Key Takeaways
- The Last of Us S1 was critiqued for not having enough infected.
- The upcoming Last of Us season will likely address criticisms, with early teaser clips showcasing more infected.
- Season 2 of The Last of Us will tell the second game's story, which introduces more infected types.
HBO's The Last of Us was praised widely by fans and critics for its faithful adaptation of Naughty Dog's hit video game. While The Last of Us hit some extreme highs in Season 1, it wasn't without its criticisms.
Season 1 of The Last of Us was released in January 2023 and covered the entirety of Naughty Dog's first game in its nine episodes. The story charts the journey of an unlikely duo, a grieving father Joel, and an orphaned immune teenager Ellie, as they cross a post-apocalyptic America that is ravaged by humans infected by a deadly fungal virus. Season 2 of The Last of Us will continue Joel and Ellie's story, picking up five years after the events of the first game to adapt the story of The Last of Us Part 2. The second game is much bigger in terms of story and scale, which provides new creative opportunities for the TV show to excel, as well as fix the few criticisms that were aimed at its first season.
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The Last of Us Season 2 is Adding More Infected
One of the main criticisms The Last of Us Season 1 received was the lack of infected humans in the TV series. The game fits largely into the zombie-horror genre, so many were surprised to find that the zombies took a backseat in the TV series. Throughout the game, players are constantly met with the challenge of passing through groups of runners, clickers, and other infected types in order to progress. But apart from the occasional runner, and a few major appearances by infected in Episode 2 and Episode 5 of HBO's The Last of Us, the series was a zombie-less affair.
Shortly after The Last of Us was renewed for an additional season, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann addressed the lack of infected in Season 1, promising it would be remedied in Season 2. "It’s quite possible that there will be a lot more infected later. And perhaps different kinds," Mazin told Variety in 2023. The Last of Us Part 2 contains a significantly larger number of infected run-ins, and with the success of the first season, Season 2 of The Last of Us will no doubt have the budget to tackle it all in the coming episodes. In fact, it seems like they already have.
It’s quite possible that there will be a lot more infected later. And perhaps different kinds.
Season 2 won't debut until 2025, but teasers for the new The Last of Us season prove that the TV series has already addressed the infected problem. Huge numbers of infected are shown in clips within the trailer. One scene shows a very large horde advancing through the snow, another shows Kaitlyn Dever's new character, Abby, crushed under a wire fence by a group of runners. Another brief scene shows Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) trapped in a subway train cart with infected surrounding them. At one point Ellie is also followed by an infected that crawls behind her. Judging by the teasers alone, it appears fans won't need to worry about the threat of the infected in The Last of Us Season 2, particularly as this is only a short snippet of what's to come in the new episodes.
TLOU Season 2 Will Introduce New Infected Types
Like any good video game, The Last of Us Part 2 iterated on the formula of the first game and provided more unique and advanced enemy types for players to battle. While the first game provided runners, clickers, stalkers, and bloaters, The Last of Us Part 2 threw in shamblers, and the dreaded Rat King. It's expected The Last of Us Season 2 will introduce at least some of these new infected types in its early episodes, and hints of them can already be seen in the existing teaser trailer.
The scene in which Ellie is followed by a crawling infected is clearly a tease at how stalkers will operate in the new season. In the game, stalkers are the stage of infection between a runner and clicker, meaning they look human but have tendrils of fungus starting to sprout from their heads. They're both creepy and dangerous in the game, and will usually watch the player from behind cover before running in to attack. They also typically crouch and crawl to move around, giving them added stealth, which is definitely what seems to be happening with the infected in The Last of Us Season 2 trailer. It should be noted that stalkers were present in the first The Last of Us game, but they weren't utilized in the TV show.
The trailer also hints at the presence of shamblers, which are similar to bloaters in size but can emit clouds of acidic gas. Ellie first encounters a shambler during Day 1 in Seattle, when she and Dina are forced into the subway tunnels. The trailer for The Last of Us Season 2 includes a scene of Ellie and Dina in the Seattle subway, which means they could run into shamblers in that same episode. The Last of Us Season 2 will no doubt face some criticism if it adapts the story of The Last of Us Part 2 similarly to the games, but it looks like the infected won't be one of them this time.
