Joel and Ellie’s apocalyptic journey arrived on HBO Max this weekend as the first episode of The Last of Us landed on the streaming service. The show adapts developer Naughty Dog’s legendary PlayStation video game series, with the nine-part Season 1 focusing on the first entry in the franchise.
The show premiered Sunday with episodes coming each week through March 12.
The release dates and times of The Last of Us
Here’s the full release schedule for The Last of Us on HBO Max, and we’ll update it if the company announces any changes or pauses. New episodes will arrive at 6:00 p.m. PT (9:00 p.m. ET), which you may remember as the timeslot occupied by House of the Dragon last year.
- Episode 1: Available now
- Episode 2: Sunday 22 January
- Episode 3: Sunday 29th January
- Episode 4: Sunday February 5th
- Episode 5: Sunday February 12th
- Episode 6: Sunday 19 February
- Episode 7: Sunday 26 February
- Episode 8: Sunday March 5th
- Episode 9: Sunday March 12th
Where is it available outside of the US?
The show is canceled globally at the same time, so times are for multiple regions:
- Canada, Crave on Sunday at 9 p.m
- UK & Ireland: Sky Atlantic and Now at 2am Monday
- Australia: Binge and Foxtel at 1pm AEDT Monday
- New Zealand: Neon Monday at 3pm
What is The Last of Us?
The games are set in a world where a chillingly believable fungal brain infection has turned most of the world’s population into violent cannibals. The games follow grumpy smuggler Joel and his cheerful teenage friend Ellie as they travel across the devastated United States.
Mysterious teenager Ellie (left) could change the fate of the world in The Last of Us.
HBO
who is in there
The series stars The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal as Joel and his former Game of Thrones co-star Bella Ramsey as Ellie. Parks and Recreation actor Nick Offerman, Fringe’s Anna Torv and Yellowjackets’ Melanie Lynskey also make an appearance.
It was written by Craig Mazin (creator of HBO’s Chernobyl) and Neil Druckmann (creative director of the game series) added this to give newcomers a solid foundation.
Is there a trailer
Yes, HBO gave us a few samples of the show. The latest trailer arrived in December.
how scary is it
It’s more thriller than horror, with lots of intense moments. The infected don’t appear often – Joel and Ellie deal with more human survivors than monsters – but they’re used to high impact when they do.
Do I have to have played the games?
No, the show retells the events of the first game (which came out in 2013) with some expanded storylines and background elements. However, The Last of Us and its 2020 sequel are among the most immersive games ever made. You should definitely dive in if the show intrigues you,
The original game is available for PS3, PS4 and PS5 (a PC version will be released on March 3), while the second is currently only available for PS4.
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