The Last of Us fans have a lot to get excited about this coming month. We have a new DualSense controller, the release of The Last of Us Part II Remastered on PC, and The Last of Us season 2 on HBO. This new season already has a ton of hype from gamers and nongamers. A recent confirmation also indicated that this new season would include an escalation in the types of infected and how individuals could be infected.
If you recall, there was a big focus on spores in the air that can infect an individual in the first game and its successor—a lot of moments in the game also focused on players having to wear gas masks to get around. But, in the season debut of the series, there was a change-up. Instead of spores, a new tendril type of fungus spreads through individuals. It also acted as a connection to all infected nearby, similar to a hivemind.
But in the new official trailer, if you caught one scene, a moment highlighted spores. So, spores will return to the IP in this series and play a bigger role in the narrative. Thanks to IGN, who attended SXSW 2025, they confirmed from Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann that there’s a new selection of infected.
Season 1, we had this new thing that wasn’t in the game of these tendrils that spread, and that was one form. And then one shot you see in this trailer, there are things in the air. –Neil Druckmann
In particular, Neil noted that there will be an escalation in the numbers and types of infected. So we might see even more than just spores, but for now, that’s at least one means of infection being spread around the world. According to IGN, Druckmann noted that they had to figure out how to add spores to the show, and they came across a dramatic reason that will apparently work for how the story is being told in the series.
Again, we’ll have to wait for the upcoming season to debut on April 13, 2025, to learn more about how spores will be introduced. Meanwhile, we recently reported on how the actress who will be stepping into the role of Abby is already aware of the backlash Naughty Dog has received over the character from The Last of Us Part II. You can read more about that right here.