HBO Max started this 2023 on the right foot thanks to the premiere of The Last of Us, the series that adapts the game of the same name by Naughty Dog and its DLC, Left Behind, which takes us to a dystopian world where a pandemic has decimated civilization as we know it.
A mutation of the fungus Cordyceps has affected humans and turned millions of them into infectedcreatures grotesquely deformed by the fungus and whose main purpose is to find other humans and infect or devour them.
Comparisons between Ellie’s trip and Joel Due to the desolate landscape of the United States and series such as The Walking Dead, for example, they are inevitable, but woe to the one who thought of saying “zombie” on the set of The Last of Us.
One of the focal points of the series of HBO Max It is worth noting that the infected are not the classic living dead that we have internalized from movies and video games. Tessfor example, explains how the fungus connects the infected to any contact with a strain of Cordyceps.
Don’t say “zombie” in The Last of Us
During his stint on The Credits podcast, the cinematographer on four episodes of The Last of Us, Just Bolterpoints out that, during filming, the use of the word “zombie” to refer to the infected was prohibited.
“We weren’t allowed to say the Z word on set. It was a forbidden word. They were the Infected. We weren’t doing a zombie show. Sure there’s tension and shocks, but the show is really about our characters; the infected are just an obstacle they have to deal with.
Despite the fact that they have always tried to make a difference, there are many occasions when people refer to The Last of us as “a game of zombies”. The same happens with the series that recreates the trip of Joel y Ellie. There are things that never change.
The Last of Us recovers its premiere on Mondays and will be back on HBO Max with its sixth episode next February 20th.
