Neil Druckmann Says There’s a 'Dramatic Reason' Spores Are Back for The Last of Us Season 2
The Last of Us Season 2 showrunners Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin have confirmed “spores are back” following their omission from Season 1.
The latest trailer for the upcoming HBO show, below, teased the introduction of spores after they were left out of Season 1. We see Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, view an infected whose breath releases the spores.
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Warning! Spoilers for The Last of Us Season 1 follow.
In the video games, the cordyceps infection spreads via spores, which forces the characters to wear a gas mask at points. But for Season 1 of the TV show, spores were ditched in favor of tendrils, whose menace certainly appears more horrifying and cinematic. In Season 1, we see clickers sprout terrifying tendrils that simulate the way mushrooms communicate with each other through a root-like network.
There was a practical reason for the change, which is that using spores in the show would mean big-name stars like Pedro Pascal would be forced to wear a gasmask every other scene. While this works on The Mandalorian thanks to his cool helmet, a lot of the tension would be lost in The Last of Us, and tendrils are also way more menacing, visually speaking.
“It’s disturbing and it’s violative. I think it’s very primal in the way it invades your own body,” Mazin said in an interview with Variety about the decision to swap spores for tendrils, particularly in the final scene where Tess receives what can only be described as the world’s worst goodbye kiss.
Now, speaking at SXSW 2025, Druckmann confirmed there is “an escalation of numbers and types of infected, but also, as you see in the trailer, an escalation of the vector of how this thing spreads” in The Last of Us Season 2, adding: “Season 1, we had this new thing that wasn’t in the game of these tendrils that spread, and that was one form. And then one shot you see in this trailer, there are things in the air.”
Mazin later confirmed “spores are back,” before Druckmann added: “The reason [we’re doing it now], I mean, we really wanted to figure it out, and again, everything has to be drama. There had to be a dramatic reason of introducing it now. And there is.”
In other The Last of Us Season 2 news, actress Kaitlyn Dever discussed playing Abby, admitting she finds it hard to stop herself from looking at the reaction on the internet.
HBO’s plans to extend The Last of Us Part 2 beyond a single season, unlike the critically acclaimed Season 1 which covered the entirety of the original game. Mazin has said previously that Part 2 features a lot more story to cover, so while Season 3 isn’t greenlit as of yet, they’ve built Season 2 with a “natural breakpoint” after just seven episodes.
Image credit: HBO Max.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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