‘The Last of Us’ Showrunners Explain the ‘Boring’ Original Concept for the Opening Scene

The Last of Us features a chilling opening scene. The series, adapted from Naughty Dog’s video game by the same name, opens with two epidemiologists appearing on a talk show in 1968. In the scene, one of the scientists issues a chilling warning about the threat fungus could pose to humans. However, the series’ creative minds considered introducing the show in a very different way.

‘The Last of Us’ opening scene features a chilling warning from Dr. Neuman

HBO’s The Last of Us tells its story in a non-linear fashion. The series opens in 1968, with a talk show host interviewing epidemiologists Dr. Neuman and Dr. Schoenheiss. Neuman surprises the audience by stating that there is a bigger potential threat to humans than bacterial or viral infections.

“Fungi seem harmless enough. Many species know otherwise because there are some fungi who seek not to kill but to control,” explains Neuman. The epidemiologist then discusses how the cordyceps fungus is able to infect ants, traveling through its circulatory system to the ant’s brain and eventually bending the insect’s mind to its will.

Dr. Schoenheiss adds that though these fungal infections are real, they don’t exist in humans. Neuman concedes that this is true because fungi can’t survive if their host’s internal temperature is above 94 degrees.

“Currently, there are no reasons for fungi to evolve to withstand higher temperatures, but what if that were to change?” Neuman poses. “What if, for instance, the world were to get slightly warmer?” The fungus could then adapt to be able to have human hosts. And if that happens? “We lose.”

Showrunners originally had another idea for the opening scene

The opening scene from The Last of Us cleverly gives viewers an eery sense of foreboding. Dr. Neuman’s warning eventually comes true when the cordyceps infection mutates 35 years later. While appearing on HBO’s official podcast for The Last of Us, showrunner Craig Mazin explained that he and creator Neil Druckmann discussed two ideas for the cold open.

The option that did not make it into the series was inspired by a video from Planet Earth that demonstrates how cordyceps works and how it takes over ants. “It’s quite horrifying, and it tells you everything you need to know,” Mazin stated.

“What we had decided to do was to make our own little video like that which is interesting but not necessarily compelling. It was a bit of an intellectual argument,” Mazin explained. “You’re being kind. It was kind of boring,” Druckmann interjected. “It was a little boring to watch, and it was a little bit like, ‘Oh, we’re in social studies class,” Mazin added.

The showrunners later agreed upon the talk show angle, which was inspired by Dick Cavett and his long-running series The Dick Cavett Show. “As a fan, it catches you off guard and already signals to you everything you think you know about this, you don’t know about,” Druckmann said on the podcast.

“It achieved what we were trying to achieve with that other opening in a much more effective, dramatized way that starts giving you clues or theories of ‘maybe this is how it started.’ We’re not saying definitively, but this is a pretty good theory.”

The HBO series addresses the recent viral pandemic

The opening scene of The Last of Us also addressed the elephant in the room. The entire world only recently went through a viral pandemic. “I thought it was important to say to people, ‘We are not a show that is asking you to share some of your own personal horror about the viral pandemic with us.'” Druckmann said on the podcast.

“We’re here to tell you there’s actually something much worse.” Viral pandemics have occurred throughout history, “but what has not happened is a fungal pandemic,” the creator continued. “And if it does, it’s going to be terrible and possibly unrecoverable.”

New episodes of The Last of Us drop every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.