Season 3 of the best “Star Trek” show in decades makes this unlikely combination work surprisingly well.
TV & Beyond on 2025-07-24 15:00:00
The many parallels between Kenfori and The Last of Us
Paramount+
The apocalyptic event of “The Last of Us” is a version of the parasitic Cordyceps fungus, which starts taking over the brains of the infected. The Cordyceps makes its victims behave much like traditional zombies and attack people in order to spread the infection before eventually mutating them into something far stranger. Years after the outbreak, nature has reclaimed most human settlements, and the few survivors left are struggling to get by either by themselves or in makeshift alliances. In HBO’s “The Last of Us” season 1, main characters Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) traverse this cruel but beautiful world on a mission that may or may not save humanity, struggling with the dark side of human nature on the way. Season 2 introduces another, very different duo mission, as well as a key element from Naughty Dog’s games: The surprisingly scientifically accurate fungus spores that allow the airborne spread of the infection.
It’s easy to see how “Shuttle to Kenfori” plays with similar themes. Here, Pike and M’Benga play the role of the contentious traveler duo exploring overgrown buildings and trying to survive moss-infected zombies. They even locate an apocalyptic log not unlike the ones players find in “The Last of Us” games. It reveals that Kenfori’s fate is effectively a sci-fi version of the Cordyceps infection: The Chimera agent, which transfers much like “The Last of Us” spores, went haywire and caused everyone on Kenfori to turn into moss-infested hybrid creatures. Combine all this with the story of revenge, violence, and hopelessness that unfolds on the planet, and it’s clear that “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” season 3, episode 2 just went full “The Last of Us” on its viewers … either by design or accident.