ellie escape a life-or-death situation – only in this adaptation we see one of the Infected essentially “kiss” Tess with its tendrils as she sets off an explosion to clear out the attacking horde.
The episode also deals with some of the origins of the infection, including some context to how it may have spread globally partially through flour mills in Jakarta, Indonesia. While this added detail has seemingly enjoyed praise from the majority of fans it’s the lack of spores and the treatment of Tess’ death that has generated some degree of backlash online.
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In an interview with Variety, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have responded to the discourse, saying that the creative changes made were in service of a fresh interpretation of the narrative and a conversation around how they could add to what came before in ways that made sense to the world.
“I’ve learned to expect backlash from sneezing,” Druckmann jokes. “I think it speaks to the kind of fans that we have, who are so protective and love the world and these characters so much that anything they see as a deviation, without the full context of what it means, they assume the worst and push back on it. I think that addition is something worthwhile. It’s actually one of those additions where I’m like, “Oh man, I wish we had it for the game. I wish we had thought of it years ago, because I love it so much.”
Mazin adds to the sentiment, saying “That’s all right if people are upset by it — I don’t blame them. Everybody dreams of working on something where the fan engagement is to this level, where people will argue about these things or feel passionate about them. I do feel sometimes, if you just see how it goes, I think you’ll be OK. A lot of that has happened, but there will also definitely be people who are like, “You fucked up,” and I get it. We definitely will not make everyone happy, I know that much.”
You can read the full Variety interview here.
All in all it’s easy to see where fans expecting a blow-for-blow recreation might have been surprised by these changes, especially with a property as beloved as The Last of Us, but it’s great to see the show’s creators sticking to their creative guns while also appreciating how passionate their audience is – as long as everyone remains reasonable, of course. Video game fans are reasonable, right?
You can catch new episodes of The Last of Us every Monday at 1PM AEDT on Foxtel or Binge. For a handy breakdown of the full series schedule, head here.
