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A terrifying creature called Bloater appeared in the latest episode of The Last of Us and tore the resistance army apart. He even brutally killed Perry and a couple more men in a violent ambush, which helped Joel, Ellie, Henry, and Sam escape.
Bloater was portrayed by a 6'6 U.K. stuntman named Adam Basil. Basil had previously worked in Game of Thrones.
Barrie Gower, the prosthetics designer on The Last of Us, worked with the stuntman in Game of Thrones and recommended him to Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. A complete cast of his body was then made to shape the monster.
Barrie Gower explains how the Bloater suit was made
Gower is a four-time Emmy winner and has been credited as the architect behind Vecna from Stranger Things, the Night King on Game of Thrones, and several other creatures.
Along with having a practical suit, some CGI was even used on the Bloater to give it a more natural look.
In an interaction with Variety, Gower explained how the suit was made to fit Basil's body. Bloater prosthetics were modeled after an exact replica of Basil's body that the prosthetics team had made. They used a foam latex and foam rubber mixture to cast it.
He said:
"That was all molded and cast in separate sections: top half, head, arms, legs. We had a team who fabricated all these parts together. We had a zipper up the back and around the waist that we could zip them together. He had all these pendulous folds of fungus which hid zippers and poppers."
For those oblivious, a Bloater is a monster that has been infected by cordyceps for a very long time. Once a healthy person comes into contact with the deadly fungus, they first become a Runner. They further evolve into Stalkers, Clickers, Shamblers, Bloaters, and ultimately, Rat King.
During the night scene where the Bloater annihilates the soldiers, the suit was covered in a slimy lubricant. Gower said the suit was squishy, slimy, and damp, and that the fungus on it was covered in a gel that made it shine. Gower said:
"It was like a texture that we were building up, so we were constantly going in and slathering them in this gloss, just so the shapes would pick up in the silhouettes. We were repeatedly going in and gelling him up more, covering him in this lube so he was nice and shiny.”
What is The Last of Us about?
The official synopsis of The Last of Us reads:
"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."
It continues:
"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."
The show was created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Rose Lam serve as executive producers.
The Last of Us, episode 6 will be released on Sunday, February 19, 2023, at 9 pm ET on HBO and HBO Max.
