The Last of Us Episode 5, “Endure and Survive,” will be coming out two days early on Friday, February 10, 2023, ahead of its usual Sunday release on HBO Max.

That means the wait for answers will be shorter this time around, and the cliffhanger ending from Episode 4, “Please Hold My Hand,” will be resolved quite earlier than others would have expected. New episodes usually come out at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PST on Sunday, but this week's episode will come out on Friday, instead.

Episode 4 ended with Joel and Ellie stranded in Kansas City, taken hostage by a third-party element, whose identity has not yet been identified in the show. Clickers didn't feature prominently in Episode 4, as the tension was mostly between Joel, Ellie, and other humans in The Last of Us.

One good reason to do this is to avoid Super Bowl Sunday, which would definitely have people tuning out of the show in favor of watching the Eagles take on the Chiefs. While The Last of Us has been steadily gaining steam and momentum thanks to its very high-profile Episode 3 and exciting Episode 4, the executives at HBO don't want to risk losing their upward trend by competing directly with Super Bowl.

However, the wait after Episode 5 will be longer than usual as a result. Episode 6 will be launching again on schedule, which means the next episode after the upcoming one won't be coming out until February 19, 2023. So, if Episode 5 ends on a cliffhanger as well, then you have to be prepared to face some long waiting time.

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Josh Silverstein ·