Episodes runtime of The Last of Us Season 2

HBO’s highly anticipated second season of The Last of Us will premiere in about 2 weeks from now, and we’re here to bring you some details about the runtime for each episode!

Unlike season one, which had nine episodes of varied runtime, Season 2 will be much shorter in comparison, with only seven episodes.

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Breaking down The Last of Us Season 2 episode lengths

Season two of The Last of Us will follow the events from The Last of Us Part II video game, though the showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have established that the adaptation will not be a precise replication of the game’s storyline.

In its place, some features will be stretched out, while others may be trimmed down to enhance storylines fit for television.

As for the episode runtimes, each episode will have the following runtime as per The Last of Us News on X:

Episode 1 will air for 59 minutes (April 13)

Episode 2 will air for 56 minutes (April 20)

Episode 3 will air for 56 minutes (April 27)

Episode 4 will air for 53 minutes (May 4)

Episode 5 will air for 45 minutes (May 11)

Episode 6 will air for 60 minutes (May 18)

Episode 7 will air for 50 minutes (May 25)

The first episode, titled Future Days, is set to run for 59 minutes and is likely to introduce viewers to a noteworthy time jump from the events that took place in Season 1 of The Last of Us.

The episode's title is a reference to a Pearl Jam song from 2013, which fans who play the video game will recognize. Joel plays the song for Ellie in a moving moment from The Last of Us Part II (game). With lyrics that intensely echo with the show’s ideas of love, loss, and existence, the song’s presence alludes to the emotional heaviness Season 2 is expected to carry.

How Season 2’s story will be structured

The two showrunners of the show - Mazin and Druckmann have been clear that Season 2 will be only the start of The Last of Us Part II’s adaptation. In an interview with Deadline, Mazin says:

“The story material that we got from Part II of the game is way more than the story material that was in the first game, so part of what we had to do from the start was figure out how to tell that story across seasons.”

He further explained that after drawing a map around it, they found out that;

“…the natural breakpoint felt like it came after seven episodes.”

Season 2 is also set to bring in new key characters, like Abby, played by Kaitlyn Dever, whose role in the narrative will prove out to be quite pivotal.

As Mazin noted, Season 2 of The Last of Us will be taking on some creative liberties while attempting to stay as true to the original source material of the game while blending in the events of Season 1.

“It won’t be exactly like the game. Sometimes it will be different radically, and sometimes it will be [barely] different at all. But it’s going to be different and it will be its own thing.”

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With only seven episodes, The Last of Us Season 2 is a more shortened experience in comparison to season 1, but the runtime proves that each of the seven episodes will still have sufficient space to tell its story.

As the April 2025 release for season 2 approaches, fans can anticipate an emotionally charged season that not only reworks key elements from the game but also explores new lengths in its way of storytelling. While this chapter may be shorter than the previous one, it’s clear that The Last of Us is just getting started.