The Last Of Us fans still reeling from show's most gruesome death yet

It’s been a few days since The Last of Us’ fifth episode ‘Endure and Survive’ aired, but I’m still reeling from that Infected horde scene. I know showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann teased that there would be surprises for us video game fans, yet I wasn’t expecting that.

Fans are all in agreement that Lamar Johnson was incredible as Henry. ‘Why does The Last of Us introduce characters for me to get attached to only for them to die shortly afterwards?’ is a question I’ve been asking myself for a decade. I think we can also all agree that the child Clicker was nightmare inducing. Did you know that the Infected horde was created almost entirely with practical effects? That includes the Bloater. Speaking of the Bloater, there’s one gruesome death we need to address.

Excited for episode six? Check out the promo trailer for ‘Kin’ below.

Poor Perry. Brought to life by actor Jeffrey Pierce (who also portrays Tommy in Naughty Dog’s video game series), Perry was unfortunately torn in two by the powerful Bloater. Seeing his skull ripped in half is unpleasant, but it’s also a familiar sight to us game fans. Chances are, you’ve probably seen the death animation before during a Bloater encounter.

As reported by ComicBook, showrunner Mazin opened up about the scene on the latest episode of The Last of Us Podcast. “That was something where I was overly ambitious. So I had this thing where I wanted to pick Perry up a rip in half at the waist," he explained. "Neil [Druckmann] was like, 'Well, okay, I mean is that going to be realistic?' And I'm like, 'I think so.' And then like the more [Wētā FX] tried to do the more you realise that people don't rip along the waist. [Laughs] It's really hard to do."

He continued, “Ultimately Neil prevailed and was correct in suggesting that something that felt more grounded anatomically would be more effective and then, of course, we were like, 'Well, the Bloater has this head-rip that is iconic, it's great, and it's terrifying." Did anyone else recreate the Leo pointing meme when they spotted it? You’re not alone.