10 details you may have missed on the series premiere of ‘The Last of Us’

From Sarah’s shirt to one of Joel’s birthday gifts, here are a few details you may have missed on “The Last of Us” premiere.HBO

The fungus responsible for the pandemic in “The Last of Us” is based on one that zombifies ants in real life.

On the series’ pilot, Dr. Neuman shares how a fungus could eventually take control of a human as a host.HBO

In the pilot’s prologue, which takes place in 1968, an epidemiologist discusses “a fungus that infects insects,” using an ant as an example.

He discusses how this fungus, cordyceps, travels through an ant’s circulatory system to its brain, flooding it with hallucinogens, “thus bending the ant’s mind to its will. The fungus starts to direct the ant’s behavior — telling it where to go, what to do — like a puppeteer with a marionette.”

“The fungus needs food to live,” Dr. Neuman says. “The fungus begins to devour its host from within, replacing the ant’s flesh with its own.”

If that sounds like fiction, it’s not.

Found mostly in tropical regions, the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus infects ants with deadly spores, which eventually hijack their brains. The fungus then controls the “zombified” ants until they reach an area where the fungus can grow before killing it.

As the fungus continues to grow in the ant’s body, a stalk eventually bursts from the insect’s head, releasing spores to infect more ants and continue spreading.

The series kicks off a decade earlier than the video game.

A newspaper at the start of “The Last of Us” game shows that it takes place in 2013.Naughty Dog/Sony

The show introduces us to Joel Miller, who Pedro Pascal plays, in 2003. In the video game, the pandemic kicks off in 2013 before the timeline skips ahead to the year 2033.

Cocreator Craig Mazin told Insider in December over Zoom the change in time was his suggestion.

“I just had this thing where if I’m watching a show and it takes place 20 years in the future from my time now, it just seems less real,” Mazin told Insider with a laugh. “I’m just less connected.”

“I suggested this change because it would allow the show’s main timeline to be now, in 2023,” Mazin continued. “There’s just something about saying this is happening now in this parallel universe.”

Story continues

Sarah’s wearing a similar shirt to the one we see her wear in the beginning of the game.

There are slight differences between the two shirts because of the time change.HBO, Naughty Dog

This is an easy, obvious nod to the game.

However, since the series takes place in 2003 instead of 2013, the back of Sarah’s shirt on the series reads 2002 instead of 2012. The front also shows an artist in a different pose.

Sarah’s birthday card to her dad, Joel, can be spotted on her dresser near the episode’s start.

Both cards feature a dinosaur on the outside.HBO, Naughty Dog

Sarah forgets to give her dad the card in the video game. In the game, the card tells him that he’s not a fossil, yet, with a sweet message to Joel.

It reads:

“Dear Dad,

Let’s see… You’re never around, you hate the music I’m into. You practically despise the movies I like, and yet somehow you still manage to be the best dad every year. How do you do that? 🙂

Happy Birthday, pops!

❤️ Sarah”

Sarah also gifts Joel a borrowed DVD from the neighbor’s, a nod to a film series mentioned in the games.

The movie isn’t given to Joel in the video game for his birthday by Sarah.HBO

Unlike the game, Sarah also presents Joel with a DVD for “Curtis and Viper 2.”

The fake film is mentioned in “The Last of Us Part II” video game and is one of Joel’s favorite franchises.

While trying to escape Austin, Texas, Tommy and Joel pass by a house that’s on fire.

In the game, Jimmy is a neighbor who Joel kills. On the show, Jimmy’s place is on fire.Naughty Dog, HBO

In the game, the brothers refer to it as “Louis’ farm.” On the show, they say it’s Jimmy’s.

Joel kills a man named Jimmy who becomes infected with the cordyceps fungus in the game before hitting the road.

The show changes up how Joel and Tommy crash their vehicle.

There’s a nod to the vehicle that slams into Joel and Tommy on “TLOU” pilot.Naughty Dog, HBO

In the game, a truck slams into the side of Tommy and Joel’s vehicle. About 28 minutes into the pilot, there’s a slight nod to this on the show when they’re nearly T-boned by a vehicle.

It’s an incredible fake-out for those who have played the game. Instead, on the series, a plane crashes behind Joel and Tommy and a flying piece of debris causes their imminent crash.

A flyer explains how long it takes for the cordyceps infection to take over depending on where an individual is bit or injured.

A flier shows how fast the cordyceps takes control of a human.HBO

According to the Federal Disaster Response Agency, or FEDRA, poster, a person has anywhere from five minutes to 24 hours for a wound to fully infect them. An injury on the neck, face, or head takes five to 15 minutes.

A wound on the torso, arm, shoulder, or hands means you have about two to eight hours before you’re infected. If you’re wounded on the leg or foot, you have anywhere from 12 to 24 hours before a full infection.

Coughing, slurred speech, muscle spasms, and mood changes are all preliminary signs of the cordyceps infection.

Joel’s attack on the soldier who was about to kill Ellie directly links back to the moment he killed his neighbor earlier in the episode.

Pay attention to the contrasting reactions to Joel’s violence from Sarah and Ellie.HBO, composite by Kirsten Acuna/Insider

When Ellie was about to be shot near the episode’s end, Joel went back to the death of his daughter, who was killed by military. He wasn’t about to let another girl die on his watch. Joel brutally kills this man, releasing the anger that’s been pent up inside him for so long.

On HBO’s featurette inside the episode, xx notes that the scene is also meant to remind viewers of the moment when Joel killed his neighbor earlier on the premiere.

Viewers should hone in on the different reactions both Sarah and Ellie have to witnessing Joel kill someone in front of them. Sarah cries when she sees her father kill their neighbor, even though she was trying to kill them.

“Ellie doesn’t cry. Ellie likes it,” Mazin points out in the HBO featurette. “She likes the idea of somebody defending her like that and she likes the idea of that guy being punished.”

The song that comes on the radio at the episode’s end is “Never Let Me Down Again.” It’s supposed to hint at Ellie and Joel’s journey moving forward.

The radio seen at the end of “The Last of Us” pilot.HBO

Earlier in the episode, Ellie learns that Joel uses a radio code to communicate with two mystery people named Bill and Frank.

If they play a ’60s song, it means “nothing in.” A ’70s tune signals there’s “new stock.” An ’80s track means there’s trouble.

Depeche Mode’s 1987 song comes on the radio after Joel, Ellie, and Tess have departed the Boston quarantine zone at the pilot’s end.

“What I was looking for was an ’80s song that felt, at least initially like, ‘Oh, it’s an up-tempo ’80s song.’ But, lyrically, had a darkness to it,” Mazin explains on HBO’s official “The Last of Us” podcast of why that song was selected.

“What it’s about is, ‘I’m taking a ride with my best friend,” Mazin continued. “Now, what he was singing about was drugs. It was a song about addiction. Well, Ellie’s about to take a ride with her best friend and Joel is a dangerous man. And, Joel is about to take a ride with his best friend. He doesn’t know she’s his best friend, yet. And she’s a dangerous little girl.”

“We are going to hear that song again,” Mazin teased.

Read the original article on Insider