
Warning: spoilers ahead for The Last of Us episode 1.
The Last of Us, one of 2023’s most anticipated TV dramas, has finally premiered – and episode one does little to ease fans into the post-apocalyptic world in which it’s set.
The first instalment, based on the video game series of the same name, introduces viewers to lead characters Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who become a reluctant duo when they begin their journey across the United States while trying to avoid humans contaminated by a fungal, parasitic infection.
The premiere episode, which premiered on HBO in the United States and Sky in the United Kingdom, transports its audience to the day 20 years ago when the spread of the illness turned the Earth’s population on its head, before revealing how people today are continuing with their desperate urge to survive.
A heartbreaking death has some viewers in tears, while others have already praised the drama for its realistic depiction of the original plot.
A routine day turns into outbreak doom
The Last of Us begins with a flashback to 1968, when an epidemiologist warns on TV that if a fungal virus infiltrates the human population, humanity would ‘lose’.
While that appears like a far-fetched prospect according to the scientific experts, fast-forward to the year 2003 in the programme, and that’s exactly what happens.
Sarah (Nico Parker), Joel’s adolescent daughter, witnesses unusual occurrences during her day, such as a student whose hand twitches uncontrollably and a plethora of emergency cars on the road.
She goes to her elderly next-door neighbor’s house after taking her father’s watch to be repaired for his birthday present, but she doesn’t notice the old woman’s body jerking in an eerie manner behind her.
Later that evening, Sarah falls asleep while watching a movie with Joel, at which time he receives a phone call from his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) asking if he can be released on bond.
Sarah wakes up on her own in the middle of the night to the sound of different disturbances, including explosions outdoors.
The neighbour’s dog clawing at her door drives her to walk into their house to check, which is when she discovers the elderly woman – who’s now in an infected, zombified state – devouring her relatives.
The adolescent exits the house and is greeted in the street by Joel and Tommy, who are also armed and have rushed back to retrieve Sarah in the hopes of escaping.
Joel suffers devastating loss of daughter Sarah
Joel and Tommy have heard that a virus is creating the chaos they are experiencing, but knowledge is limited at the moment.

They try to leave their neighbourhood by car, but the highway is closed, the army is patrolling above, and the streets are being ran over by panicked residents and homicidal, infected humans.
When a passenger jet crashes into the road, their car flips over, forcing Joel to carry Sarah on foot after she gets an ankle injury as they flee from an infected guy who is chasing them at full speed.
A soldier shoots the sick man and then turns his pistol on the father and daughter after getting instructions to do so, despite Joel’s protests that they are not infected.
The soldier shoots and grazes Joel in his side, before being shot dead himself by Tommy.
However, Joel realises in a horrible, tear-jerking moment that Sarah has been shot in the stomach, and she dies in his arms when he tries to lift her up and promise her that she would be fine.
Flash-forward to 20 years later
The year is 2025, and we are still in the process of figuring out how to make the most of it.

He’s first seen doing his duty, which is to dump dead people onto a fire – including a toddler who recently went into the QZ on their own but was found to be contaminated when tested with a gadget.
The main guy is definitely a wealthy man, as he strikes a deal with an officer for further payment in exchange for drugs obtained through his smuggling talents.
He urgently wants a vehicle battery so he can drive away in pursuit of his missing brother Tommy, who has been missing for three weeks.
Joel is dating Tess (Anna Torv), his smuggling companion, who is initially seen in a beaten up state after being tricked when attempting to purchase the car battery that they require.
Ellie discovers she has a higher purpose
Ellie makes her initial appearance while locked up by the Fireflies, a rebel movement battling for liberation from the military forces who rule society, known as Fedra.

Ellie is made to count slowly from one to ten and extend out her arms on a regular basis, pretending to be Veronica, so that her captors can see if her mind and body are functioning normally.
The young girl meets with Marlene (Merle Dandridge), the head of the Fireflies, who confesses that she not only knows Ellie’s true name, but she was the one who placed her in Fedra military school when she was a baby, an orphanage.
Ellie, according to Marlene, cannot be sent home because she has a higher purpose – which has yet to be revealed to viewers – and the Fireflies have arranged for her to be relocated somewhere.
Joel reluctantly embarks on mission with Ellie and Tess
While the Fireflies intended to go off as a squad in their mission to transport Ellie to another place, that plan is derailed when several of their group are killed in a gunfight with the man from whom Tess attempted to purchase the vehicle battery.

Marlene, who has been injured, runs into Joel and Tess in their building and warns them that they must be the ones to transport Ellie out, in exchange for a fuelled car and weapons.
Joel and Tess successfully smuggle Ellie out of the quarantine zone, but they run across the same officer with whom Joel had been negotiating before and are unable to barter with him because they have broken the rules by leaving the quarantine zone without permission.
Joel is triggered by the sight of a gun levelled at his face because it reminds him of the time a soldier pointed a gun at him and his daughter Sarah, and he lashes out at the officer.
After the cop is knocked out, Tess notices that the device he used to see if they were infected lit up red when used on Ellie, implying that she carries the fungal infection.
Ellie, on the other hand, reveals a healed scar on her arm, confessing that it was from three weeks ago, despite the fact that people who have been infected normally don’t last more than a day before transforming.
Joel, Tess and Ellie continue their escape into the darkness, as views of the wrecked city are revealed ahead.
The Last of Us is available to watch on and NOW, with new episodes dropping on Mondays.