In The Last of Us video games, the Cordyceps brain infection originated in South America. Its means of transmission was through a bite, or by spores in the air. HBO's live-action adaptation completely removes the latter from the equation, which explains why Pedro Pascal's Joel isn't lugging around a gas mask.
The TV show's record-setting premiere episode hinted at this and the equally-successful follow-up that premiered earlier this week confirmed it. This subtle change makes HBO's The Last of Us scarier and more horrific and, in some ways, better than the source material.
The opening sequence of Episode 2 of HBO's The Last of Us confirmed the origin theories floating around since last week, as it documented the fungi's origin in Jakarta, Indonesia. The show features a mycology professor named Ibu Ratna, who claims it's impossible to develop a vaccine and that the only solution is to "bomb" the entire city to prevent it from spreading.
According to the show's co-creator, Craig Maizin, this was all Neil Druckmann's idea, telling Inverse that this one scene was the "scariest moment" for him.
