Paul Fogarty Tue 17 January 2023 10:58, UK Updated Wed 18 January 2023 17:56, UK *WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Last Of Us* After months of steadily building anticipation, HBO's The Last Of Us. Fungi will never be defeated. Once an ant is infected with the fungus that was previously known as cordyceps and is now known as ophiocordyceps unilateralis, its brain stops signaling it to meet its own needs and instead wires the ant to spread the fungus. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". In the first episode that aired on Sunday, January 15, 2023, the show delves deeper into the outbreaks origins than the Naughty Dog-developed video game on which the series is based. Liane Hentscher/HBO Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us. How The Last Of Us' Cordyceps Infection Started (& How It Spreads) var sc_invisible=1; We wanted to give us much reality as we could because the realer that is, the more we connect to the characters that are in that space playing around., Druckmann added: With the more recently infected, we had a lot of conversation about what that vector could look like because there are certain things from the game that we took away. The Last of Us HBO series has brought the dark, twisted, mythology of the hit video game series to a much wider audience, sparking many questions about how much of it is science fiction and how much of it is science fact. There are four stages of this fungal infection. And then, there is Ellie. And because she changed her mind, she ensured that Joel wouldn't eat pancake mix or flour that had the Cordyceps fungus inside of it. Everyone changed their behavior, thinking that it would be tough to get infected if they were outside with a lot of room around them. Similarly, the main narrative is set in 2033 in the game, whereas the show is primarily set in a dystopic version of 2023. Bread, cereal, pancake mix. Joes replies that no one knows for sure, but the theory is that cordyceps mutated and somehow got into the food supply via flour or sugar. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Moreover, the infection begins in South America in the game, whereas the ground zero in the show seems to be Indonesia. fungal virus outbreak that turns the world into dystopia, how a fungus such as Cordyceps could mutate into a world-ending threat, The Last of Us: Scientist Explains How Cordyceps Virus Could Actually Happen, 10 Biggest Video Games Releasing in July 2023, Xbox Getting Over 1,300 Retro Games from Antstream Arcade, The Last of Us Special Feature Details the Clickers' Jump to Live-Action in New Clip (Exclusive), GTA Online Brings Back Fan Favorite Activity in New Update, The Last of Us Part 2 Remaster Leaked by Composer, WWE 2K23 Reveals Ratings and Entrances for Bray Wyatt and Uncle Howdy, The Last of Us Showrunner Expects Fan "Furor" Around Season 2, "There Usually Is", Pokemon Go Reveals First Ever Hatch Day Event. StyleCaster is a part of Penske Media Corporation. The opening scene shows two epidemiologists speaking on a talk show in 1968, speculating about significant viral threats to human existence. In the prologue to The Last of Us: Part I, you can find a newspaper that outlines the cause of the outbreak. Accompanied by his smuggling partner Tess (Anna Torv), Joel sets out to escort Ellie out of the quarantine zone and get her to the scientists working for the Fireflies, an anti-establishment organization fighting the tyrannical rule of Federal Disaster Response Agency or FEDRA. This happens in the first two days after the infection. Someone can be infected by spores from a dead body of an infected person. Her Death Was Eerily Similar to Her Father Elvis, Watch 'The Last of Us' on Hulu With HBO Max, Tom Brady & Kim Kardashian Were Super Flirty At July 4th PartySee The Photo, What Was I Made For Billie Eilish Lyrics: What Does The, The 7 Absolute Best Laptop Deals to Shop Post-Prime DayFrom Apple, Samsung, HP, & More, Who Is Tiffany Chen? It's then hard for them to see properly. Stamets saw Episode 2 of The Last of Us and all the new details of the Cordyceps infection the show revealed. So I applaud the writers for seeing this opportunity to take us on a literary adventure into the realm of sci-fi while exploiting the public's fascination, fear, and joy of fungi.". The root cause of the infection in 'The Last of Us' video games is a mutated strain of Cordyceps. Heres how to watch it for free. These very fungi exist under every footstep that you take. If you have to get bit to be infected, then who bit the first person? The Last of Us airs new episodes on HBO Sunday nights. The Cordyceps Brain Infection is a central part of The Last of Us franchise, but the details of how the Cordyceps infection started can be easy to miss. In a terrifying twist, the fungus in the fictional world based on a real fungus that infects ants. He doesn't get infected by the Cordyceps fungus and there is a reason why. The other epidemiologist interrupts, saying that this sort of fungal infection is real but not in humans. She loves coffee, reading, working out, and watching TV. And, currently, there are no reasons for fungi to evolve to be able to withstand higher temperatures. All rights reserved. How did the fungus make the leap from only infecting insects to turning humans into mind-controlled zombies? At the end of September 2013, people living in the U.S. begin learning about this terrible fungus. This is when they have "fungal plates" on them. How did The Last of Us outbreak start? However, while the fungus starts in South America in the game, it starts in Jakarta in the TV show. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Cordyceps wasnt supposed to be able to infect humans the way it infects insects, but somehow the fungus was able to make the leap. Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think youll love as much as we do. Where did The Last of Us virus originate? Is the Cordyceps fungus real? Robert De Niros Girlfriend Lost Facial Functions After Giving Birth, This Celeb-Loved Cream Fades Fine Lines & Dark Circles & Its 51% Off RN, Jennifer Aniston Just Wore $18 Flip-Flops That Are Even Less For Prime Day, Binge-Worthy Shows, Movies & Live Events To Stream RN, Shoppers Are Seeing Thicker, Fuller Hair From This Majorly Discounted Mousse, PSA: AirPods Are Under $90 At Amazon RN & Going Fast, TikTok Is Obsessed With This Mascara & Its Only $4 For Prime Day, Amazon Is Giving Out Prime Memberships For Just $2 Right NowSnag These Insane Early Prime Day Deals, Emmys 2023: The Complete Nominations List, Beat the Summer Heat With This 'Powerful' Air Conditioner From Amazon With Near-Perfect Ratings Now Only $37 for Prime Day, Angelina Jolie to Take Over Jean-Michel Basquiats New York Apartment and Studio, RuPauls Drag Race All Stars season 8 episode 11 recap: The Fame Games Variety Extravaganza, Jung Kook of BTS Debuts New Solo Single Seven on GMA Watch Performance, iPhone 15 might have new battery tech you cant get on Android, Hear Sara Bareilles and Composer Rob Moose Find a Place in the Ether on Extract, Bowflexs SelectTech Adjustable Dumbbells Are 43% Off for Prime Day Their Lowest Price of 2023. RELATED: The Last Of Us Season 1 Ending Explained. And do the main characters get infected with it? Cordyceps can not infect humans. How Did Cordyceps Spread In 'The Last Of Us?' - UPROXX Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us. How did The Last of Us outbreak start? Cordyceps explained 2023 SheMedia, LLC. Is 'The Last of Us' Cordyceps Fungus Real and Can It Infect Humans? - ELLE In the game, the Cordyceps begin to spread in the United States in September 2013. The Last Of Us: The Cordyceps Fungus, Explained - Game Rant There are certain differences between the original game and the show. The fungus has grown beyond the brain, covering the head in thick fungal plates that cover the eyes. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Cordyceps belong to the ascomycota phylum, also known as "sac fungi" [2] .They produce microscopic sexual structures where non-motile spores are formed [3]. Based on the 2013 namesake video game developed by Naughty Dog, the HBO post-apocalyptic action-drama series The Last of Us is set in a world where a significant portion of humanity has been infected with a certain fungal infection and civilization has been destroyed. Eventually, those conversations led us to these tendrils. This scene is pivotal to explaining how the outbreak in The Last of Us begins. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". By Monday everything was gone, he says. And their discussions of the Cordyceps fungus are some of the most chilling and memorable parts of the TV series. General information about Cordyceps . Who knows, a young person watching this series could become our Einstein of mycology and help save the world from the toxins we create. The person who has been infected will stop being able to think logically and will become scary and violent in a day or two after being infected. They are called Cordyceps, which is a genus of ascomycete fungi. There are two ways that characters can get infected by Cordyceps in The Last Of Us. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Our survival depends on a peace treaty with Fungi. In the video games, it was primarily caused by crops contaminated with fungus. As Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) travel across the United States and try to avoid infection by the Cordyceps fungus, more details of this horrible experience are shared. But only ophiocordyceps control their host's body. As the Cordyceps infection is known to take hold 24-48 hours after infection, and the dead Jakartan woman being infected 30 hours before September 24th, it makes sense that the world would be seeing the effects of the virus only two days later.