An ominous new poster for ‘The Last of Us’ reveals when we can finally enter HBO’s apocalyptic world

After keeping fans waiting for months, HBO has officially announced the release date of The Last of Us — though eagle-yed netizens had already made the discovery — alongside a new poster for the series. 

You can see the poster for the upcoming adaptation of PlayStation’s acclaimed franchise above. The official Twitter account for the series shared the poster along with the accompanying tweet, “To the edge of the universe and back. #TheLastOfUs premieres January 15 on @HBOMax.” Therefore the release date has been confirmed as Jan. 15, 2023, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, after it leaked because HBO Max included the date in promotional material for the series earlier this week. 

The first trailer for The Last of Us was released in September of this year, giving us a look at Pedro Pascal’s Joel, and Bella Ramsey’s Ellie, along with a glimpse at the clickers. The clickers roam a post-apocalyptic America after a fungus spread around the country and turned people into mindless husks of their former selves. The series will adapt some of the events from the first game, as we see Joel protect Ellie as he tries to make good on his promise to get her to her destination. 

In addition to the new poster and the release date, HBO has also announced that the first season of The Last of Us will run for nine episodes. A few cast members from the original game will be returning to lend their acting talents to the series, however, most of them will not be playing their original roles. The cast includes Gabriel Luna as Joel’s brother Tommy, Merle Dandridge reprising her role as Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies, Nick Offerman as Bill, Anna Torv as Tess, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Storm Reid as Riley, Jeffery Pierce as Perry and Nico Parker as Sarah, Joel’s daughter.

Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, who played Ellie and Joel in The Last of Us: Part 1 and The Last of Us: Part 2, will also be in the series, although who they will be playing has not been announced yet. Speaking of people who worked on the game, Neil Druckmann, the creative director on both games, is the co-creator of the series along with Craig Mazin, the writer of the acclaimed limited series, Chernobyl.

If you want to play the game before the series releases, Naughty Dog recently remade the first The Last of Us, so The Last of Us: Part 1 is available now on PlayStation 5. Or you can wait to experience The Last of Us until the show premieres on HBO Max, on Jan. 15, 2023.