Scientist explains if The Last of Us could actually happen in real life

Fans have absolutely adored HBO's adaptation of the popular video game The Last of Us, taking what gamers loved about the post-apocalyptic story and doing it justice on the TV show.

While we only got nine episodes and fans are desperate for more, good news on that front by the way as a second season is going to be happening, people are wondering if we could one day be living The Last of Us for real.

The show opened with a chilling scene explaining just how the cordyceps fungus, which turns people into the infected horrors we see in the show, could develop.

In a scene set years before the events of the show, Dr Neuman (John Hannah) warns that fungus exists which can control the creatures it infects, and that if the Earth's temperature got a little warmer, this same thing could manage to overtake humans too.

But could this actually happen in real life?

HBO

That's something scientists have been looking into and Matt Kasson, Associate Professor of Mycology at West Virginia University, has said it already exists in some form.

He told Inside Edition that The Last of Us was already a reality 'in the insect world', noting that 'ants have a fungus that does this' and that cicadas also fell prey to fungus too.

This was mentioned in that opening scene of The Last of Us, with Dr Neuman explaining that the idea that a fungus could take over a living thing was already happening.

So, could such a thing actually shift from tormenting insects and to hijacking humans, ushering us into a post-apocalypse on the scale of The Last of Us which upends our entire way of life?

William Mullins / Alamy Stock Photo

Luckily for almost everyone, except perhaps the likes of apocalypse preppers like Bill (Nick Offerman) and the mega-rich who can afford to survive the end of the world, the answer is 'probably not'.

Professor Kasson said that, on a scale of one to 10 over how worried we should be about The Last of Us becoming a reality, our level of worried would be 'around one or two'.

He's not saying there's no chance of it happening, but the idea that we're all going to become infected and end up as terrifying 'clickers' seems pretty unlikely.

Speaking of the clickers, The Last of Us bosses have said we'll see plenty more in the second season of the show.

Topics: The Last of Us, Film and TV, Science

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker