As if pandemics, epidemiological risks and so on and so forth weren’t enough, after seeing the first episode of The Last Of Us (or having played the video game of the same name), most of us have surely thought: “What if it really happened?”. The series, available in Italy on Sky and streaming only on NOW simultaneously with HBO, already promises to captivate thousands of viewers thanks to its compelling and breath-taking plot. The post-apocalyptic drama, adaptation of the aforementioned video game, shows us a world where civilization has been destroyed by an epidemic generated by the mutated Cordyceps fungus. The latter has infected humans making them aggressive beings.
The Last Of Us shows a post-apocalyptic world where humans turn into clickers
In the first scene of The Last Of Uswe listen in terror to the warning of the impending threat given by an epidemiologist played by John Hannah. The latter explains to us that some fungi can infect their animal hosts, but also and above all humans. These are the words of Dr. Neuman: “Ascomycetes, Candida, Ergot, Cordyceps or Aspergillus: any fungus could enter our brain and control not millions, but billions of people. Billions of puppets with poisoned minds with a single, eternal and shared goal: to spread the infection to the last human being alive by any means necessary. And there will be no effective or preventive drugs. No cures. They don’t exist and it will be impossible to make them.”. After listening to this disturbing introduction, The Hollywood Reporter asked co-creator Craig Mazin if that’s even possible.
We may indeed be dealing with a virus similar to the one that exists in The Last Of Us?
Mazin, in this regard, said: “It’s real. It’s real to the extent that everything it says about what mushrooms do, they do. They are doing it now and have always done it. There are some amazing documentaries that are pretty terrifying. Now, his reasoning – what if they evolve and get inside us? – from a purely scientific point of view, would they do exactly what they do to ants? I do not believe. I doubt it. On the other hand, he’s right: LSD and psilocybin come from mushrooms. What I said to John was, ‘What we’re doing in this scene is telling people that the truth has always been there for all to see.”
