Episode Five Of THE LAST OF US To Premiere Early On HBO Max

Episode five of the HBO Original drama series THE LAST OF US will premiere early on HBO Max and HBO On Demand beginning FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10 at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT in advance of its HBO linear premiere on Sunday, February 12 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

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.

THE LAST OF US takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal and heartbreaking journey as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.

The cast features Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, 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. Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker also star.

With a 97% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, THE LAST OF US has been declared "HBO's next big hit" by Rolling Stone, with Variety noting, "one sees the near future in which the show winds up among television's best."

IndieWire declared the new series "better than every video game adaptation that comes to mind," with IGN hailing it as "a brilliant retelling of one of video games' most beloved stories" and adding that it "delivers an enriching show for fans of the PlayStation hit, while also managing to stay welcomingly thrilling to newcomers." CNN called the storytelling "absolutely fearless and unflinching, creating horrifying scenarios and moments that can be alternately touching and utterly tragic."

THE LAST OF US, based on the critically acclaimed video game of the same name developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation® platforms, is written and executive produced by co-creators Craig Mazin (Emmy® Award-winning creator of HBO's "Chernobyl") and Neil Druckmann (creator and writer of the award-winning "The Last of Us" franchise and Naughty Dog Co-President).

The series is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television and is executive produced by Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Rose Lam. Production companies: PlayStation Productions, Word Games, The Mighty Mint, and Naughty Dog.