If you haven’t heard, HBO’s adaptation of the game “The Last of Us” is streaming in Kenya every week on Showmax. 

The hype surrounding the show has caused a 238%  increase in “The Last of Us Part 1” video game sales since the show’s release according to GameIndustry.biz and now the fervour has reached Google. 

The latest marketing for the show comes from an easter egg hidden within Google. To participate, all you have to do is open up Google and search for “The Last of Us HBO” or any phrase related to the show like “Cordyceps” and a red mushroom button should appear at the bottom of the screen. Click this as many times as you want, and watch as Cordyceps slowly overtake your search engine. 

 

What are Cordyceps?

If you’re not a fan of the game or show, the Cordyceps are a genus of ascomycete fungi that includes about 600 species. Most Cordyceps species are endoparasitoids, parasitic mainly on insects and other arthropods; a few are parasitic on other fungi. 

The show takes this scientific explanation of Cordyceps runs with it, jumping forward 40 years to when a mass cordyceps outbreak leads to a devastating pandemic which transforms people into blood-thirsty abominations.

The show follows Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, a hardened survivor hired to smuggle Ellie, Bella Ramsey, 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.

All two episodes are available to stream on Showmax.