What are the Cordyceps spores in The Last of Us? Explained

The Last of Us finally brought back the one thing from the games that the first season left out. In both games, the main characters have to safeguard themselves from the cordyceps virus, which is airborne and spreads in the form of spores. The show, at least in the first season, changed it to tendrils. However, the latest episode, 'Feel Her Love,' introduces spores in the HBO show.

While some might feel that the change from the games' spores to tendrils was unnecessary, this change makes sense. The presence of Cordyceps spores in The Last of Us Season 2 episode 5 suggests that Cordyceps, like every other life form, is evolving. This will finally force the characters to evolve and adapt to this new form of virus.

The Last of Us Seasons 1 and 2 showrunner Craig Mazin explained this change in a January 2023 interview with ComicBook:

"In the game, there are these where you encounter spores and you need to put a gas mask on. In the world that we’re creating, if we put spores in the air, it would be pretty clear that they would spread around everywhere and everybody would have to wear a mask all the time and probably everybody would be completely infected by that point. So, we challenged ourselves to come up with an interesting new way for the fungus to spread but mostly I think we just connected with the soul and spirit of the game."

Mazin added:

"He, as the creator of the game, and me, as a fan of the game, we were caretakers on behalf of all the fans but also on behalf of all the people who haven’t played the game who need a television experience that is holistic and connected to itself and doesn’t feel like you ned to play a game to understand."

Then why did The Last of Us showrunners introduce spores in the latest episode?

To be fair, Craig Mazin, in an interview with Variety in January 2023, revealed that spores were mentioned in one of the episodes of the first season. Mazin furthermore did not rule out the possibility of spores from the games appearing in a future season of The Last of Us in that interview, but his exact words were:

"If you listen carefully, the word “spores” is mentioned. I don’t necessarily know if we’re going to see any spores this time around, but to say that our world is devoid of them would not be accurate. We don’t quite know yet. That’s part of the fun of adaptation, leaving these blurry edges of the map for our characters to discover as the adventure continues."

Now, what Mazin said has come to play in this season of The Last of Us. The showrunners teased the role of spores in The Last of Us Season 2 at the 2025 SXSW in March 2025. Neil Druckmann said:

"Yeah, there's an escalation of numbers and types of infected. But also, as you see in the trailer, an escalation of the vector of how this thing spreads. Season 1, we had this new thing that wasn't in the game, like these tendrils that spread. And that's that was one form. And then this one shot you see in this trailer, there are things in the air."

Druckmann further teased a dramatic reason for incorporating spores in this season of The Last of Us after ignoring the previous one:

"And the reason, we really wanted to figure it out. And again, everything has to be drama. There had to be a dramatic reason of introducing it now. And there is."

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Want to learn the role of cordyceps spores in the future? Watch The Last of Us Season 2 on Max.

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