According @DomTheBombYT, the runtime for Episode 1 of HBO’s The Last of Us is 1 hour and 25 minutes. The listing also labels The Last of Us as “Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Action” with a TV-MA rating.
— DomTheBomb (@DomTheBombYT) December 26, 2022 Further listings claim that The Last of Us will have multiple hour-long episodes. Specifically, Episodes 3 (76 minutes), 5 (60 minutes), and 6 (60 minutes), will be at least one hour long aside from the first episode. In comparison, House of the Dragon, which concluded in late October, enjoyed a 66-minute premiere episode. However, the prequel to Game of Thrones didn’t get a single 70+-minute episode. Also, the “main” series, Game of Thrones, only breached the 70-minute mark in the later seasons. Obviously, the showrunners, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, are confident enough in their product that they’ve put in multiple 70+-minute episodes in the first season. Ultimately, a lengthy opening episode for HBO’s The Last of Us makes sense. If the show is faithful to the source material, the pre-outbreak life of Pedro Pascal’s Joel and his daughter, Nico Parker’s Sarah, will get some much-needed airtime. If nothing else, focusing on the relationship of the father and daughter should give audiences a better idea on why Joel is who he is, especially those who haven’t played the games yet. In total, the first season of HBO’s The Last of Us will be nearly 9 hours long. If compared to the 15 hours it takes to complete the original video game, the lengthy runtime of the show is only natural. Speaking of The Last of Us, Druckmann recently shed light on Naughty Dog’s next gaming project, which comes after rumors claimed that The Last of Us Part 3 is already in the works. Finally, if you’d like to experience the action of the original game yourself, The Last of Us Part 1 is coming to PCs on March 3.
