In that episode, Ellie asks Joel about how the infection started. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. The episode opens in a noodle shop in Jakarta, Indonesia where the Indonesian government tracks down Ibu Ratna, professor of mycology (the study of fungi) at the University of Indonesia. By clicking Sign Up, you also agree to marketing emails from both Insider and Morning Brew; and you accept Insiders. HBO In a Reddit post published shortly after the release of "The Last of Us" Episode 1, u/anagost theorized that the mass Cordyceps outbreak might have resulted from contaminated flour . "I think it's pretty explicit," Mazin said, with Druckmann agreeing: "Yeah, we pretty much said yes. Updated Mar 20, 2023 The Cordyceps Brain Infection featured in The Last of Us franchise is actually based on a real-life fungal infection that can affect insects. This article contains spoilers for both The Last of Us episode 2 and the original game. Here, we have the ability leave those characters and show some other stuff, but it was always important to never say, 'Okay, here is patient zero, the exact origin,'" he said. Mashable is a registered trademark of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without express written permission. A mycologist in Indonesia is taken to a high security facility to investigate a deceased victim of Cordyceps and is told that the mysterious illness began at a flour factory. The implication certainly seemed to be that the outbreak started somewhere around there and spread via the products produced at that factory that were then shipped across the globe. Joel speculates that it probably started via a contamination of the global food supply. The opening sequence of Episode 2 of HBO's The Last of Us confirmed the origin theories floating around since last week, as it documented the fungi's origin in Jakarta, Indonesia. While you wait for the next episode, see our guide to all the upcoming new TV shows to fill out your watchlist. The clues certainly seemed to be there. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. How exactly did the cordyceps mutate to inhabit human bodies? HBO's The Last of Us series, released in 2023, based on the popular survival game of the same name, is a masterpiece from Craig Mazin. Cordyceps is a real fungusbut is it dangerous? - National Geographic [The mycologist] asks where it happened, and the guy says a flour factory on the west side of the city. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. But, where exactly the outbreak started was left a mystery and episode 2 has finally filled in the blanks. If you revisit episode one, it turns out Joel and Sarah may have dodged getting infected with the cordyceps fungus a few times. Sam Richardson and Zo Chao on crime-solving, family affairs, and The Afterparty season 2, New Ahsoka trailer name drops Anakin Skywalker and reveals Thrawn, Prime Day gaming PC deals LIVE: All the best discounts as they happen. You can keep up to date with the show with our The Last of Us release schedule. This explains the chance encounter with the birthday pancakes, and adds depth to the situation. Trinetra Paul. HBO's live-action adaptation completely removes the latter from the equation, which explains why Pedro Pascal's Joel isn't lugging around a gas mask. The top story is about a "mysterious infection." . The outbreak that created the infected in The Last of Us was caused by a Cordyceps brain infection. Here's what we know. These crops saw the fungi transfer to human hosts, which then began feeling its effects and spreading it to other humans through bites. The face of a woman who knows we're in trouble. Bread? Cordyceps Infection (The Last of Us Explored) - YouTube This species, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, infects ants and takes over their bodies, controlling their behavior entirely. "At least in part, this may take advantage of pre-existing ant behaviors and behavior-regulating processes rather than creating 'new' behaviors that are completely outside what a healthy ant could do.". Fans of the games had previously shared variations of that theory (more on that in a bit), but the shows pilot really sent that discussion into overdrive. Enjoy the video? In real life, the Cordyceps fungi are largely found in Asia, with the majority of the 600 species described originating from the continent. Related: How The Last Of Us Cast Looks Compared To The Game Characters. We liked the idea of that science, and we try as best we can to make sure that our research all connects. This was the world.". Stock image of cordyceps fungus growing out from a silkworm. The Last of Us Spoilers: Why Is Ellie So Important? Very sneaky. There are multiple stages of infection, so infected humans are categorized as Runners, Stalkers, Clickers, and Bloaters. The sequence harkens back to the scene in the very first episode where Joel (Pedro Pascal), Sarah (Nico Parker), and Tommy (Gabriel Luna) hear about unrest in Jakarta over the radio. Some other species of fungus rely on outgrowths of fungal mycelium to anchor their hosts to the surface, Beckerson said. Contaminated crops? A Scientific Investigation of 'The Last of Us' Fungal Pandemic Real-World Origin of the Cordyceps Fungus Zombie From 'The Last of Us' How Did the Cordyceps Infection Start In The Last of Us Games? World Health Organization advises against naming viruses or conditions after the place they were first discovered, Jakarta just happens to be home to the largest flour mill in the world, How HBO's The Last of Us Already Foreshadowed the Second Game, The Last of Us Ratings Bode Well for a Possible Season 2. They didnt have any flour for pancakes, they turned out the Adlers biscuits, and later, the Adlers made cookies, which Sarah didnt eat. When Joel returned home from work, Sarah was disappointed to learn that her father forgot to pick up a cake for them to celebrate his birthday. Unlike Fallout, though, we might actually have an answer to where the Cordyceps brain infection began in the world of The Last of Us. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, You eat enough of it, it'll get you infected.". What is Shudder? "We wanted to show also that it was global, that this wasn't just happening in America. Warning! This fungi turns people into Zombies and mutant forms. Specifically, heres what the article says: The Food and Drug Administrations investigation of crops potentially tainted with mold continues across the country. "We knew we wanted to give a little bit more of an origin story [to the Cordyceps outbreak]. For starters, Joel is following the low-carb Atkins diet (which was popular in the early 2000s and was the keto of its day) and therefore rejects their neighbors offer of a biscuit. The change from South America to Asia provides further changes from the game's infection storyline, following the global warming reveal of episode 1. Newest episode of TV series featuring Pedro PascalThe origins where the outbrak zombie infection is in Jakarta Indonesia. Bread, cerealpancake mix. New episodes of The Last of Us drop every Sunday at 9 p.m. From there, it spread overseas and eventually made its way across the Pacific Ocean. Your email address will not be published. @jamie_dunkin on Twitter, with episodes releasing on Sunday evenings, James Gunn casting half of DCs Fantastic Four before Marvel hires any says it all about the state of the MCU, A fantasy series from a disgraced creator axed halfway through its first season lands unexpected Emmys recognition, Warner Bros. removes Zack Snyders Justice League trailer from YouTube, and James Gunn naturally takes the blame. Thats an interesting little tidbit but why should the viewer care exactly? "Once the fungal spore has germinated into the ant, it begins to divide into individual yeast-like cells that grow and multiply in the hemolymph (the fluid that contains the blood of insects) and spreads throughout the body," William C. Beckerson, a molecular biology and genetics postdoctoral research fellow at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, told Newsweek. One thing that the series does well so far is to show what happens when the fungus is done with its host's body: the end stage of a fungal infection involves the spreading of fungal spores to infect other organisms. Reparations Is How We End It, By Dedrick Asante-Muhammad and Chuck Collins, For the Sake of the Nation, the Reparations Movement Needs to End Now, Used Car Market Forecast As Prices Suffer Biggest Fall in Years, Tuberville's Blockade on Military Promotions Helps China, Lawmakers Warn, U.S. States Urged To Block Donald Trump From 2024 Run, Ron DeSantis' Problems Keep Getting Worse and Worse. At this time, it also doesnt seem like the showrunners intend to rewrite the infections origins as they are presented in the game or suggest that the show offers an expanded version of those events that directly applies to the games. Sarah politely turns down an oatmeal raisin cookie. The Last of Us is now streaming on HBO Max(opens in a new tab) with new episodes airing weekly on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. However, the zombie-ant fungus is generally specialized in one specific species of ant, meaning that a jump from ant to human may be evolutionarily very hard. In nature, there is a species of Cordyceps fungi that infects ants, sometimes called the zombie-ant fungus. HBO's Filming Locations Explained. After school, Sarah was less enthused about baking cookies with her neighbor after learning they were making raisin cookies instead of chocolate chip. We liked the idea of that science, and we try as best we can to make sure that our research all connects. 'The Last of Us' fans noticed major hints in the premiere regarding the origin of the Cordyceps fungus. That leads us into one of The Last of Uss most clever bit of background storytelling yet. This is ophiocordyceps. The Last of Us HBO Max: How does the fungus spread? - Vox Stay up to date with what you want to know. Some pictures of ants infected by parasitic fungi, which alter the ants behavior and, later, consume it to reproduce and spread! The opening of The Last of Us episode 1 showing Sarah's death takes place two days later, on September 26th, 2003. In The Last of Us video games, the Cordyceps brain infection originated in South America. Indeed, the game seems to imply that reporters/researchers in The Last of Us game universe seemed to believe that the infection may have started in South America. Now, we get to see a bit more of how this thing started. For starters, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and his daughter, Sarah (Nico Parker), managed to avoid flour at all costs. Major spoilers for the original The Last of Us game ahead. Nature is incredible! That ties in with a popular fan theory that flour is the cause of the spread, after viewers noticed that Joel and his daughter Sarah conspicuously avoid eating anything that contains the foodstuff: Joel forgets a birthday cake, they don't have pancakes for breakfast, and they both turn down their neighbors' cookies. New York, Now, we know the true source of the unrest: The Cordyceps outbreak started in Jakarta because of mutated fungus in a flour and grain factory. guest on a 1968 talk show detailing the horrific potential for a Cordyceps outbreak, mutated fungus in a flour and grain factory, 'The Last of Us' review: Yes, it's just as great as you hoped it would be. The Last of Us Part 1 recently saw a spike in sales in the United Kingdom, climbing up sales charts nearly six months after the re-release was launched. Copyright 2023 Xfire.com. Originally, Mazin and Druckmann planned for a montage showing how Cordyceps was ravaging several different places across the world. 27 days to go until it debuts, and detail reveals about the show are ramping up. NY 10036. The entire show opens with a guest on a 1968 talk show detailing the horrific potential for a Cordyceps. Dr. Ratna examine corpse with Cordy. The brain infection continued to spread via spores in the air and infected people biting others. Origins & Evolution of the World Ending Cordyceps Zombie - YouTube Loved HBO's 'The Last of Us'? And the only defense against it is destruction. "Molecular work from multiple Ophiocordyceps species have suggested a combination of fungal toxins and other compounds that could interfere with host (ant) physiology and behavior control," Ian Will said. By Lewis Glazebrook Published Jan 23, 2023 HBO's The Last of Us episode 2 delves even further into the Cordyceps infection's origins, changing the game's explanation massively in doing so. Mazin: When she talks about where these people worked and what was going on in that factory yeah, its pretty clear thats whats going on. That very same episode also features a news report in the background that warns of concerning developments in Jakarta just to set up this second episode reveal. Joel tells her that while "no one knows for sure," people have a solid theory of what happened. 00:00 / 00:00 The Last of Us premiere on HBO detailed the start of the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. The show's second episode, "Infected," opens with a vignette showing the reaction to the very start of the Cordyceps outbreak in Jakarta, Indonesia. In the video game and HBO show The Last of Us, humans struggle to survive after an infectious fungus turns ordinary people into zombies. Cordyceps, the origin of the virus in 'The Last of Us', is actually real Who ever would have guessed that Dr. Robert Atkins would be the ultimate hero of a mushroom apocalypse? Joel says the cordyceps outbreak likely started by mutating and tainting foods with flour or sugar. The story goes on to mention a warning against imported crops from South America, Central America, and Mexico. Check out the newspaper clipping Sarah picks up in The Last of Us Part I. The show features a mycology professor named Ibu Ratna, who claims it's impossible to develop a vaccine and that the only solution is to "bomb" the entire city to prevent it from spreading. Here's how the virus began in The Last of Us. Again, though, some of the details remain unknown and intentionally ambiguous. Where the two differ slightly is in the details of the origin of that infection, exactly how the infection spread, and the greater timeline of that apocalyptic event. New episodes of The Last of Us release every Sunday on HBO. "They are so host-specific that nearly every species of zombie ant we find is infected by a different species of Ophiocordyceps, and if you try to grow them on a different host, even in lab settings, they do not manipulate their behavior," Beckerson said. If the sample wasnt enough to convince her, examining a cadaver thats clearly infected by cordyceps does. [12] [13] It is also the cause of the worldwide epidemic that wipes out most of humanity in Mike Carey's postapocalyptic novel The Girl with All the Gifts and its prequel The Boy on the Bridge . "Best guess cordyceps mutated and some of it got into the food supply probably a basic ingredient like flour or sugar," Joel says. 'Succession': The 10 most horrifying moments from Logan's funeral, How 'Ted Lasso' fumbled Nate's redemption arc, big time, The 10 most WTF scenes from 'The Idol' finale, 'The Idol's finale twist makes absolutely zero sense. The price of used cars jumped up 40 percent to an average of nearly $29,000 between early 2020 and May 2023. This is seen in the show, where a skeleton is stuck against a wall with a huge bloom of fungal outgrowths bursting out of it. "If jumping ant species is tricky, it'd be a special Ophiocordyceps that jumps to other animals like humans," he said. Through this, Joel's choice is made much worse. After all, that debut episode curiously emphasized scenes of Joel and his family avoiding various types of flour-based products in that episode (including biscuits, birthday cake, and pancakes). At this point, people are already becoming infected. The Last of Us ending involves Joel eliminating any chance of a vaccine that was previously thought impossible. In the games, though, the outbreak occurs in 2013 and the present-day sections take place during 2033. The Last of Us series co-creator Craig Mazin previously stated that they wanted to give a little bit more of an origin story [to the Cordyceps outbreak] and how also that it was global, that this wasnt just happening in America. The Racial Wealth Gap Began With Our Founding. What, exactly, was the cordyceps fungus? The Last of Us episode 2's Jakarta section takes place on September 24th, 2003, and details the already spiraling Cordyceps infection taking hold of the city through unaccounted-for workers. Cordyceps - Wikipedia Here are some tips and tricks to help you find the answer to "Wordle" #754. Flour is found in most households and used in many foods, so it could explain other infections, too. Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Not only does the Indonesia opening establish a concrete point of origin for the outbreak that isn't in the game it also marks the first time The Last of Us franchise explores how Cordyceps affects a country outside the United States. HBO's The Last of Us changes Cordyceps origin for the better There are some questions about that version of the outbreak that will likely never be answered, but the very basics of the outbreaks origins in the series seem to be pretty clear. Warning! Two days later, we see that it has caused widespread destruction as far as Austin, Texas. Real-World Origin of the Cordyceps Fungus Zombie From 'The Last of Us' The Last of Us TV show may have already revealed how the initial - MSN Most notably, the version of the Cordyceps infection we see in the game commonly spreads via spores that the infected hosts can release after certain stages of infection (or after they are dead). This article contains spoilers for both The Last of Us episode 2 and the original game.The Last of Us episode 2 opens in Jakarta, Indonesia, and sheds more light on the Cordyceps infection's origins in a way that changes the game's story. One of the (very, very) few hints about the origins of cordyceps you see in, The Last of Us Hints That Cordyceps May Have Been Hiding in Flour (!) It turns out Joel may have narrowly avoided being infected simply because of his food choices on the series' pilot. More: Where Was The Last Of Us Filmed? In the zombie-ant fungus, the ant is made to climb up to a high point, bite down on a leafthis is called the "death grip"and release these spores from a large snake-shaped fruiting body that bursts from its head. Fans of The Last of Us picked up on some clues in the premiere that might have pointed to the origin of the Cordyceps outbreak. Well, I'll just say that this is better than what we were given. Warning! At least Tedros Tedros is out of our lives. Getty Images Plus / Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO. .css-gk9meg{display:block;font-family:Lausanne,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding-top:0.25rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-gk9meg:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.15;margin-bottom:0.25rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}Here's When Each Episode of 'Hijack' Hits Apple TV, Don't Fear: 'The Lincoln Lawyer' Isn't Over Yet.