Just two days after HBO renewed The Last of Us for a second season, the beloved video game adaptation continues its first season with the third episode.
The new episode – titled Long Long Time – introduces two new characters, Bill, played by Nick Offerman, and Frank, played by Murray Bartlett.
The episode also continues the journey west of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), following a touching sacrifice in last week’s episode.
Sequel: Just two days after HBO renewed The Last of Us for a second season, the beloved video game adaptation continues its first season with the third episode
Frank: The new episode – titled Long Long Time – features two new characters, Bill, played by Nick Offerman, and Frank, played by Murray Bartlett (above)
The episode begins with Joel reaching his hand into a stream and piling a number of boulders on top of each other, with a title card revealing that he is 10 miles west of Boston.
He returns to the campsite with Ellie leaning against a tree, asking if he wants his jacket back but he says no.
He throws food at Ellie as she says she’s never been in the woods before and there were “more bugs than I thought”.
“I thought about what happened. You needed a truck battery and you made a choice, so don’t blame me for something that’s not my fault,” Ellie says, seemingly referring to the death of Tess (Anna Torv).
He tells her it’s a five hour hike and Ellie says, “We can handle that” as they take off through the woods.
Joel was tasked with taking Ellie to a safe house in the first episode, along with her companion Tess (Anna Torv), though no one waited as promised.
They finally made it through Boston’s Quarantine Zone in the second episode, though it was revealed that Tess had been bitten along the way and became infected.
She decided to sacrifice herself, setting the museum on fire, giving Joel and Ellie enough time to get out alive.
Joel: Joel was tasked with taking Ellie to a safe house in the first episode, along with his partner Tess (Anna Torv), although no one was waiting as promised
Joel and Ellie: She decided to sacrifice herself, setting the museum on fire, giving Joel and Ellie enough time to get out alive
The trailer for Sunday’s third episode features Frank, who has a whole security system in place…including a trap he caught Frank with.
It seems that Frank has known Joel for a while, as they are seen talking on his property with Joel telling Frank that he will eventually have “raiders” trying to rob him.
The trailer also shows Ellie trying to find out more about the fungus, bringing her switchblade knife to an infected human.
Trap: The trailer for Sunday’s third episode features Frank, who has set up a whole security system…including a trap with which he caught Frank
Joel and Bill: It looks like Frank has known Joel for a while, as they are seen talking on his property with Joel telling Frank that he will eventually have ‘thieves’ trying to rob him
HBO announced last week – during the renewal of The Last of Us – that the first episode of the series had surpassed 22 million viewers via on-demand formats, five times the viewership of linear broadcast.
Episode 2 of The Last of Us garnered 5.7 million viewers on HBO Max and linear TV shows in the US Sunday night, based on Nielsen and first-party data, adding more than 1 million new viewers compared to the series premiere.
The 22% jump marks the strongest second-week viewership growth for any HBO original drama series in network history.
Renewed: HBO announced last week – during The Last of Us renewal – that the series’ first episode had surpassed 22 million viewers via on-demand formats, five times the viewership of linear broadcast
The Last of Us was also a hit on social media, with the series being #1 in the US and globally on Twitter when it debuted in series.
To date, teasers and trailers for the first season have amassed over 100 million views worldwide.
Additionally, the first episode of the series’ companion podcast reached No. 1 on the Apple Podcast US charts across all genres within 48 hours of its release.
Social: The Last of Us was also a hit on social media, with the series being #1 in the US and globally on Twitter when it debuted in series.
