Although its premium cable format predates the binge-watching model of the current streaming era, HBO has always been one of the go-to places for binge-worthy shows. HBO practically invented the modern prestige TV drama and kickstarted the Golden Age of Television with the morally gray antiheroes, cinematic visuals, and razor-sharp serialized storytelling of The Sopranos, and since then, it’s delivered one classic after another: The Wire, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Game of Thrones — some of the binge-worthiest shows available in the vast streaming-sphere today.

HBO laid the groundwork for the modern miniseries with the blockbuster spectacle and resonant themes of Chernobyl and Band of Brothers and Mare of Easttown, all of which can be binged from beginning to end in a single weekend (or even in one sitting). From searing satires like Succession and Veep to harrowing dramas like Oz and Boardwalk Empire, if it’s an HBO original, it’s probably going to be a great binge-watch.

In 2023, HBO broke the video game adaptation curse with a live-action translation of The Last of Us. Adaptations of video games have been notoriously terrible for about as long as games have been getting adapted, but Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic action-adventure epic already felt like a prestige TV drama disguised as a video game. When it actually became a prestige TV drama, some of the cutscenes survived the adaptation process verbatim, because the writing already had the quality of an HBO series. The Last of Us may have stumbled a bit in its second season last year, but it’s still one of the best HBO shows to binge.

The Last Of Us Is One Of HBO’s Most Binge-Worthy Shows

Joel And Abby Riding A Horse In The Snow In The Last Of Us Season 2
Joel And Abby Riding A Horse In The Snow In The Last Of Us Season 2

The first episode of The Last of Us, much like the video game it’s based on, hooks you right away. The prologue shows us the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse through the eyes of a desperate single father trying to get his daughter through the chaos. Not half an hour into the first episode, Joel’s daughter Sarah dies in his arms, and we jump forward 20 years to a war-ravaged, zombie-infested wasteland where an aging, grizzled Joel has completely closed himself off from feeling his feelings.

Before the end of that first episode, we get the emotional driving force of the series. Joel is tasked with transporting Ellie, a 14-year-old girl who’s mysteriously immune to the Cordyceps infection, across the country to a lab where they might be able to create a cure. What follows is a deeply engaging emotional storyline in which a grieving father is given a second chance. While he initially pushes Ellie away, Joel eventually comes to love Ellie like his own daughter, and that love is tested in shocking and heartbreaking ways throughout their treacherous journey.

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey play Joel and Ellie’s relationship just as beautifully as Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson did in the games. They don’t just copy Baker and Johnson’s performances — they each have their own distinctive but equally valid take on their roles — but they have the same indelible on-screen chemistry. The Last of Us’ TV adaptation hasn’t always been flawless — some of the changes have been detrimental to the overall experience of the story — but Pascal and Ramsey’s performances have always been note-perfect.

The Last Of Us May Be Ending With Season 3, So Catch Up Soon

Abby holding a gun in The Last of Us season 2
Abby holding a gun in The Last of Us season 2Liane Hentscher / ©HBO / Courtesy Everett Collection

While the first Last of Us game is a linear story that fit neatly into a single season of television, the second game is a non-linear behemoth with two separate timelines, a bunch of flashbacks, and a lengthy prologue and epilogue. The second season of the TV show adapted the first half of the second game, and there was initially some confusion over whether the show would need one or two more seasons to finish off the story.

Now that showrunner Craig Mazin has lined up his next video game adaptation at HBO (turning Baldur’s Gate into a TV series), The Last of Us’ fate seems to have been sealed: it’ll end with season 3. So, it’s the perfect time to catch up. The Last of Us season 3, focused on Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby, is currently in production for a 2027 release.