In a short time, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) have already come a long way within HBO‘s adaptation of The Last of Us. Joel journeyed from Texas all the way to Boston after the cordyceps outbreak began and, since joining up with Ellie, the two have made their way from Massachusetts to Kansas City on the way to Wyoming, only to be stopped dead in their tracks by Melanie Lynskey‘s Kathleen. Ahead of the release of Episode 5 which officially puts Season 1 past the halfway mark, a new poster was released retracing the steps of the two survivors through the first leg of their journey.

The poster is a weathered map of the continental U.S. with two lines marking Joel’s trek to Boston and later his and Ellie’s journey together. Four markers are placed on the map to show four key locations visited throughout the series. Joel’s line starts at Austin where, in Episode 1, we meet him along with his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) and brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) in the moments before the outbreak begins and see them face heartbreak once the chaos starts to unfold. From there, we head to Boston where, years later, Joel has become a smuggler with his partner Tess (Anna Torv) and is tasked with transporting Ellie out West to hopefully find a cure. The line gets thicker as Joel and Ellie are now united on their way to Lincoln where they encounter the tragedy of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett). A small flag marks their current location in Kansas City.

This week, the duo will face the returning clickers, alongside the vengeful Kathleen, as they try to continue moving forward to Wyoming. Trapped in a supposedly “liberated” Kansas City, they’ll see Kathleen’s rule firsthand as she searches for Henry Burrell, a man that wronged her in the past. As fire and carnage play out throughout the city, the roar of the clickers will send Joel and Ellie running once again in their attempts to survive.

The Last of Us‘s Journey Has Been Fruitful for HBO

One beneficiary of Joel and Ellie’s heart-wrenching journey is HBO. Despite airing alongside The Grammys on Sunday, The Last of Us once again set a new high for viewership. 7.5 million viewers tuned in to watch “Please Hold My Hand” live, marking a 17% increase from the landmark Episode 3. Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have so far proven to be excellent stewards for the series, with many of their changes, like Bill and Frank’s story and the addition of characters like Kathleen, landing well along the way. They’ve ensured this journey doesn’t end with just one season too, meaning the entire The Last of Us saga will likely come to screens one day.

Luckily for fans of the series, the journey continues a little earlier this week. HBO previously announced that HBO Max subscribers would receive Episode 5 on Friday, February 10 instead of having to wait until Sunday, February 12 to see the latest entry. It will be available to stream at the typical time of 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT while the linear network will air it at that time on Sunday.

Check out the new poster below.

via Collider