The season premiere of a TV show is always important. It sets the stage for the rest of the season and determines if viewers will watch weekly, binge it later, or not tune in. Like most of HBO’s Sunday night shows, season 2 of The Last of Us premiered and showed that this is a must-see weekly watch.
It doesn’t matter if it’s the mystery animosity between Joel and Ellie, the new species of infected (the stalker), or new characters like Gail and Dina, there’s a reason to watch. That’s on top of Abby and her crew being the lone survivors of Joel’s attack during the season 1 finale. The end of the premiere shows they’re close to the Jackson, Wyoming compound and armed with firepower to get revenge.
That would be enough drama, but we haven’t discussed the cordyceps in length. The workers uncovered a pipe but didn’t know it held a dangerous secret. The cordyceps’ communication system via fungi was inside and knows there are people to attack, eat, and infect. That long line probably connects to dozens of infected people in the area. According to The Last of Us Season 2: Weeks Ahead Trailer, they invade the Jackson compound.
The Last of Us season 2 episode 2 release time on HBO and Max
The second episode of The Last of Us season 2 premieres on HBO Max on Sunday, April 20, at 9:00 p.m. ET, 6:00 p.m. PT, 7:00 p.m. CT, and 8:00 p.m. MT. It will air on HBO and be available to stream on the Max streaming service at the same time. It will also be available to stream in other areas outside of the US that have the Max platform, while other TV channels air it exclusively in particular countries.
Here are the release dates and times for The Last of Us season 2 episode 2, both in areas with Max as an available streaming option and in areas outside of the US where the show airs on a specific TV channel or service.
- Hawaii: 3:00 p.m. HST on Sunday, April 20
- Alaska: 5:00 p.m. AKDT on Sunday, April 20
- West Coast of the US: 6:00 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 20
- Mountain time: 7:00 p.m. MT on Sunday, April 20
- Midwest of the US: 8:00 p.m. CT on Sunday, April 20
- East Coast of the US: 9:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 20
- Canada (Crave): 9:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 20
- Brazil: 10:00 p.m. BRT on Sunday, April 20
- Portugal and Western Europe: 2:00 a.m. WEST on Monday, April 21
- UK (Sky Atlantic): 2:00 a.m. GMT on Saturday, April 21
- Spain and Central Europe: 3:00 a.m. CET on Monday, April 21
- Bulgaria and Eastern Europe: 4:00 a.m. EEST on Monday, April 21
- India: 6:30 a.m. IST on Monday, April 21
- New Zealand (Neon): 1:00 p.m. NZST on Monday, April 21
What to expect from The Last of Us' next episode
The cordyceps are coming to the Jackson compound and it will likely be the biggest fight viewers have seen in HBO’s The Last of Us thus far. The fact that we’re getting an actual battle with a bloater without it demolishing everyone says we'll see some creative fighting and brutal deaths. Maybe the creative team will debut a new kind of infected person just for this episode. Who knows!
Ellie and Dina will also likely talk about the kiss. Before it happened, Dina said she was high, but there’s more to it than that. At some point in the episode, Ellie will probably confront her about it. Hopefully, fans will get the scene from the game where Jesse acts upset about it because he and Dina dated. Realistically, he's teasing Ellie. It’s a cute big brother kind of moment.
Lastly, viewers will find out if this is the episode fans of The Last of Us Part II have been dreading. Abby, Owen, Mel, Manny, Nora, and the rest of the remaining Fireflies are almost at the Jackson compound and right on time for the Cordyceps invasion. How this affects their plans remains to be seen. The show has changed a lot from the source material in one episode. There’s no way the same thing won’t happen in episode 2 and beyond.
Stay tuned to Bam Smack Pow and their social media pages on Bluesky, Instagram, and Twitter for more news, opinions, and rumors about The Last of Us season 2 as they come out.