What year is The Last of Us set in? Entire chronology and time jump between seasons, explored 

HBO's The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic thriller series based on the popular video game of the same name. It follows the aftermath of a Cordyceps outbreak that wipes out the majority of the population.

While the present timeline of Season 1 starts with Joel and Ellie in Summer 2023, the events of the initial outbreak are told in flashbacks. The Cordyceps outbreak began in 2003 in the show, and as Joel tells Ellie, it wiped out the civilized world in only four days.

These flashbacks tell important pieces of the story from 2003 to 2023, till we finally meet Joel and Ellie.

The Last of Us Season 2 follows a five-year time jump, and the story is set in 2029 in Jackson.

Here is the entire chronology and timeline of HBO's The Last of Us.

---

Exploring the flashbacks in The Last of Us Season 1

While Joel's story begins in 2003, the virus is mentioned in flashbacks in a 1968 talk show where epidemiologists Dr. Schoenheiss and Dr. Neuman discuss a potential pandemic. The Last of Us set an unofficial prologue to the show.

The story then jumps to September 2003, where Dr. Ratna Pertiwi, the mycology professor, is taken to the first infected, and the show introduces us to the infected. Days after this incident, the virus spreads incessantly to Indonesia, Jakarta, and eventually reaches Joel's family in Texas. Just four days after the attack, Sarah dies at the hands of soldiers, and the FEDRA undertakes everything under their control.

Season 1 then takes us to 2007, where Joel and Tess meet Bill and Frank, and Ellie is born. After the government compromises their bunker, Joel and Tess decide to move to the West, and we then meet them in the present timeline.

---

Exploring the present timeline in The Last of Us Season 1

The present timeline in The Last of Us Season 1 begins in the Summer of 2023, where Tess and a much older Joel are living in Boston. After Ellie realises she is immune, Tess and Joel decide to smuggle her safely to the Fireflies.

However, after Tess blows herself (because she was bitten by an infected), Joel takes Ellie to Jackson to ask for help from his brother Tommy. After surviving a difficult Fall in Kansas City from Resistance leader Kathleen Coghlan, they finally make it to Jackson in Winter 2023.

While Joel initially tries to send Ellie with his brother Tommy, he later decides to travel to the Fireflies himself. The duo has a run-in with David and James' cannibal group and even gets separated from each other. However, the duo is reunited after Ellie kills both James and David.

Joel and Ellie's last leg of their journey takes place in Spring 2024 in Utah. After Joel realizes that the Fireflies would have to kill Ellie to make the vaccine, he kills all of them, lies to Ellie, and takes her back to Jackson.

---

Exploring the timeline in The Last of Us Season 2

Season 2 mostly follows a linear narrative. It begins with a five-year time jump as Ellie and Joel are now in 2029, living in Jackson, Wyoming, with Tommy and Maria.

The events of the Season 1 finale have strained Joel and Ellie's relationship as he kept the Fireflies massacre a secret from her. Season 2 also introduced Abby, a WLF soldier hell-bent on taking revenge on Joel after he killed her father in the finale.

Season 2 saw Joel's brutal death at the hands of Abby, after which Ellie and Dina leave for Seattle to avenge his death. The Last of Us Season 2 is currently following Ellie's story in Seattle, where she is trying to find out about Abby's whereabouts.

The show premieres weekly episodes on HBO every Sunday.

---

For the latest scoops on your favorite TV shows and movies, follow SoapCentral.

Also Read: In The Last of Us Season 2, what are the major differences between the game and the show we have noticed so far?