“Last of Us” S2 Ups The Fungus Infected

Though widely acclaimed, one of the most common complaints about HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama series adaptation of the “The Last of Us” video games was the lack of screentime for the infected.

Whereas much of the games was all about killing or evading fungus-infected people, in the series they were quite limited in their use as the focus was much more on the character drama.

As result, multiple episodes went by without them appearing at times, and in ones they did appear they were only there for short periods – especially in the back half of the first season.

Even so, we still did get to see fast-moving human-style ‘runners’, hunt by sound ‘clickers’ with their elaborate overgrown heads, and in one scene a full-on massive ‘bloater’.

With the second season, creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann tell Empire you’re going to see more of them and different types too. Mazin says: “All I’ll say is that for the people who want to see more of the infected… Buckle up!”.

The new season will bring in ‘stalkers’ – creatures that hide, anticipate and are generally smarter. Druckmann says: “You get to see a different evolution of this infection. It’s kept certain parts of their brain alive, so they are smarter. They coordinate and hide and do things that we’ve never seen any other infected do on this show.”

The second game introduced ‘shamblers’, chunky versions of ‘bloaters’ who can expel large spore clouds from their bodies which cause acidic burns to their prey’s skin. It’s not clear if they will be introduced here, but the recent trailer showed a runner trapped into growth on a wall who expels a spore cloud from their mouth that could be a variation on them.

Those keen to see the Rat King in person, that is likely being saved for Season 3. “The Last of Us” returns on April 13th.

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