The Last of Us premiere soundtrack: All the songs in Episode 1

Set 20 years after a zombie outbreak, The Last of Us follows protagonist Joel (Pedro Pascal) as he forms an unlikely bond with a teenager named Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Joel lost his daughter years ago and works as a smuggler at a quarantine zone before he’s tasked with protecting Ellie, someone who might just be able to help create a cure to the zombie contagion. The premiere episode just debuted on HBO and HBO Max tonight, and I have a feeling this is the network’s next big show. It’s really great!

The first episode, titled “When You’re Lost in the Darkness,” is pretty long, coming in at almost an hour and a half. But it’s also an important episode as we learn about Joel’s life before the apocalypse, when he was living in Texas. We won’t get into major spoilers here in case you haven’t watched the whole thing yet, but the opening half of the premiere is really strong. And that’s where we hear most of the songs.

Two of the songs in The Last of Us premiere are super early 2000s, which we absolutely love, as we get to know Joel’s daughter Sarah (played by Thandiwe Newton’s daughter Nico Parker). The final song is also pretty important to the plot, but we’ll let you see for yourself why that is. We’re expecting more tracks to play throughout the season, but here’s the full list from the first episode!

The Last of Us Episode 1 songs

• Theme song: “The Last of Us” by Gustavo Santaolalla
• “Tomorrow” by Avril Lavigne
• “White Flag” by Dido
• “Never Let Me Down Again” by Depeche Mode

In case you were wondering, the song from the official Last of Us trailer is “Take On Me (Epic Trailer Version)” by A-ha, and the teaser features “Alone and Forsaken (Epic Trailer Version)” performed by Hank Williams.

Gustavo Santaolalla, who’s known for composing the score for The Last of Us video game, created the original music for the show alongside David Fleming, who worked on music for Dune and Top Gun: Maverick.

The music in The Last of Us is definitely one of the many elements that make the show so strong. We’ll be curious to see what other songs are included as we watch more episodes! Don’t miss a second of the epic new show when new episodes are released every Sunday night on HBO and HBO Max.

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