When You're Lost in the Darkness

"**When You're Lost in the Darkness**"
"When You're Lost in the Darkness"
The Last of Us episode
	Joel, Tommy, and Sarah flee through a large crowd. The driving sequence was filmed over four weeks with hundreds of extras, and its camerawork was compared to the game.
Episode no.	Season 1; Episode 1
Directed by	Craig Mazin
Written by	Craig Mazin; Neil Druckmann;
Produced by	Greg Spence; Cecil O'Connor;
Featured music	Full list "Tomorrow" by Avril Lavigne; "White Flag" by Dido; "Never Let Me Down Again" by Depeche Mode; ;
Cinematography by	Ksenia Sereda
Editing by	Timothy A. Good
Original air date	January 15, 2023
Running time	81 minutes
Guest appearances
	Nico Parker as Sarah; John Hannah as Newman; Merle Dandridge as Marlene; Josh Brener as Murray; Christopher Heyerdahl as Schoenheist; Brad Leland as Mr. Adler; Marcia Bennett as Mrs. Adler; Brendan Fletcher as Robert; Jerry Wasserman as Abe; Anna Torv as Tess; Gabriel Luna as Tommy;
Episode chronology
← Previous; —	Next →; "Infected"
	The Last of Us season 1
	List of episodes

"When You're Lost in the Darkness" is the series premiere of the American post-apocalyptic drama television series The Last of Us. Written by series creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann and directed by Mazin, the episode aired on HBO on January 15, 2023. The first episode of the first season, it introduced Joel (Pedro Pascal) and his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) during the chaos of a global pandemic outbreak caused by a mutated form of the Cordyceps fungus that turns its victims into bloodthirsty attackers. Twenty years later, Joel and Tess (Anna Torv) set out to find Joel's brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and are tasked with smuggling the young Ellie (Bella Ramsey) in exchange for supplies.

The episode's original director, Johan Renck, dropped out due to scheduling conflicts stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. His successor, Kantemir Balagov, left the project due to creative differences and was replaced by Mazin. "When You're Lost in the Darkness" was originally written as two episodes, which were combined as HBO executives felt the original first episode would not compel viewers to return the following week. Mazin and Druckmann wrote additional scenes to expand the world and allow viewers to empathize with its characters. Filming for the series began in Calgary, Alberta, in July 2021.

The episode received critical acclaim, with praise for its writing, direction, and performances of Pascal, Ramsey, Parker, and Torv. It was watched by 4.7 million viewers on the first day, and almost 40 million within two months. The episode won Outstanding Sound Mixing and Sound Editing at the 75th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, and Parker was nominated for Outstanding Guest Performance in a Drama Series at the 7th Annual Black Reel Awards for Television.

^ Cite error: The named reference THR Luna was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Polygon Easter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference THR S1 Review was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[THR_Luna-1] Cite error: The named reference THR Luna was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Polygon_Easter-2] Cite error: The named reference Polygon Easter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[THR_S1_Review-3] Cite error: The named reference THR S1 Review was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[1]

[2]

[3]