Tonight, the second season of The Last of Us, which was created by Craig Marin and Neil Druckmann and was based on the video game of the same name, premieres tomorrow on HBO and Max. Before watching the premiere, catch up with our quick guide below that tells you everything you need to know before diving into the premiere, and tune in tomorrow night at 9pm ET/6pm PT.

Be sure to check out our Youtube channel for our live reviews and breakdowns of The Last of Us each week. You can currently watch our review/breakdown for season one.

Episode 1
The series begins with a flashback to 1968, where a talk show host interviews two epidemiologists about potential global pandemics. One of the scientists raises the possibility of a fungal pandemic, explaining how certain fungi can infect and control the minds of their hosts. He warns that if the Earth's temperature were to rise, it could enable fungi to survive in human bodies, and the human race would be doomed.

Joel (Pedro Pascal), his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker), and his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) are living in Austin, Texas. People begin to exhibit strange and aggressive behavior, society starts to collapse. The three attempt to escape to the city, but the car crashes when a plane falls from the sky. They continue on foot, but Sarah is tragically shot and killed by a soldier.

Twenty years later, civilization has collapsed almost entirely due to the worldwide parasitic fungal outbreak caused by a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus. The world has drastically changed, with strict military control and a constant threat from the infected.
Joel is now living in Boston with his partner Tess (Anna Torv), smuggling contraband to survive in a locked-down quarantine zone, trying to get back to Tommy, who left the QZ and was not heard from again.

Joel and Tess are commission by Marlene (Merle Dandridge), the leader of the rebel group the Fireflies in the Boston QZ, to deliver a 14-year-old girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to a group of Fireflies at the old state house in return for supplies that will enable him to continue looking for Tommy.

It is revealed that Ellie is infected but not sick. She explains that, although she has been bitten three weeks ago, she has not exhibited symptoms, and no one ever lasts more than a day.

Episode 2
While Tess and an armed Joel watch her, Ellie explains that Marlene told her that the Fireflies intend to take her to a basecamp with doctors who are working on a cure, because they believe she is the key to finding the vaccine.

As the trio navigates through the ruined city, Tess explains how the fungus grows underground, and it is all connected by a network of fibers. If you step on patch of Cordyceps in one place, it can awaken a dozen from somewhere else. Ellie may be immune, but she can still be ripped apart.

The three make their way through an abandoned museum, where they encounter Clickers, terrifying blind creatures who were once human, that hunt by sound. The three fight for their lives to survive the encounter, however, Ellie and Tess are bitten.

Tess, knowing that her time is limited, makes a desperate plea to Joel that they can redeem themselves for some of the bad things they have done. She implores him to take Ellie to Bill and Frank's, two of the men they have traded with in the past, to "save who you can save".

Suddenly, a nearby corpse begins to move, and Joel shoots it in the head. However, the gunshot triggers a horde of infected. Realizing the imminent danger, Tess decides to sacrifice herself to buy time for Joel and Ellie to escape. She stays behind, surrounded by fuel and grenades, and is eventually able to ignite her lighter, sacrificing herself in the fiery explosion.

Joel and Ellie manage to escape the state house, leaving Tess behind.

Episode 3
A flashback reveals how Bill (Nick Offerman), a survivalist, managed to avoid getting dragged into a quarantine zone by the US military after the outbreak. Bill steps out into a changed world and fortifies his location with traps and supplies to live a solitary life of luxury as the world outside falls apart.

In 2007, Bill's lonely existence changes forever when Frank (Murray Bartlett), a survivor from the Baltimore quarantine zone, falls into a trap outside Bill's perimeter. The pair fall in love and build a life together, until many years later, Frank becomes ill from a degenerative disease, and Bill helps him to commit suicide while also poisoning himself.

Joel and Ellie arrive at Bill's fortified location. They find a note from Bill explaining that he and Frank have passed away. Bill leaves instructions for Joel to take whatever he needs from the house to continue his journey. Joel and Ellie gather supplies, including a car, and set off to find the Fireflies.

Episode 4
On the way across the country, Ellie and Joel are ambushed by raiders, and Ellie ends up shooting a man to save him.

The QZ in Kansas City has been liberated from FEDRA and is run by a dangerous woman, Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey). She looks for a man, Henry (Lamar Johnson), who sold out her brother to FEDRA, and his young deaf brother Sam (Keivonn Woodard), as well as now Joel and Ellie, who killed one of her people.

Episode 5
Henry and Sam come to Joel and Ellie at gun point, and Henry makes a deal with Joel to help them traverse the city underground to avoid Kathleen.

Eventually, Kathleen catches up to them, but the town is attacked by the infected, including a bloater, when they rise up from underground.

Sam is bit. Ellie tries to save him unsuccessfully with her blood. When he attacks her, Henry shoots him, and then in grief, shoots himself.

Episode 6
Joel and Ellie make their way to a self-sufficient settlement where they find Tommy and his new pregnant wife, Maria (Retina Wesley).

Joel, telling Tommy the truth about Ellie’s immunity, convinces him to take her the rest of the journey, because he feels he has failed her, but eventually ends up taking her himself on horseback after she tells him that everyone except for him has abandoned her.

At a college campus they are attacked by a group of men and Joel is stabbed. He is able to kill the one man, and they manage to get away.

Episode 7
Ellie helps Joel the best he can, as he urges her to leave him and go back to Tommy.

Ellie flashes back to her time at FEDRA military school where she doesn’t fit in. She goes on a date with a girl Riley (Storm Reid) at the mall, who she finds out has joined the Fireflies and is leaving. The two share a kiss, and Riley eventually agrees to stay with Ellie. Ultimately, they are attacked and bit by an infected. Ellie stays with Riley and learns she is immune when her friend changes and she doesn’t, and she is forced to kill her.

In the present, Ellie refuses to leave Joel.

Episode 8
Ellie encounters two men from the group who attacked them and threatens them at gunpoint to get an antibiotic for Joel. She is later captured by their group. The man who leads them, David (Scott Shepherd), who is more like a cult leader, tries to manipulate and groom Ellie, but she remains defiant as she discovers they are surviving as cannibals.

Meanwhile, Joel is recovering from his injuries and sets out to find and save Ellie. He eventually tortures some men and makes his way to her, but not before Ellie has had to violently kill David to escape.

The episode ends with a heartfelt reunion between Joel and Ellie.

Episode 9
In the past, Ellie’s mother, Anna (Ashley Johnson), gives birth to Ellie while being bitten by an infected, explaining Ellie's immunity as a result of the Cordyceps fungus being present in her system since birth. Marlene is the one who finds Anna and takes Ellie.

As they continue their journey, Joel reveals to Ellie that he tried to take his own life after the death of his daughter, Sarah. He admits that Ellie has given him a sense of purpose.

Joel and Ellie finally reach the Fireflies' base in Salt Lake City, and are knocked out on entry. When Joel awakens, Marlene tells him Ellie is being prepped for surgery and admits the doctor’s plans to extract the Cordyceps from Ellie's brain to create a vaccine, but this procedure will kill her.

Faced with the prospect of losing Ellie, Joel goes on a rampage through the hospital, killing the Fireflies, including Marlene, to save Ellie.

After escaping with an unconscious Ellie, Joel lies to her about what happened, telling her that the Fireflies had found others like her and had given up on finding a cure. She makes him promise it’s the truth.