The Last of Us season 1 episode 5 arriving early due to Super Bowl
According to a report from TVLine, the upcoming installment of the post-apocalyptic thriller is going to debut on Friday, at least if you have HBO Max. The installment (which will feature more of Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, plus also more of video-game characters Sam and Henry) will be available on Friday, February 10 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time on the aforementioned streaming service, two days earlier than usual.
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So what is going on here? The timeslot shift for streaming viewers has a lot to do with the Super Bowl airing on Sunday. This is something that we have seen the premium-cable network do in the past for shows airing opposite the big game, so we can’t say that it is all that much of a surprise.
Ultimately, this airing is another reminder that the network isn’t even trying to set any sort of live-viewing records for this show. Instead, they just want to accumulate as many total eyeballs as possible and it really doesn’t matter when the episode is available when you think about things that way. This is already one of their most popular new series in decades — it has surpassed the early viewing of Game of Thrones season 1 (though it isn’t matching its later numbers yet), and the only freshman show to post stronger numbers since Boardwalk Empire is House of the Dragon, which of course had that massive built-in audience.
We know that viewers would’ve been more than fine to wait even longer for episode 5, but we’re not mad that we’re getting a chance to see it when we are.
Related – Want to get a few more details all about The Last of Us and what lies ahead?
What do you most want to see as we prepare for The Last of Us season 1 episode 5?
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