‘The Last of Us’ Episode 5 Will Debut Early

The Last of Us has hooked viewers with it tale of humanity’s ragged survivors battling the fungus-infected undead, and each other. And if you are one of those viewers that finds yourself counting down the days until the next Sunday night when the new episode premieres, well, this week you won’t have to wait quite so long. That’s provided you’ve got an HBO Max subscription.

That’s because Episode 5 of The Last of Us will premiere early on HBO Max. Instead of the usual Sunday night premiere, Episode 5 debuts on Friday, February 10 at 9PM ET (and 6 PM PT). If you watch The Last of Us on linear HBO, you’ll have to wait to the usual time of Sunday, February 12 at 9PM ET. After this, one week — which just so happens to be Super Bowl Sunday, when pretty much the entire country will be watching football and commercials and not zombie hordes — the show will return to its regular schedule.

Next week’s episode looks to be a good one too, with Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) stranded in Kansas City after their truck gets wrecked by revolutionaries who have overthrown the local government. And these blokes who are now in charge, led by the brutal Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey), might be even worse than the brutal FEDRA regime that they toppled. Here’s the preview of what’s in store next week:

And if you’re fresh off watching Episode 4, here’s the “Inside the Episode” that reveals some of the thinking behind the changes to the story from the game — including the addition of Lynskey’s Kathleen character.

There are only nine episodes in Season 1 of The Last of Us. (Season 2 has already been ordered.) Which means after next Friday (at least on HBO Max), the show will already be more than halfway done.

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