The Last of Us is already proving to be a fungi-laden hit for HBO, so to the surprise of no one, the network has announced that the series will return for a second season. To celebrate, it’s also putting the debut episode of the series online for free — for those of you that need as much Pedro Pascal and apocalyptic dread as possible this weekend.
“I’m humbled, honoured, and frankly overwhelmed that so many people have tuned in and connected with our retelling of Joel and Ellie’s journey. The collaboration with Craig Mazin, our incredible cast and crew, and HBO exceeded my already high expectations,” series executive producer and co-director of the original Naughty Dog game, Neil Druckmann, said of the renewal in a press release. “Now we have the absolute pleasure of being able to do it again with season two! On behalf of everyone at Naughty Dog and PlayStation, thank you!”
“I’m so grateful to Neil Druckmann and HBO for our partnership, and I’m even more grateful to the millions of people who have joined us on this journey,” fellow executive producer Craig Mazin added. “The audience has given us the chance to continue, and as a fan of the characters and world Neil and Naughty Dog created, I couldn’t be more ready to dive back in.”
While you wait for season two however, HBO has announced that the premiere episode of the series is now available to watch online for free. The good news for fans of Pedro Pascal is that for once this actually applies outside of the U.S. as well, at least in a limited capacity. As well as making the first episode available to watch for free through HBO Max, UK network Sky, HBO’s licensee in the country, has uploaded the episode to its own YouTube channel, for those geoblocked by access to Max. Unfortunately, you do have to be living in the UK to watch it, which is kind of apocalyptic enough already.
All roads lead to The Last of Us.
Watch the first episode of #TheLastofUs for free before a new episode streams Sunday night on @hbomax: https://t.co/XeXt6PAJ3f pic.twitter.com/jeA2wTcXoA
— HBO (@HBO) January 27, 2023
It’s a smart move, considering the buzz around the series, as well as the fact that the premiere is about as close to a 1:1 adaptation of the scenes it mirrors from the original game as we’ve gotten in Last of Us so far. Can’t crack jokes about just watching the cutscenes from the game instead if you can actually just watch the episode!
New episodes of The Last of Us air on HBO and HBO Max on Sundays — stay tuned to Gizmodo this weekend for our recap of the upcoming third episode.