'The Last of Us' confirms fan theory of how zombie pandemic began

Warning: This post has spoilers from episode two of The Last of Us.

The new HBO Max series The Last of Us, which is based on a video game, has seemingly confirmed a popular fan theory of how the zombie pandemic began.

Similar to other zombie-inspired shows and films, the series takes place 20 years after modern civilization was demolished by a mind-altering fungal infection.

And in episode two of the series, fans speculated that the pandemic was a result of the fungus contaminating flour.

The episode showed the fungal infection that seemingly first struck a big flour mill in Jakarta, Indonesia.

But before this realization, people were reflecting on the first episode of the series, where the grain was hinted at being an issue.

Sign upto our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

In a flashback to the character Joel's (Pedro Pascal) story in 2003, he and his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker), on numerous occasions, had the opportunity to eat things with flour and wheat but avoided it.

One of those instances includes Joel and Sarah turning down biscuits that were given to an older lady, who becomes the first person in their neighbourhood to get the infection.

Another is Sarah not wanting to eat a neighbour's cookies because they contained raisins instead of chocolate chips.

So with this understanding, accompanied by the backstory on the Jakarta flour mill experiencing the contamination, fan theories were in abundance on social media, particularly TikTok.

Although episode two is more connected to what went down at the Jakarta flour mill, is relatively unknown in the US.

There is still no indication of how the outbreak made its way to the US. This goes right along with the characters' realities as the infection occurred too fast, blindsiding them.

Unfortunately, the way the outbreak started is irrelevant as humanity collapses in the blink of an eye. Now, having a survival mindset is the top priority.

Episode three of the series will be released on Sunday, 29 January.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.