Many fans are eagerly anticipating The Last of Us's return this April on Max. The series is expected to change the game’s original story. We look back at the first season and how showrunner Craig Mazin introduced some new elements while staying true to the game's main themes.
Note that this isn’t a list of all the changes made for TLOU (that would be a much longer list) but a breakdown of the biggest changes that impact the story.
What were the Small Changes?
Several changes made to the series don’t impact the overall story. For one, the outbreak in the game happened in 2013, with the show's main events happening 20 years later in 2033. For the show, they decided to push the timeline back to 2003 so that the main timeline takes place in 2023—which the showrunners thought would be interesting since the series also came out in 2023.
Several other characters are added to showcase more of the world's survivors. The series admittedly has fewer action scenes because, though they make sense for an action game, they didn’t work the same way for a TV audience.
With that out of the way, let’s look at some of the biggest changes the series has pulled off.
The Nature of the Cordyceps is Changed
Though the Cordyceps infected in the series look the same in the show, the entire nature of how they work and how people are infected has been altered for the series. In the game, they release spores that can infect people who breathe them in, but in the game, they require actual touch to infect humans.
This was said to be done so that the characters wouldn’t have to spend long scenes in masks, but it also adds to the other new trait of the Cordyceps: They act like a hive mind, and disturbing a Cordyceps in one location could trigger a horde farther away and draw them to your location.
This touching element also leads to one of the series' more disturbing (but memorable) scenes: One of the Cordyceps sees that Tess is already infected. Instead of biting her, he gently ‘kisses’ her to complete her infection.
Henry’s Brother Sam is Deaf
When players meet Henry and Sam in the game, they’re just another odd couple meant to mirror Joel and Ellie, with Henry being the protective older brother to a younger Sam—who just wants to be a kid sometimes.
For some reason, during development, though, showrunner Craig Mazin thought it would be a neat idea to make Sam even more vulnerable in the show. Henry becomes way more protective of him, and it hits harder when he eventually loses Sam by the end of their arc.
Sam revealing his infection to Ellie also plays the same way in the game, but in the series, Ellie tries to rub some of her blood on Sam’s bite in the hopes that her immunity would be able to save him somehow; too bad it didn’t work.
The Reason for Ellie’s Immunity is Revealed
Ellie’s immunity is one of the game's biggest plot points, but the details of her immunity are never explicitly revealed; instead, the game offers hints that the players must interpret.
In the game, players can discover the contents of Ellie’s backpack, and inside, there’s a bloody letter from her mother explaining that her life will get ‘cut a little short.’ From this, players can put together that Ellie’s mother had been infected, and it would have been close to the time of her birth.
Fast forward to the series, and that’s precisely what happens to Anna. She gets infected on the day of Ellie’s birth, and she keeps her sanity long enough to be able to hold Ellie for a few hours and write her a letter.
Game director Neil Druckmann himself has said that he had a hard time incorporating that into the game, but given the show's flashbacks and new characters, giving Anna her spotlight was possible with the series.
Bill and Frank’s Love Story
No doubt, the biggest departure from the game was the way Bill and Frank’s story played out in the series.
In the original game, Joel and Ellie go to Bill to look for supplies. When they meet him, Bill is a paranoid loner with an entire town to himself, covered in traps to keep infected and unwanted visitors away. Frank was still Bill’s partner, but he had already left him at that point, and the players get to see that he hanged himself after he got infected.
Many of the series' elements remain the same. Bill is still a paranoid gun lover who lives alone in a town protected by traps. The only change is that the series details how Bill and Frank meet and eventually become lovers.
Knowing how Bill turns out in the game, players would suspect Frank would die, and Bill would turn out the way he is when you meet him. But instead, the rug is pulled out from under everyone, and Bill decides that he will also be ending his life alongside Frank, with them dying in each other’s arms.
By the end, Joel and Ellie still get what they come for in the game, but instead of a dark look at what Joel could end up like alone, the series gives audiences a very touching love story set in the backdrop of a mushroom zombie apocalypse.
It’s not clear if the second season of The Last of Us will be able to pull that kind of episode off again, but fingers are crossed they manage to surprise everyone one more time.
Catch The Last of Us Season 2 when it comes to Max this April.