The Last Of Us series runtime confirms multiple feature-length episodes

The technical term for "pins and needles" or feeling your limbs "fall asleep" is paraesthesia. I'm telling you this for the moment when you shift your sitting position while locked into the enormous runtimes of the episodes of The Last of Us, which rival those of feature films.

HBO's The Last of Us, which will air in less than a week's time, must meet fans' lofty expectations. Fortunately, it looks like the television network is happy to throw a hefty amount of cheddar at the adaptation, with a report asserting that its budget exceeded that of the first few seasons of Game of Thrones. However, the more, the not necessarily the better, evidenced by Paramount's Halo and Amazon's The Rings of Power.

"I don’t have any interest in a spinning-plates-go-on-forever show. When it becomes a perpetual motion machine, it just can’t help but get kind of... stupid. Endings mean everything to me," explained showrunner Craig Mazin in an interview. Ergo, we might imagine that the show is aiming to adapt the two Parts of the series faithfully and then throw in the towel.

Check out the trailer here!

Last year, we'd been notified that the first episode would be 85 minutes long. Some might say that's... too long. That being said, there's a lot to cover to introduce the central characters, their motivations and the situation that they find themselves in. The reviews for the show have been nothing short of luminous, but I'd argue it'd be tough to replicate that sucker-punch to the gut when "20 YEARS LATER" popped up on the screen.

According to HBO’s schedule, The Last of Us has an 80-minute third episode.

Episode 1 is 85 minutes, airs 1/15
Episode 2 is 55 minutes, airs 1/22
Episode 3 is 80 minutes, airs 1/29 pic.twitter.com/O6rR7NOGm8

— The Last of Us News (@TheLastofUsNews) January 9, 2023

As per HBO's schedule, scooped by Reddit user SomeKrazyGuyUKno_v2, it seems that the show's modus operandi is to strap you in for the long haul. The second episode is a sensible 55 minutes, the third episode is another epic 80 minutes, and the fourth episode dials it back down to 50 minutes. A curious approach to the storytelling structure, arguably. Well, it's not long to wait to step into the world of Ellie and Joel, so draw up a tier list of snacks and beverages now.