With The Last of Us' outbreak taking place in 2003, Joel and Ellie never got the streaming experience, making it fitting then that their show is going to be available in a medium they'd be more familiar with — physical media. The Last of Us season 1 is getting a Blu-ray/DVD/4K release in July, featuring all nine episodes of the first season and a number of behind-the-scenes features.
The Last of Us season 1 disc set is now available for pre-order via Amazon Prime, with it officially releasing on July 18, just about six months after the series made its TV debut.
Based on the popular video game series, The Last of Us takes place 20 years after civilization has been destroyed by an infectious fungus called cordyceps. The story follows Joel (Pedro Pascal), a hardened survivor, and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl he has been hired to smuggle out of a quarantine zone. But when things go sideways, they must traverse what remains of the United States, avoiding infected and, even more dangerous, other humans.
The series was adapted for TV by Neil Druckmann, who wrote the story for the original video games, along with Craig Mazin (Chernobyl). In addition to Pascal and Ramsey, season 1 featured Nick Offerman, Murray Bartlett, Anna Torv, Lamar Johnson, Melanie Lynskey, Merle Dandridge and Gabriel Luna.
Critics raved about the show, with it earning a 96% "Certified Fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the season 1 finale drawing an audience of 8.2 million viewers on HBO's TV channel and HBO Max.
Even though streaming is the most popular way to rewatch TV shows nowadays, the release of The Last of Us season 1 on Blu-ray may be quite handy for a lot of people. With so many streaming services to choose from and people often having to make choices about which ones to have, if HBO Max doesn't make that cut for you then a good old-fashioned copy of The Last of Us gives you a chance to see the show for a one-time fee rather than signing up for a monthly subscription. Of course, if you'd prefer to sign up for HBO Max, you can do so to catch up with the show.
In addition to all of the episodes, another benefit of the Blu-ray set is that the discs are going to feature three hours of behind-the-scenes features, including "Controllers Down: Adapting The Last of Us," "From Levels to Live Action" and "The Last of Us: Stranger Than Fiction."
The Last of Us has been renewed for season 2, though we have no timeframe for when the next season is going to premiere at this time.
