The Last of Us Getting Extremely Long Premiere Episode on HBO

When The Last of Us debuts on HBO next month, the prestige series is sure to make its presence felt right off the bat. Amid a series of rumors, the HBO Latino programming schedule has confirmed the Pedro Pascal-starring series will debut with an 85-minute premiere. Clocking in at an hour and 25 minutes, that means fans of the video game adaptation will receive a premiere roughly equivalent to a feature film.

In total, the series is set to run for a total of nine episodes over the duration of its first season. The exact scope of the series has yet to be determined, though it’s said to cover the story from the first game while also borrowing pieces from the sequel as well.

Craig Mazin, the Emmy-winning creator of HBO’s Chernobyl, produced the series alongside Neil Druckmann, the creator behind the hit video game series. In an interview earlier this year, the writer said The Last of Us is the “greatest” video game story ever told. “It’s an open-and-shut case: this is the greatest story that has ever been told in video games,” Mazin said in an interview with Empire Magazine. “[Joel and Ellie] didn’t shoot anything out of their eyeballs. They were just people. And that, in and of itself, is remarkably rare in games. The fact that they kept it so grounded, and really made you feel – I had never experienced anything like it, and I’ve been playing video games since 1977.”

Joining Pascal (Joel) and Bella Ramsey (Ellie) include Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Storm Reid as Riley, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, and Elaine Miles as Florence. Original game stars Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, having played the part of Ellie and Joel in both video games, are also set to appear.

The Last of Us is set to arrive next month across HBO and HBO Max on January 15th. The show’s first season is set to last nine episodes in total with new episodes rolling out on a weekly basis.