The Last of Us star Isabela Merced revealed why the HBO series opted to change how spores work for its take on how this fungal apocalypse would work on TV. For those who do not know, HBO's hit post-apocalyptic drama, led by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, is based on the series of PlayStation games of the same name, adapting their story of two survivors living in a world after a dangerous fungal virus has overtaken humanity. While the series has played very close to the Naughty Dog-develop games' stories, there have also been some notable changes.
Isabela Merced (who plays Dina in Season 2 of the hit HBO series) pulled the curtain back on why The Last of Us changed spores in the TV universe, admitting that she actually liked the choice. Instead of fungal spores floating in the air and infecting humans that way from the beginning, the series only just introduced the airborne fungus idea, instead focusing on an underground fungal network that controlled the infected for the first season-and-change.
Speaking with MovieZine, the 23-year-old star broke down one of the biggest Season 2 moments that was changed from the game, where Dina discovers Bella Ramsey's Ellie is immune from a bite from another infected. While in the game, this discovery is made via Ellie's mask breaking during a scene with spores, but the TV adaptation opted to change that.
Merced told the interviewer that the lack of spores has allowed her as an actor to "show [her] expressions and portray the moment" without being covered by up a "big ass mask:"
"It is hard because it is a completely different format, in my opinion, so you have to adapt it in a different way. And I'm really glad that they didn’t go with the spores and the mask thing because, again, as an actor, you want to be able to show your expressions and portray the moment and have the audience feel what you’re feeling. With a big ass mask on, it is kind of hard. So, I am glad that they made it more of a moment, and to me, it was a release of tension, a release of secrets, and a release of pain. And I just love the way that it was edited."
For this specific reason, The Last of Us TV show turned its back on the idea of spores in the universe (until recently), allowing audiences to connect with its actors' performances without being obstructed by the gas masks that would be needed to make sense continuity-wise.
The Last of Us game director Neil Druckmann shared a similar sentiment during the show's first-season run, telling Polygon at the time that he saw the change as one of practicality as well.
Druckmann posited, "If we wanted to treat it realistically... characters would wear gas masks all the time," and then fans would "lose so much" in being able to connect to the actor:
"The show [is] taking a more realistic approach to the story and the world. If we wanted to treat it realistically, and there are spores near, characters would wear gas masks all the time. Then we lose so much, which is maybe the most important part of the journey is what’s going on inside behind their eyes, in their soul, in their beings. For that logistical reason, we were like, Let’s find a different vector."
Series showrunner and head writer Craig Mazin touched on a different reason for the change in a behind-the-scenes video for Season 1, Episode 2. "While [spores work] in a video game environment," it was "harder to buy into the notion" that they would not spread everywhere in a TV show, Mazin remarked, justifying the change from the games:
"In the game, it spreads through biting and saliva, but it can also spread through the air through spores. And while that works in a video game environment, in real life, spores move around everywhere, and it is just harder to buy into the notion that spores localize and do not spread."
Of course, that was all changed in The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 5, as Ellie and Tati Gabrielle's Nora descended into the depths of a Seattle hospital, discovering that spores were present there (and perhaps only there).
The Last of Us Season 2 continues with new episodes every Sunday on HBO and Max. After trekking across the country with grizzled survivor Joel Miller (played by Pedro Pascal) in Season 1, the show's sophomore effort follows Bella Ramsey's Ellie as she embarks on a revenge quest following the death of someone close to her.
The show's second season is adapting the events of The Last of Us Part II game, adding several significant new additions to its critically acclaimed post-apocalyptic story, including Isabela Merced's Dina, Kaitlyn Dever's Abby, and Young Mazino's Jesse.
The Last of Us Season 2's Spore Change Makes Sense Now
Even though The Last of Us has managed to hit most of the games' major story beats without the inclusion of spores so far, it makes sense why the team behind the hit TV series decided to reverse the decision to include the airborne fungus starting in Season 2, Episode 5.
The fungal network that has justified the existence of the infected to this point (including the terrifying new smart 'stalker' zombies) is still present, but there are now also spores in very select locations.
Season 2's fifth episode introduced the spores in the basement of a Seattle hospital, a result of the fungal infection having started in the Pacific Northwest.
This has meant that spores were always going to happen in this TV universe, but the Cordyceps fungus has not had the chance to progress far enough for them to start to appear, except where the human-Cordyceps outbreak first emerged.
Bringing spores into the story will not change things too drastically, though, as it seems they are only present (as of now) on the sublevel of the WLF-occupied medical facility seen in Episode 5—read more about the WLF here.
This means that actors like Isabela Merced will still get to go on without having to cover their face up with a mask, but also means that some of the more spore-forward story moments, like Ellie's brutal killing of Nora in the hospital (which needed the spores to work), can happen without too many more changes from the game.
With spores not really playing too much of a role in Ellie's story for now as she continues on her warpath toward Abby, the show can progress unimpeded through the rest of Season 2 before likely revisiting the concept with a key action sequence expected to appear in Season 3.
