Among the countless “zombies” portrayed in movies and TV over the years, could the Infected from HBO’s acclaimed series The Last of Us be the most horrifying of them all?
While the Infected are technically not zombies in The Last of Us, and even though many movies and shows like 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead have come up with some pretty nasty monsters, there’s one thing about the Infected that sets them apart.
That’s the fact that they’re based on a real-life pathogenic tropical fungus called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, which is famous for its ability to colonize and literally mind-control ants! It’s informally known as the “zombie-ant fungus,” and its behavior is the closest thing to actual zombification we see in nature.
In The Last of Us, which is based off of Naughty Dog Studios’ popular 2020 video game of the same name, an outbreak of this fungus in humans has caused the collapse of society and spawned numerous monsters that terrorize humanity across the world. That’s terrifying in its own right, but what makes it even scarier is that scientists consider an outbreak of that sort happening in real life to be highly unlikely but not impossible!
Hold the mushrooms on my hamburger, please…
Curious to learn about all of the different types of Infected that appear in The Last of Us Season 1 and Season 2? Here’s the only guide you need to know what Joel and Ellie are up against at any given time.
Don’t forget: you can watch The Last of Us right on DIRECTV. Or, freshen up on the basics before Season 2!
Every Form of The Infected in ‘The Last of Us,’ Explained
It’s hard to say whether the Infected or the surviving pockets of humans who are often willing to do whatever it takes to survive in their post-apocalyptic world are the bigger threat to Joel, Ellie and the rest of the characters in The Last of Us, but one thing is for sure: they’re truly horrifying and quite disgusting.
People who are infected with the Cordyceps fungus progress through a few stages of infection, one after the other, and each with its own diabolical way of spreading the infection. Here’s a look at each type of Infected in The Last of Us.
Stage 1: Runners (A Few Days Post-Infection)
Once a person is infected with Cordyceps, it begins to spread throughout their body. Depending on where they’ve been bitten, it can take anywhere from a few hours to two days for this to occur. During that time, the infected individual exhibits minor symptoms such as cough, confusion, aggression and muscle spasms.
Once the fungus is in the brain, the infected person becomes an Infected proper, entering the first phase of the infection and becoming known as a “runner.”
Runners, with their discolored skin and gnashing teeth, bear resemblance in many ways to the classic zombies of franchises such as George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead or Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, with one key distinction: they’re really, really fast. Hence, the name.
These were the most common form of the Infected seen in The Last of Us Season 1.
Speaking of those famous zombie franchises, you can watch them on DIRECTV! Get started with The Walking Dead.
Stage 2: Stalkers (Two Weeks to One Year Post-Infection)
The next evolution of a Cordyceps infection sees the unfortunate host more visibly become a hybrid between a human being and a Cordyceps fungus, known as a “stalker.” They have tentacle- or barnacle-like fungal growths all over their bodies.
The fungal infection in these monsters has learned to preserve key parts of its human hosts’ brain, and they exhibit more advanced hunting behavior than simply running at and chomping down on their victims. Instead, they nestle up against walls and let the fungus in their bodies grow into the structure, appearing motionless or dead to their victims — until it’s too late.
Season 1 didn’t feature any scenes involving stalkers, but they are expected to make their debut in The Last of Us Season 2.
Catch up on The Last of Us Season 1 on DIRECTV before the premiere of Season 2 on April 13, 2025!
Stage 3: Clickers (One Year+ Post-Infection)
Thanks to one of the most iconic and nerve-wracking scenes in the second episode of The Last of Us Season 1, “clickers” — are Infected who have been living with their infection for a year or more — have become one of the most recognizable images from the franchise.
These creatures are truly horrifying, with their entire head having been morphed into a disgusting protrusion of fungal growths. Since this means they no longer have eyes, they get their name from the way they hunt and find their prey: a form of echolocation, like bats, through the clicking sound they make. Clicker noises have become an iconic part of The Last of Us mythos.
In Season 1, a pair of Infected in the clicker stage hunt Joel, Ellie and the ill-fated Tess through an old museum in Boston, Massachusetts, where the trio must remain as silent as possible as they make their way through the building.
Stage 4: Bloaters & Shamblers (Years Post-Infection)
If an Infected lives long enough to last multiple years after the initial infection, they reach the most dangerous stage (as far as most people know) of Cordyceps infection: becoming a bloater or a shambler.
How dangerous are these massive beasts? They’re nearly impossible to wound or kill with most available weaponry, since the fungus engulfing their bodies has turned into an armored coating, and they’re monstrously strong. Their only weakness is that they’re a bit slower than earlier iterations — but only a little bit.
We saw this threat first-hand in the fifth episode of Season 1, where a bloater that escaped from a basement in Kansas City, Missouri attacked and basically annihilated an entire group of heavily armed soldiers from a revolutionary movement.
Shamblers are similar to bloaters. but these beasts spent most of their infection in wet environments, like a sewer. Shamblers can’t bite to spread their infection. Instead, they emit fungal spores.
We know airborne spores are supposed to make an appearance in Season 2, so it’s possible shamblers could make an appearance, too!
Stage 5: The Rat King
Bloaters typically represent the ultimate and final evolution of a Cordyceps infection, but there’s one more type of Infected in The Last of Us: the Rat King.
The Rat King has so far only appeared in The Last of Us: Part II, the sequel game to the original, but since Season 2 is based on that game, there’s a chance this behemoth might make an appearance in the show.
The creation of a Rat King is only possible under extremely specific circumstances: a large number of Infected must be trapped in a tight space for many years, allowing the fungus in their bodies to grow into each other, resulting in a horrifying amalgamation of all of the other types of Infected in The Last of Us lore.
These monsters can use all of the specialties of each of the other Infected — their strength, speed, spores, etc. — and it can split apart to release the Infected that it’s comprised of when attacking survivors.
Do ‘The Last of Us?’ Infected Ever Die?
Are there other forms of Infected out there, waiting to unleash their horrors on the remnants of humanity? Probably. But these are the only ones we’ve seen in the games or the show so far.
But do the Infected ever die on their own?
Yup. Eventually, an Infected that isn’t killed by survivors will die of old age, if that’s what you want to call it. But that doesn’t mean humanity is off the hook or can just wait out the infection: the Cordyceps in their bodies live on, simply spreading like a big blanket, covering their surroundings.
The only way to stop this spread is for the fungus to be exposed to sunlight for a long enough time.
How Realistic is ‘The Last of Us’ Infection?
We mentioned earlier that a global Cordyceps outbreak of the sort that ended civilization in The Last of Us is considered unlikely but not impossible. What would need to happen for this sort of catastrophe to come to pass?
First, the fungi would need to drastically evolve. Cordyceps generally can’t survive in the warmth of the human body (though climate change is the trigger in the show!) If this were to happen, it’s nearly impossible that the infection would be able to spread through bites. Spread through spores would be more plausible.
Even if a human did become infected with this fungus, it would probably look more like a normal fungal infection, causing fevers, coma and seizures rather than turning us into raging mushroom zombies.
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