The Last of Us gets new Google easter egg

HBO's The Last of Us is often deemed a masterpiece with just two episodes. Not only are viewers enjoying the show, but Google, too, has hopped onto the trend.

The Last of Us is based on the 2013 video game of the same name developed by Naughty Dog. Pedro Pascal stars as Joel, a middle-aged man haunted by a gruesome past. His task is to smuggle a 14-year-old girl named Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, across the United States. They are also accompanied by a woman named Tess, who is a close friend of Joel's.

Ellie is resistant to the cordyceps infection that is wiped off the Earth and may hold the secret to developing the vaccine needed to revive it.

Take a look at how Google paid tribute to the hit show.

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The Last of Us Google easter egg sets the internet on fire

Google is often known to put out cool-looking easter eggs related to pop culture and entertainment once in a while, and this time they did it for the new HBO series. If you search "The Last of Us" on Google, you will be greeted with a charming surprise.

When you type "The Last of Us" on Google, a red mushroom appears at the bottom of the screen. The mushroom begins infecting your phone's screen when you tap on it. The mushroom is a fungus that spreads cordyceps infection. The more you tap on it, the more infected your cellphone screen gets.

When you max out, you will see your entire screen filled with the infection, precisely like what we see in the HBO show and Naughty Dog video games. Cordyceps is a parasitic fungal infection in The Last of Us universe that has caused the end of humankind.

Jerry Anderson, a character from the video game, describes Cordyceps as,

"The antigenic titers of the patient's Cordyceps remain high in both the serum and the cerebrospinal fluid. Blood cultures taken from the patient rapidly grow Cordyceps in fungal-media in the lab."

Google has often put out interesting easter eggs like Atari Breakout, Zerg Rush, Pacman, Google 1998, Do a Barrel Roll, etc. The 2023 show has seen some fantastic marketing techniques in the past few days. Let's wait and see what's next in store from the hit HBO show.

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What is The Last of Us about?

The HBO show starts in 2003, when a terrible fungal infection caused a global pandemic, marking humanity's doom. Twenty years later, only a handful survive when Joel, a goon living in the Boston quarantine zone, meets a 14-year-old Ellie. The child is immune to infection and is the only hope to revive humankind from the claws of a mass fungal infection called 'Cordyceps,' which makes humans animal-like.

Here is the official synopsis of the show:

"Based on the critically acclaimed video game The Last of Us, developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation platforms, the story takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival."

It was created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, with Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Rose Lam serving as its executive producers.