The Bloater is, without a doubt, the most frightening and intimidating infected to appear in The Last of Us. Representing one of the latest stages of the Cordyceps infection, Bloaters are massive, nigh-unkillable monsters with a sole weakness: fire. The Bloater that appeared in Season 1 of HBO's The Last of Us TV adaptation was already terrifying, but the team at Weta FX ramped up the fear factor in Season 2.
Animation Supervisor Dennis Yoo and VFX Supervisor Nick Epstein talked to The Best War Games about the process of creating a brand-new Bloater for Season 2. "[Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin] wanted something slightly different," Epstein revealed. "Bigger, more powerful, more imposing." The result is a Bloater that is ten percent taller and bulkier than Season 1's take on the creature, serving as a horrifying centerpiece to the siege of Jackson before being ultimately defeated by a fire-wielding Tommy Miller.
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Season 2's Bloater Is Bigger, Stronger, And Scarier
When designing Season 2's Bloater, Epstein and Yoo began by referencing professional wrestlers to find the body type they wanted. "He had to look powerful without looking like a chiseled bodybuilder," Epstein explained. They then improved upon the Cordyceps armor that covers the creature's body, making the Bloater's movement feel more natural and adjusting hip armor plates that had made certain motions difficult in Season 1.
The Bloater also received a redesigned headpiece, based on a real-world fungus called Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus). Finally, the creature was scaled up approximately ten percent to let it really stand out among the horde of infected that menace Jackson in Season 2's second episode.
The Bloater Bursting Through Jackson's Wall Is An Iconic Moment
Yoo and Epstein revealed that one of the biggest challenges they encountered when designing the Bloater was the moment the enormous infected burst through the wall of logs surrounding the town of Jackson. They had to work closely with motion capture performer Ike Hamon to capture how the Bloater could realistically cause such destruction. Yoo described the process:
"It's not like a superhero, where he just busts through and things explode - "Ta da." It was more like he was punching through the wall. And then, we got comments on his performance from Craig [Mazin]. He's like, "No, that doesn't feel realistic. These are huge logs that he's busting through, and he's pushing and punching.""
Ultimately, Epstein and Yoo feel that they successfully rose to the challenge and that the moment when the Bloater bursts through Jackson's wall is an effectively horrifying one. Epstein admitted that, even though he knew what was coming, he was frightened by the moment, as he was able to put himself in the shoes of Tommy, who knows what a Bloater sounds like and immediately recognizes what is happening. "How can we make this even worse...there's a Bloater out there. You hear the sound, and then you see him."
The Bloater was not the only infected to have a memorable appearance in Season 2 of The Last of Us. A scene featuring agile Stalkers is described by Epstein as one of the season's most frightening, full of "good old-fashioned jump scares," while the massive horde of infected chasing Abby through the snow reminds viewers that even standard Clickers can be quite deadly, especially when hundreds of them are encountered at once. But the massive, looming, nearly impossible to defeat Bloater will almost certainly be the source of nightmares for several The Last of Us Season 2 viewers thanks to Weta's amazing work.
- Release Date
- January 15, 2023
- Network
- HBO
- Showrunner
- Craig Mazin
Cast
-
Pedro PascalJoel Miller -
Bella RamseyEllie Williams
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Craig Mazin, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Ali Abbasi, Mark Mylod, Stephen Williams, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, Nina Lopez-Corrado
- Writers
- Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin, Halley Wegryn Gross
- Franchise(s)
- The Last of Us
- Creator(s)
- Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
