Removing the Spores in The Last of Us (HBO) Was a Mistake

[Winter]

There are many creative choices made in the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us that I don't care for. Making Ellie more violent and much less kind throughout, making Joel less competent, making the stakes less personal and more grand and the overall changes to Joel and Ellie's character arcs. It is a good show but I don't consider it better than the game and the fact that Season 2 seems to be sticking to the structure of the second game (which means waiting either 6 months to a year for season 3 to get Abby's half of the story) does not help matters.

But one of the biggest mistakes the series made was the removal of the Spores. One of those issues with doing so was one of the ideas that made this unique among Zombie Horror, that this was something that could exist in the real world. Cordyceps works by infecting ants or other insects than forces its host to find a high vantage point so it can spread to other insects by releasing, you guessed it, spores into the air.

The idea of The Last of Us is that cordyceps jumped to humans, not unlike how AIDS went from monkeys to humans, and how that would affect our world. However, the show removed the spores because the show runners felt that it was interesting from a gameplay standpoint but would be less effective in a TV Show. My problem with this is that it undercuts the more unique part of this as a Zombie horror series that it's not just the bit that's the danger it's the spores.

That's why humans in this series are growing the fungus on their bodies, it's the cordyceps preparing to the host to spread its spores.

But the real issue is the damage it causes to Joel's character arc. The turning point for Joel in the story isn't him seeing Ellie's bite mark it's him seeing her breathing in the spores like they're nothing. This is important because it gives Joel hope, he even refers to this moment in the game to his brother when he tries to have him take Ellie.

But even worse than that is what happens in Part 2 because Spores show up ONLY during major story moments. Ellie using the Spores to get Nora away from the other wolves and to torture her, Abby needing to get Lev a mask, Abby seeing Ellie breath in the spores and other moments.

Removing the spores in the story was a mistake one that show realized to late because their returning in season 2 because the next episode shows that the spores in said episode. So if they're including it now why did they remove it in the first place?

[Nobody700]

How funny would the plot of TLOU2 be if Abby wanted to kill Joel... and was killed by the spores before she got there, cause it seems in TLOU2, no one remembers they exist.

[CharlesPhipps]

I mean the Cordyceps is no more realistic than magic. The fungus acts with an actual intelligence that isn't the case in RL.

But I understand why they decided not to use the spores.

[Winter]

I mean the Cordyceps is no more realistic than magic. The fungus acts with an actual intelligence that isn't the case in RL.

But I understand why they decided not to use the spores.

The issue is the reintroduction in the show, the fact that they have to bring them back after cutting them out because oopsie poopsie they play a big role in this story so we now have to include them in a continuity that hasn't had them for, in universe, 25 years. The main feature of this fungus was cut out only to be dropped back in because, again, major story beats. Which again, begs the question, why did they remove it to begin with if they're just going to put them back in?

This is like making Lord of the Rings without the Black Riders only to put them back in the story after being absent for 2 movies. Or Cutting out the Geth in an adaptation of Mass Effect 1 only to put them back in a ME2 adaptation.

This isn't just an important part of the story in one chapter this is the main threat of the series and the fact they're bringing it back in just kinda proves my point. The show deemed the spores not important enough to include and had to rework the story which included removing a key moment of Joel's arc only to bring it back in.