HBO already has another guaranteed success with The Last of Us, the television adaptation of the acclaimed video game. But while fans and critics alike loved the first episode and many new aspects of the story, now that the second episode has aired, many people have noticed that when it comes to the core infection, Cordyceps fungus, something is different. .
for the series The Last of Us there are important changes regarding the game, one of these being the way in which the clickersor clickers, spread the infection to their victims.
Before beginning, it is necessary to clarify: What is a clicker? It is a kind of infected that is the product of harboring the fungus in your system for more than a year. In the game, they spread the virus through the traditional bite, but also the spread of spores. It should also be noted that these monsters owe their name to the sound they make to find each other and also find their prey. These small “clicks” act as a kind of echolocation, since these beings are completely disfigured by the fungus, so they cannot see.
NOTE: Next come spoilers from episode 2 of The Last of Us.
In this second installment for television, a small joke is made where it is made clear that the spores will not be part of the method of spreading the infection in the series. The showrunners They had previously indicated that this decision is due to a practical aspect, since the actors would have to wear masks much of the time as they do with the characters in the games.
How do you fix this in adaptation? To start, it is revealed that the primal instinct of the clickers It’s not attacking. If the victim does not show any type of resistance, they will simply seek to connect with them by bringing a kind of tentacles to their mouths to give them the “kiss of death”. This was revealed thanks to the scene in which Tess sacrifices herself to give Ellie and Joel an escape route.
This was explained by the creators, Craig Maizin and Neil Druckmann, in an interview with Variety:
“We were researching how mushrooms appear in reality, and we had a really good template of what they would look like in-game. We wanted to go further and say, ‘Okay, what are the different forms and functions?’ I found an image that an artist had created of someone who had been eaten by mushrooms and had mushrooms in their mouth. We were already talking about tentacles coming out and asking ourselves these philosophical questions: ‘Why are infected people violent? If it’s about spreading the fungus, why do they have to be violent?’ We came to the conclusion that no. They are violent because we resist, but what if you don’t? What if you just sit still and let them do this to you?
Druckmann immediately added the following:
“Part of it was the deviation from the game, where Tess is killed by soldiers. We had a long conversation about what was most thematically appropriate for this episode, which is called ‘Infected’ and deals with the threat from outside. We got out of the quarantine zone and that led us to this other version where she gives Joel and Ellie a chance to escape by blowing up a bunch of infected. Since we are cruel to the characters we love so much, it seemed like she knew she was done for, and then the lighter doesn’t work, and we push her to the brink of horror before finally giving her a way out.”
Another equally terrifying addition that wasn’t in the original game is the fact that communication between clickers goes further in the echolocation series. Here they are connected. Being fungi, they take root in the earth and if a dead infected person is stepped on or touched, this will alert others to possible prey in the vicinity.
“The other thing that came out of our conversations is the network of infected that you see in this episode. They’re connected, and it’s scarier when it feels like they’re working as a unit than as individuals. Touching one could cause others miles away to come after you. That makes the world even scarier. I always tell Craig, ‘Son of b#%@, that’s one of those things that would make an amazing game.’ I wish we would have had that in the game,” Druckmann confesses.
Do you like the changes in the clickeryes in the adaptation of The Last of Us? A new episode of the series airs every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.
Jose Roberto Landaverde Movie buff and music lover. I am fascinated by writing, listening, reading and commenting on everything related to the seventh art. I’m a fan of Rocky and Back to the Future and obviously one day I’ll climb the “Philly Steps” and drive a DeLorean. Faithful believer that cinema is the best teleportation machine, and also that on the big screen we can all see ourselves represented. I constantly, like Scott Pilgrim, ask myself: “Does bread make you fat?”