The Last of Us HBO Series Opening Was Originally Much More Boring

The opening to The Last of Us HBO series was almost a lot more boring. Since most people who haven’t played the game aren’t intimately familiar with how the cordyceps fungus works, the show needed a way to spell that out quickly. It was decided to do that as an aside at the very beginning of the series, but the best way to do it was up in the air until nearly the end of filming.

The Last of Us HBO opening was originally more Planet Earth than Dick Clark

During the first episode of HBO’s The Last of Us podcast, co-showrunner Craig Mazin said the opening for the show was going to be a straightforward explanation of cordyceps works via a nature video. Obviously, while informative, that’s not exactly the most exciting start to the show. Mazin thought the same and had the idea for a talk show segment early on. However, fellow showrunner Neil Druckmann took a while to get on board with it:

I had written this thing early as if I had found a transcript of an old Dick Cavett from 1969. I remember showing it to Neil, and he was like, ‘This is a little weird.’

It wasn’t until around 3-4 weeks before wrapping that he and Druckmann saw eye-to-eye about the opening:

We’re about 3-4 weeks away from wrapping, and I am not thrilled with this opening. I sent it to Neil again, and this time, he was like, ‘Ooh!’

Fortunately, the talk show ended up being a great vehicle to explain the danger of cordyceps to those unfamiliar with The Last of Us without tonally clashing with the rest of the episode. It seemed like it paid off, because it’s receiving rave reviews from fans and critics alike.