When do new episodes of 'The Last of Us' come out? (2025)

The Last of Us has finally made its debut on HBO to huge critical acclaim, giving the first taste of what's to come in the post-apocalyptic show.

Starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel Miller and Ellie Williams, the show follows the pair and their journey across the dangerous landscape of the U.S., which is crawling with the 'Infected,' in the hope of saving humanity.

Now that the show has debuted, viewers are likely wondering how many episodes the first season will have and when new ones will be released.

Here is everything you need to know.

When Do New Episodes of 'The Last of Us' Come Out?

The Last of Us airs on HBO and HBO Max in the U.S. and on Sky in the U.K., with episodes premiering on Sundays on the former and Mondays on the latter.

Any new episodes will premiere on HBO at 9 p.m. ET/PT, and this is when viewers should expect to see the next chapter in Joel and Ellie's journey. There will also be nine episodes in total in Season 1.

The show's first episode charted the beginning of the Cordyceps Infection taking over the world in 2003. Outbreak Day, as it is known, is an iconic moment in the game and was recreated with stunning accuracy in the premiere episode.

Joel, his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) and his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) are caught up in the chaos, all of which culminates in tragedy.

Twenty years then pass and the show finds Joel as he is tasked with helping take Ellie to a facility run by the rebel group the Fireflies: the only problem is they will have to try and survive a world that is no longer hospitable to humans.

The Cordyceps Infection has put down deep roots in the two decades since the outbreak, with the fungus taking control of its hosts and turning them into mindless monsters known as Runners, Clickers and Bloaters. Each are more dangerous than the last, and Joel and Ellie will need to keep their wits about them to survive the long journey ahead.

Craig Mazin, who co-created the HBO show with Neil Druckmann, has confirmed that the drama will adapt the entirety of the first The Last of Us game as well as the Downloadable Content titled Left Behind, which focuses on Ellie's past.

In an interview with Gizmodo, Druckmann said: "The first season is the events of the first game—and you can tell, if you have played the game, from watching the marketing materials that we're also covering the events of the Left Behind

"I think that the amount of story that remains that we have not covered would be more than a season of television. So assuming we can keep going forward, the idea would be to do more than just one more season. But this isn't the kind of show that is going to be seven seasons."

Druckmann, who is also the creator of The Last of Us game, writer and an executive producer on the HBO show, told Newsweek what it was like to work closely with Mazin to bring the story to life.

He said: "The most important decision from my side of things has been to find the right partner and I could not have found someone better than Craig, and I'm not just saying that because he's sitting right here I'm saying it because of what that process looked like.

"Our first conversation [was] dissecting the game story into its individual elements and really deciding what is important, what isn't, and what are the goals that we're heading to?"

What Druckman appreciated most was the way Mazin was unafraid to keep things from the game that worked but also suggest changes that would further add to Joel and Ellie's story.

"Craig [had] the confidence to say 'some stuff works wonderfully in the game and there's no reason to change it, like I don't even need to put my stamp on it that just works, why mess with it?'" Druckmann went on.

"Other things that we had in a conversation was, 'okay, this works really well in this interactive medium but it's not going to work well over here in a more passive thing so let's focus on the drama instead of the action.'

"Let's really allow ourselves to sometimes go on these tangents away from Joel and Ellie, to focus on these other relationships, these other characters, show what they're struggling with and, in return, what we get is a greater understanding of who they are and how they affect Joel and Ellie, which enriches their journey ultimately.

"That was a really fun process of trying to figure out what stays and what changes, and then, when it does change, like 'okay, what does it look like and how do we iterate on it to get to make the best version of this story in this medium?'"

The Last of Us airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream HBO Max.