Back whenThe WalkingDeadwas picking up steam on AMC, it was largely due to the popularity of the Zombies craze it jumpstarted. Serialized horror wasn’t a mainstream genre for television shows back in 2010, despiteThe Walking Deadlargely focusing on elements of drama. The zombie apocalypse fad thatThe Walking Deadstarted was tangentially responsible for assisting inThe Last of Us' major success as well, despite being wholly different in comparison.
However, a potentialThe Last of Us3would face a similar problem thatThe Walking Deadhas already seen. Assuming there is some kind of sequel or separate story in the same universe,The Last of Us Part 3will almost certainly reach a time where the infected have been around for almost half a century. Which begs the question of what aThe Last of Usworld looks like 50+ years after Outbreak Day? There could be a world where Ellie’s immunity doesn’t matter, or matters more than ever, if the infected eventually decay and die after all this time.
The Decaying of Infected in The Last of Us
For those who haven’t watchedThe Walking Dead, but are fans ofThe Last of Us, there’s an interesting phenomenon with the “walkers” inThe Walking DeadthatThe Last of Ushas yet to encounter.As the show ends in its impressive 11-season run on AMC, over time viewers begin to notice that a lot of the undead begin to decay and rot. While most undead inThe Last of Usare either running at full speed or mutated into something even more gargantuan and dangerous, there’s not many instances where Clickers or other Infected have decayed to the point of inability.
Most of the time, that kind of undead entity inThe Last of Ushas been depicted as overgrown Cordyceps ingrained into the wall. Occasionally those infected turn into jump scares in some of the cramped corners ofThe Last of Us' world, but they’ve never been likeThe Walking Dead’s walkers. The infected are always a threat inThe Last of Us, no matter how young or old they are, whereasdecayed/rotting walkers inThe Walking Deadare comparatively easierto dispatch. A similar amount of time has passed in both universes up to their latest points, but it does lead to a larger discussion of whatThe Last of Uswould be like if the infection was no longer as prevalent and dangerous.
A Post-Outbreak Society in The Last of Us 3
Granted, the first entry inThe Last of Usseries was largely about the threat of the infected, which makes sense as the zombie apocalypse game’s first outing. Joel and Ellie need to take a cross country trip and avoid plenty of infected along the way, even though there are several human threats along the way. Though now, in the wake ofThe Last of Us Part 2’s events taking placearound 25 years after Outbreak Day, there hasn’t been any physical sign of the infected becoming weaker or more frail as a result of decay/rot. The infected have always been a pervasive threat inThe Last of Us, but is there a world where eventually the infected are no longer as strong?
In terms of a potentialThe Last of Us 3, showing off more infected starting to die off due to rot or decay could be aninteresting internal conflict for Ellie if her story continues. All throughout her life, the Infected have posed a very visceral physical threat to her, but she’s never worried about the airborne Cordyceps infection. Is there a possible world where her immunity to the Cordyceps infection even matters if the infected do eventually rot and die on their own? Infection sites could be demolished or destroyed, and theoretically problem solved. Now imagine how Ellie would feel after knowing Joel lied to her, and then eventually discovering her immunity may not actually matter after all.
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An Alexandria-Like Society in The Last of Us
There’s no sign of that happening at the moment, but in a sequel likeThe Last of Us 3, the subject would likely need to incorporate the rebuilding of society in some way. There areseveral sub-narratives inThe Walking Deadall about attempting to rebuild modern society, like Alexandria. There was some hinting of this inThe Last of Us 2with the Jackson settlement, but since the narrative focus was largely on Joel, Ellie, and Dina, players didn’t ever learn a whole lot about how Jackson survives day-to-day when the Infected arrives.
The Last of Us, in both games, has already tackled with focusing the narrative away from the infected, but what does a future game in the franchise look like when the infected becomes less of a pervasive threat? It would be interesting to get some more insight on the survivors, what they’re doing to expand, survive, and thrivein a world where there’s less Cordyceps abominationsattacking the living constantly. How would that future affect Ellie, who’s spent most of her life fighting and escaping the infected despite being immune to Cordyceps itself? PerhapsThe Last of Us 3could shed light on that kind of story, even though a theoretical sequel would likely be years away.
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