The Last of Us Premiere Draws 4.7 Million Viewers

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Image: HBO

The Last of Us appears to be a big success for HBO and its streaming service. According to a press release that WarnerMedia shared today, the show based on Naughty Dog’s acclaimed video game managed to draw 4.7 million viewers during its premiere on Sunday, January 15. This number would make The Last of Us HBO’s second-best debut, behind only House of the Dragon, the new Game of Thrones series.

“We are thrilled to see fans of the series and game alike experience this iconic story in a new way, and we extend our gratitude to them for helping to make it a success,” said Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO, HBO & HBO Max Content. “Congratulations to Craig, Neil and the brilliant cast and crew who worked tirelessly to bring this show to life. We look forward to fans around the world enjoying the rest of the season.”

“Our focus was simply to make the best possible adaptation of this beloved story for as big an audience as we could,” said Executive Producers Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. “We are overjoyed to see how many fans, both old and new, have welcomed ‘The Last of Us’ into their homes and their hearts.”

From a WarnerMedia press release:

This is HBO’s second largest debut, behind only “House of the Dragon,” since “Boardwalk Empire” premiered on the network in 2010, before HBO programming was broadly available on a streaming app. Sunday night’s performance was nearly double the season two debut night for “Euphoria,” which went on to average 19.5 million viewers per episode in the U.S. Sunday night viewership for an HBO series typically represents 20%-40% of the show’s total gross audience per episode.

THE LAST OF US was also a hit on social media, with the series trending #1 both in the U.S. and worldwide on Twitter Sunday night. To date, season one teasers and trailers have amassed more than 100 million views globally. Additionally, the first episode of the series’ companion podcast hit #1 on Apple’s TV & Film chart in the U.S. within 24 hours of its release.

New episodes of The Last of Us will premiere each Sunday at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max. The finale is slated for March 12.

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Tsing Mui
News poster at The FPS Review.

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