The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin says we can expect to see some of the more “traumatizing” types of infected in season 2.
“I think we can say that we are dedicated to the idea that just as humanity is progressing and [Jackson] is getting bigger and they’re bringing people in the infected are also evolving,” Mazin tells GamesRadar+. “So we’re certainly going to see quite a few changes along the way to impress upon our characters. Oh, do you think you’ve figured it out, you think you’re good at handling the infected? The Rat King is something that anybody who has played The Last of Us Part 2 is traumatized by for so many reasons, count myself among them.”
Continues Mazin: “All I’ll say is I don’t understand how you could make a show called The Last of Us and not eventually get where it ought to go. When and how, we’ll keep that a mystery.”
In season 1 – spoiler alert from here on for both the first season and games – we didn’t see too many different types of infected – but we did Joel get attacked by a Bloater in episode 5 after it crawls out from a pit of other infected. If you aren’t familiar with the games, you might not know that there are several types of infected, including a Stalker, which hides and waits for the player, Shamblers, which ooze puss, and the aforementioned Rat King.
The Rat King is one of the bosses in TLOU Part 2, the game, and I definitely don’t recommend playing through that part at night. It’s Abby who fights the Rat King in the game, and it’ll be exciting to see if and when Kaitlyn Dever comes face-to-face with it at some point this season.
The Last of Us Season 2 hits HBO and Max on April 13. For more, check out our list of the best Max shows and the best Max movies to watch right now.