HBO really cares about the numbers for The Last of Us, apparently. In light of a certain football game that will likely dominate airwaves and streaming time on Sunday — during the same slot of time when The Last of Us usually gets released — the series’ fifth episode will instead premiere on streaming services on Friday, February 10, at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. It will also still run on the HBO channel on Sunday during its regular timeslot, but fans won’t be asked to choose between the apocalyptic horror drama and the buff men running around with a ball.
This is a one-time thing. According to the press release, “new episodes of the series will continue to air Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max, leading up to the season finale on March 12.”
Honestly, it’s kind of nice that HBO is willing to adjust its schedule to accommodate multi-fandom viewers. Going toe-to-toe with another show might be par for the course, but trying to go point for point (or viewer for viewer) against America’s biggest sporting event probably isn’t the best matchup. (Did I include enough sports metaphors in that sentence? Something something, dark horse, match point, spike it, penalty, you get it.)
The Last of Us stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, a man hired to escort a young girl, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the country. A love wolf and cub story in the mutant-fungi zombie wasteland, the show has been getting heaps of critical acclaim and looks to be adapting the source material — a PlayStation video game by Naughty Dog — with admirable veracity and considerate adjustments.