The Last of Us Season 2: Spores Make Their Debut In The Most Horrifying Way Possible

The Last of Us Season 2 has been a rollercoaster ride so far, that too mostly a bad one because of Joel’s brutal death at the hands of Abby. The show that was once about survival has now become about personal vendetta. That being said, TLOU Season 2 still features different types of infected, and after a long wait, fans get to see one of the most horrifying aspects of the infection in the TV show. Yes, we are talking about the spores, which were featured in the fifth episode of the TLOU second season.

Spoiler Warning: This post includes spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 5. Proceed with caution.

The Last of Us TV Show Finally Brings Spores Into The Mix In Season 2

While the first season of The Last of Us completely omitted the spores, the second season finally introduces fans to this form of the infection. The Season 2 trailer teased the appearance of spores, and well, after a long wait, fans finally got to see what this stage looks like in the TV show.

While there are conflicting opinions around Ellie and Dina’s relationship in the TV show, absolutely no one can argue that HBO’s TLOU made spores even more horrifying than the video games. It was scary seeing the extent to which the fungus can spread with the dead host’s body. Also, the manner in which the dead hosts were exhaling the spores was so terrifying to watch.

Honestly, Ellie’s expression upon encountering spores pretty much sums up how the audience was feeling seeing Spores for the first time in the TV show. Like in the video games, Nora in the TV show also inhales the Spores while running away from Ellie. The show was faithful to the video game in this regard. However, seeing Nora coughing up and struggling to breathe was more painful in the TV show.

It’s certainly a great and much-awaited addition to the story, and yes, it was worth the wait. In the TV shows and movies following the zombie-apocalypse story, it’s pretty common for the viewers to stop caring about the infection part at one point. So, it makes sense that the TLOU creators wanted to hold some cards like the Spores to use later in the story. It helps remind fans that while humans are fighting each other, the most threatening and scary part about the story is still the infection.

When HBO’s The Last of Us premiered with its first season, everyone who played the games wanted to see how the TV show creators would tackle the infected. Fortunately, the TV show lived up to the fans’ expectations, at least in regard to the infected.

In video games, the ‘Spores’ appear as the final stage of the infection, which occurs when the host’s body completely dies. Although the human body may have died, the fungus keeps on living and spreading around the body. The spores then continue to erupt and spread into the air, and every human who inhales the spores gets infected right away. To be able to protect themselves from the spores, humans have to wear a mask when entering these dark corners of a building.

So, the spores were indeed a significant part of the survival story from the very beginning. But the TV show writers decided to omit the spores in the first season because they wanted the story to be more “grounded.” The creators felt that Ellie and others wearing masks for too long would distract the viewers.

That doesn’t mean the TV show writers never intended to bring spores into the story. In fact, they wanted to introduce the final stage of infection during an extremely crucial moment in the story, which was Nora’s death. It was indeed a great reveal, but it would be exciting to see how the show will use Spores for the remaining portion of the story.