The Last of Us
The creator of the HBO Max series The Last of Us reveals why they had to do a different opening from the first episode.
Attention SPOILERS. The series is now available The Last of Us on the streaming platform HBO Max and the viewers and fans of the video game are liking it a lot. The first episode begins with an explanation of the Dr. Neuman (John Hannah) about what could happen to humanity if fungi become a threat due to global warming. But initially, they had planned a documentary-style demonstration of what the fungus does to insects. Although it must have been somewhat boring and they decided to change it and we must admit that they were right.
Now, the creator of the series, Craig Mazinreveals in a podcast about The Last of Us How was the process of the opening scene.
“I shot the opening sequence twice. The first time I introduced it, co-showrunner Neil Druckmann (creator of the game) was like ‘ehh,’ or we can do the video. It’s Planet Earth, you can see this beautiful demonstration of how the cordyceps fungus works, how it takes over an ant. It tells you everything you need to know. What we decided to do was make our own video like this.”
Then they changed their mind.
“It was kind of boring to watch. It was a bit like we were in social studies class. I wrote this early as if I had found a transcript of an old Dick Cavett show from 1969. I remember showing it to Neil and he said: This is a little weird.
“We’re about 3-4 weeks away from finishing… And I’m not thrilled with this opening. I sent it to Neil again and this time he was like ooh! he concluded Craig Mazin.
Now, they’ve gotten an opening scene in The Last of Us that leaves you thinking that it could actually happen in real life. Since the Earth is warming up little by little, so the fungi could adapt in such a way that the infection to humans was inevitable.
