HBO announces The Last of Us Season 2 release date: April 13

HBO has finally announced the premiere date for The Last of Us Season 2. Back in January they told us it was coming in April, but today they got a bit more specific: The Last of Us Season 2 premieres on April 13.

Season 2 will reintroduce us to sad dad Joel (Pedro Pascal) and tough teen Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they continue fighting to survive an apocalypse full of, well, mushroom monsters. The new season jumps ahead to five years later and adds to the cast with Kaitlyn Dever as Abby and Catherina O'Hara in an as-yet unknown role that didn't appear in the games. Jeffrey Wright is also returning as his Season 1 character, Isaac Dixon.

There's good news for people (like me) who minmax their streaming subscriptions. The Last of Us Season 2 is only seven episodes long, unlike the first season which was nine (originally planned for 10, but cut down during production). That means if you don't currently subscribe to MAX, you can pop on for two months and catch the entire season. Not a bad deal.

Or, you can wait for the first half of the season to air and then subscribe for a month to catch up and watch the rest. You might even be able to hunt for a 7-day free trial for MAX after the season has aired and binge the whole thing for free. I know, it's a terrible way to approach art, but it's the system we've got!

There's another option: don't wait for the show at all. As Morgan said recently, good as the show has been so far, you should really play The Last of Us 2 and experience the whole story yourself before watching the 10-episode version of it on TV. "Season one was a worthy interpretation of the game, but HBO's Joel and Ellie had drifted far away from their originals by the finale," Morgan said. With an even shorter run in Season 2, I think the likelihood is high that the show cuts even more story corners this time around.

The Last of Us Part 2 will be out on Steam on April 3, so you can even play it on PC before the show's second season starts.