The Bloater on The Last of Us has become a “sex icon”

Chances are you’re unaware of Adam Basil. The stunt performer has been involved in numerous big projects throughout his career. He played the Beast in Beauty and the Beast; Venom in Venom 2; and had several roles in Game of Thrones, from a White Walker to doubling for the Clegane brothers. Most recently, he played the disgusting, mega-fungal Bloater in The Last of Us.

With the arrival of the Bloater in Episode 5, “Endure and Survive,” we’ve now seen every variation of Infected in The Last of Us world: Runners, Stalkers, Clickers and Bloaters. There is also the Rat King, but he doesn’t show up until the second game.

The Bloater makes a big entrance. Just as Kathleen has Joel, Ellie, Henry and Sam cornered in a cul-de-sac, he bursts out of the ground — along with countless other Infected — and kills everyone in sight. It’s pretty brutal.

While Adam Basil expected a powerful response to his episode, he did not expect the monster to become a meme. He’s even received wedding invites and love messages on Instagram.

“He seems to be a bit of a sex icon,” Basil told Entertainment Weekly. “He’s captured a lot of people’s imaginations. Someone asked me if I’d come to their wedding. I’ve had people sending me love messages. He really brought out something in people that I don’t think even they knew they had. He’s the big daddy mushroom, I think there’s been a [meme].”

Each to their own, I guess. It’s possible this photo of Basil out of costume has something to do with it:

The prosthetics on The Last of Us are insane! 

Most of the horrifying details of the Bloater were added in post-production under the watch of VFX supervisors Alex Wang and Simon Jung. But the foundation was laid on set in Canada. “They’re so realistic. They dress me in goo and blood,” Basil said. “The Bloater has hair sticking up and he’s got fragmented teeth.”

Take a look at him getting suited up into the Bloater costume:

Even Basil’s co-stars couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing. “Everything about him is very believable close up,” Basil said. “When you first walk on set, people will look around and they take a double look. Like, ‘S—! What’s that?'”

Despite being bogged down by such a large costume, he still had to do a lot of running. “He moves fast,” Basil said. “It’s not like he’s completely cumbersome. When he goes, he goes really fast. He wants to get to those people there, and he’s going to smash through anyone to get there.”

This isn’t the only time we’ll see a Bloater. There’s plenty of them out there! The Last of Us continues Sundays on HBO.

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