Why is Ellie immune in ‘The Last Of Us’?
13.03.2023 - 06:27
/ nme.com
The Last Of Us faithfully adapts the acclaimed video game into a prestige post-apocalyptic drama series.Created by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and the original game’s co-creator Neil Druckmann, the series follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) 20 years after modern civilisation has been ravaged by a deadly infection.The show also stars Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Merle Dandridge, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman.Unlike the game, the HBO series provides a clear answer to the reason behind Ellie’s immunity. In episode nine, Look For The Light, a flashback with Ellie’s mother Anna (Ashley Johnson) shows her giving birth to Ellie shortly after being bitten by the infected.When Marlene (Merle Dandridge) later finds Anna and notices the bite mark, Anna lies and states that she cut the umbilical cord before she was bitten.
As such, Marlene vows to take care of Ellie and shoots Anna before the Cordyceps infection takes over.Later, the cause for Ellie’s immunity is explicitly outlined in a conversation between Marlene and Joel. “Our doctor,” Marlene begins.
“He thinks that the Cordyceps in Ellie has grown with her since birth. It produces a kind of chemical messenger.
It makes normal Cordyceps think that she’s Cordyceps, it’s why she’s immune.“He’s going to remove it from her, multiply the cells in a lab, produce those chemical messengers, and then we can give it to everyone. He thinks it could be a cure.”In the game, Ellie’s immunity is only directly addressed on a surgeon’s recorder in St.
Mary’s Hospital. The recording deems the cause of her immunity to be “uncertain” but outlines the differences in her body’s reaction to the infection compared to previous infected cases.“The cause of her immunity is
.