The series introduces a key change from the video games: the .
: Unlike the game, the show initially avoids infectious spores to keep actors' faces visible, replacing them with tendrils that emerge from the mouths of the infected to spread the fungus. Key Events and Characters "The Last of Us" Infected (TV Episode 2023) - IMDb InfectedThe Last of Us : Season 1 Episode 2
: Realizing there is no vaccine or cure, she grimly advises the military to bomb the city and everyone in it to prevent a global pandemic. Lore Expansion: The Hive Mind The series introduces a key change from the video games: the
: The fungus acts as a hive mind. Stepping on a patch of living Cordyceps tendrils miles away can alert a horde to your exact location. Lore Expansion: The Hive Mind : The fungus
: A professor of mycology is summoned by the military to examine a human host.
In the second episode of The Last of Us , titled the series expands on the lore of the Cordyceps fungus while delivering one of its most pivotal character sacrifices. Directed by series co-creator Neil Druckmann, the episode originally aired on January 22, 2023, on HBO. The Jakarta Flashback