Ever since it was announced The Last of Us would receive a television adaptation on HBO, fans have wondered how much of the game’s story could fit into a single season. Past comments made by creator Neil Druckmann and showrunner Craig Mazin have indicated the show will cover pretty much the entirety of the first video game in its initial nine-episode run, with elements from the second game included as well, and the marketing for the show thus far seemed to confirm this. With only nine episodes to pull the whole of The Last of Us off, it’s natural that anticipatory viewers wonder how long each first season installment will be.
An early schedule listing from HBO Latino has revealed the first episode will be a whopping 85 minutes in length. As discovered by YouTuber DomTheBomb, the January 15th premiere event is set to run almost feature-length, giving audiences a fair amount of time to become acquainted with the characters and world of The Last of Us.
HBO is known for producing series with large-scale episodes, with Game of Thrones famously averaging 72 minutes per episode in its final season. While it’s neither confirmed nor likely that every episode of the upcoming Naughty Dog adaptation will be an hour and a half long, The Last of Us following Game of Thrones‘ example means there should be plenty of space for Druckmann and Mazin to retell the tale of Joel and Ellie. The original video game takes about 15 hours to complete, and nine increments of 90 minutes would result in a 13-hour season. Not as far off as people might have expected.
The Last of Us premieres on HBO on January 15th.
