Are Infected Getting Into Jackson? What The Last Of Us Season 2's Vine Tease Means
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 1.
The cliffhanger ending of The Last of Us’ season 2 premiere sees Cordyceps vines snaking into Jackson, which could mean the infected are coming to town. The Last of Us season 2, episode 1, “Future Days,” picks up five years after the events of season 1, when Joel and Ellie are fully settled into their new lives in Jackson, Wyoming. Ellie is a part of the patrol squad and Joel is the foreman of a construction crew trying to expand the town to accommodate some refugees.
During the construction, the crew breaks into a pipeline that seems to be full of old, dry vines. But at the end of the episode, it’s revealed that these vines contain some strands of Cordyceps, which start to wiggle just before the end credits. The Last of Us’ TV adaptation made some changes to the infection in season 1. It gave the infected a hive mind connected through an underground network of tendrils, so the appearance of Cordyceps in a broken pipe is a very bad sign for the town.
The Infected Do Appear To Be Getting Into Jackson - What That Would Mean
Jackson's Security Will Be Put To The Test
Image via Max
The Cordyceps tendrils sparking to life in the pipeline through Jackson seem to suggest that all the nearby infected will be alerted to come to the town and cause mayhem. The Last of Us’ zombie hive mind means it won’t just be a couple of stragglers that get the message to storm Jackson; it’ll be every single runner, clicker, and bloater in the surrounding area. In season 1, hordes were seen swarming the capitol building in Boston and the suburban street in Kansas City — and it wasn’t pretty.
The trailers for The Last of Us season 2 have already teased a mega-scale action set-piece in which a swarm of infected storm the gates of Jackson.
The trailers for The Last of Us season 2 have already teased a mega-scale action set-piece in which a swarm of infected storm the gates of Jackson. The town’s security will be put to the test as the guards on the gate snipe as many as they can and the residents have to contend with the rest. The trailer even shows a shot of Tommy blasting a bloater with a flamethrower. The vines in the pipe seem to directly set up this sequence.
The Vine Tease Is A Change To The Last Of Us Games
The Hordes In The Games Never Came Close To Jackson's Walls
The vines bringing infected to Jackson is a massive deviation from The Last of Us Part II. In the games, Tommy has mentioned that Jackson is vulnerable to infected attacks, but the infected never got into Jackson on-screen. Jackson’s patrols had to deal with a lot of infected hordes in the area, but the infected never got into the town, and they never faced any threats from vines or underground pipelines. The vine tease is a sign that The Last of Us TV show is taking some big swings in the adaptation process.
The Last Of Us
- Release Date
- January 15, 2023
- Network
- HBO
- Showrunner
- Craig Mazin
- Directors
- Craig Mazin, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Ali Abbasi, Mark Mylod, Stephen Williams, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, Nina Lopez-Corrado
- Writers
- Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
Cast
Joel Miller
Ellie Williams
The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic drama series set two decades after a global catastrophe. It follows Joel, a seasoned survivor, who is tasked with escorting Ellie, a teenage girl, across a desolated United States, transforming into a harrowing journey of survival and companionship.
- Creator(s)
- Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann
- Seasons
- 2
- Streaming Service(s)
- MAX
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