The Last of Us Season 2 Premiere Introduces an Important New Infected to the Show

This nonfiction contains spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2 Premiere, and features an interrogation with the show's co-creator Craig Mazin.

The Last of Us is simply a franchise chock-full of zombies. Sorry, sorry, infected. Said infected travel successful each antithetic shapes and sizes, and see thing suffering from the effects of the cordyceps virus. The microorganism comes successful stages, with each signifier having its ain distinction. We commencement disconnected with runners, past determination connected to stalkers, clickers (most common), bloaters, shamblers, and rat king. Of the stages, stalkers are the slightest utilized successful The Last of Us game, but 1 makes a peculiar quality successful The Last of Us Season 2 premiere. More importantly, The Last of Us HBO co-creator Craig Mazin shared with IGN that we’ll beryllium seeing much of the terrifying creatures successful the series.

IGN: So, we conscionable a stalker successful Episode 1.Mazin: Sure do.IGN: They person specified a minimal relation successful the game, but they're specified a terrifying happening to beryllium capable to bring into the show. Are they going to play a bigger relation successful the bid than they bash successful the game?Mazin: Feels similar they should, doesn't it?IGN: It definite does.Mazin: Yeah. Yeah. It feels similar they should. I mean, if you conscionable a azygous infected that is that tricky, that smart... And by the way, this comes from my acquisition playing the crippled and being perfectly terrified by the stalker... I mean, the stalkers freaked maine retired truthful much, and I loved however they presented this caller benignant of challenge, which, I assume, came partially from the tendency to grow gameplay.But what it did was it besides had this beauteous superior affectional interaction connected me. So, arsenic we question from crippled to show, we go, well, let's absorption in, and let's absorption successful connected 1 of them. And if we are frightened by 1 of them, well, bash the mathematics and spot wherever this goes.

The Last of Us Stalkers Explained

I don’t privation to bash the mathematics and spot wherever it goes, Craig, I’m scared! Stalkers adhd an absorbing level of complication to the not-zombie-but-definitely-zombies genre that is The Last of Us’ infected. They’re strategic, and I don’t similar it. I privation my undead dilatory and stupid, and I fishy I’m not alone. That said, if you haven’t played the games, here’s what you request to cognize astir the 2nd signifier of the cordyceps virus, stalkers.

As the sanction suggests, stalkers main relation is to, well, stalk. They fell and hold to ambush their victims, are overmuch stealthier than the different stages of infection, and person constricted fungal maturation since they’re comparatively aboriginal connected successful the infection’s beingness cycle.

The Season 2 premiere sees overmuch of this behaviour connected afloat display, arsenic Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) spell rogue from their recon radical and analyse an abandoned buying center. Stalkers are alerted by large noises, which comes by mode of Ellie falling done the rotting level and her assemblage slamming into the crushed level of the store. We past spot the stalker bob and weave successful and retired of view, astir similar it's playing a crippled with Ellie earlier managing to wound her side.

While Dina does negociate to get a changeable disconnected earlier matters tin get worse and Ellie tin get much earnestly wounded (of people Ellis is immune to the microorganism the stalker carries), we tin decidedly expect to spot much of the creature(s) successful the bid than we did successful the game.