‘The Last of Us’ episode five will premiere two days early on HBO Max

Fans of HBO’s  who are also into football were facing a bit of a quandary this weekend: catch the latest episode live and avoid the risk of spoilers, or tune into the Super Bowl? Thankfully, is making that decision much easier. The fifth episode of the of will hit the streaming service and HBO On Demand two days early.

You’ll be able to starting at 9PM ET this Friday. It will still air in its usual 9PM ET timeslot on HBO’s cable channel on Sunday, but many fans may opt to watch the titanic tussle between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles instead.

This is a smart, one-off move from HBO as The Last of Us is already , with viewership figures that have grown from week to week. The linear airing of the next episode is likely to get hammered in the ratings by the , but this could help HBO maintain the show’s momentum and distance the TLOU discourse from football this weekend.