The Bad Sort of Mushrooms: ‘The Last of Us’ Explained
The Last of Us is a video game turned TV show turned phenomenon that made everyone afraid of mushrooms for at least a few weeks.
Since it’s 2013 PlayStation 3 release, The Last of Us franchise has been considered a modern masterpiece in horror, gaming, and story telling. So when the 2023 television show premiered, a whole new group of fans were pulled into the world of the Cordyceps fungal virus. But what inspired this series’ reality-grounded brand of horror? What makes this franchise so special? And where does it go from here?
History of Last of Us
The Last of Us video game was developed by Naughty Dog starting in 2009 following the release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Half of the company’s development team went on to work on the next game in the Uncharted series. But another team lead by game director Bruce Straley and creative director Neil Druckmann worked to bring what would become The Last of Us to life.
The game’s story and concept were inspired by classic zombie apocalypse-style horror settings like George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead as well as a bit of John Hartigan from Sin City as he protects and shepherds around a young girl. Only, The Last of Us would have a few interesting twists.
Instead of the classic zombies, this series would feature something similar but definitely unique in the infected. And inspiration for the infected and the fungal infection that created them came from a segment of the 2006 BBC documentary, Planet Earth about the Cordyceps fungus. This real-life fungus is known for infecting insects- mainly ants- taking control of their motor functions, and forcing them to spread the fungus as far as possible through their colony. In real life, this fungus has never been seen infecting more complex creatures, and definitely not humans. But The Last of Us points out that it exists and asks, “But what if it evolved?”
“I struggled for a long time with surviving. And no matter what, you keep finding something to fight for.”
– Joel Miller
After a very successful release and nearly perfect scores from reviewers across the board, The Last of Us became a sensation and the focus of much acclaim. The game was continued or reimagined with a sequel, a remastering, tabletop games, comics, and of course a 2023 live-action television series starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.
READ MORE: “They Can Probably Hear You Scream In Space: The Xenomorph Breakdown
HBO’s Live-Action Adaptation
Originally The Last of Us was supposed to be adapted into a film. The project was announced in 2014 and was going to be written by the game’s very own creative director, Neil Druckmann. But by 2016 there were issues in development. And by 2019 the project was scrapped in preference of a film based on Uncharted. Soon after though, the franchise would be picked up by, quite possibly, the perfect person.
Writer and director Craig Mazin was known for his work on some decent-to-mediocre comedy movies such as some of the Scary Movie franchise as well as two of The Hangover films. But in 2019 he created, wrote, and produced HBO series, Chernobyl. This historical drama followed the famous Ukrainian nuclear reactor disaster as well as its cleanup efforts. The show earned universal acclaim and even inspired some to learn more about the real history of the disaster.
Learning that The Last of Us movie had fallen through, and being a huge can of the video game-supposedly playing it through about a dozen times- Mazin approached Druckmann about turning the game into a TV series. A week later the two pitched their idea to HBO. Who, in turn, were dubious but trusted Mazin based on his work on Chernobyl.
The Last of Us was greenlit and announced in March 2020… And quickly ran into issues because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the team pushed through, eventually making their show with a massive budget of between $10 and $15 million dollars per episode.
The Perfect Casting
It’s undeniable that one of the things that made The Last of Us work so well in live-action was the perfection that was the casting. Due to the pandemic, casting took place virtually, through Zoom. And despite having a few people in mind for both of the main roles- including Matthew McConaughey and Mahershala Ali for Joel and Maisle Williams and Kaitlyn Dever for Ellie- they felt that Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey could embody the characters and their relationship. Not only did the two have the chemistry they needed, but it only grew over production time on set.
Also featured in The Last of Us was Nico Parker as Sarah, Joel’s daughter, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, the head of the Fireflies resistance movement, Anna Torv as Tess, Joel’s smuggling and life partner, and Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett as Bill and Frank, a pair of survivors and romantic couple who left the whole internet in tears.
Additionally, Troy Baker, who played Joel in the video game played a character named David in live-action. Similarly, Ashley Johnson, the original voice of Ellie, played Anna, Ellie’s mother.
How Long is Last of Us?
The Last of Us 1 is a game broken up into twelve chapters divided into twenty-nine sections. It takes about fifteen hours to complete the main campaign. Of course, it could take more or less time depending on the difficulty level, player, and completion level.
The television show is made up of nine episodes. Each episode is a different length. They range from 83 minutes for episode one to 43 minutes for episode nine.
Episode 1: 83 min
Episode 2: 53 min
Episode 3: 76 min
Episode 4: 46 min
Episode 5: 59 min
Episode 6: 59 min
Episode 7: 56 min
Episode 8: 51 min
Episode 9: 43 min
Will There Be a Season Two of the Show?
After its massive popularity, The Last of Us was officially greenlit for a second season, and possibly beyond. Season two will cover part of, but not all of, the contents of the game’s sequel, The Last of Us Part II. At this time season two is anticipated for sometime in 2025. Show creators say the series could run for four or five seasons.
Last of Us Part II
This section will have a description of and spoilers for The Last of Us Part II. This could also mean spoilers for potential future seasons. Proceed at your own risk.
The second game opens four years after the events of The Last of Us. Joel and Ellie are living in Jackson, Wyoming but have a strained relationship. Joel hasn’t told anyone but Tommy that he prevented the surgery that would have killed Ellie but could have possibly also saved the world from Cordyceps. But Ellie seems to know that something happened and Joel isn’t being entirely truthful.
Shortly after the group finds and saves Abby from a group of infected. It turns out that her father was the surgeon Joel had killed four years prior and she has sworn revenge on him. Joel dies early in this game when Ellie watches Abby beat him to death. Ellie swears revenge, and much of the game is Ellie’s attempts to find and kill Abby.
