The Last of Us is continuing to set new records for HBO as the second episode managed to gain a million more viewers on its first night of streaming. The premier episode for Naughty Dog’s acclaimed video game-based series starring Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey debuted with 4.7 million views and marked the 2nd best debut for HBO. The show has continued to gain fans with the second episode coming in with 5.7 million views and HBO stated that it is the “largest week 2 audience growth for an HBO Original drama series in the history of the network.“
HBO added that the premier episode one also continues to gain in views and “after one full week of availability, Episode 1 is now tracking at 18 million viewers, up nearly 4x from its premiere night audience.”
Geoff Keighley (The Game Awards) took to Twitter to announce the momentous achievement.
Episode 2 of THE LAST OF US tallied 5.7 million viewers Sunday night, up 22% from the series debut.
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) January 23, 2023
This marks the largest week 2 audience growth for an HBO Original drama series in the history of the network.
Episode 1 is now up to 18 million viewers. pic.twitter.com/qTnPetz1bH
Impressive ratings
The Last of Us continues to hold an impressive rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, including a 96% average audience score. The show still trails HBO’s other mega blockbuster series, the Game of Thrones spinoff series House of the Dragon which pulled in roughly 10 million viewers per night. However, that spinoff was still down from an average of 29 million views for the original series. Regardless, The Last of Us showrunners and cast have much to celebrate with their adaptation of the game from Naughty Dog and Sony and it’s probable the show will continue to set more records.
HBO also noted that “Sunday night viewership for an HBO series typically represents 20%-40% of the show’s total gross audience per episode.” This means that the second episode could reach as many as 20 million views by the week’s end, thus surpassing the series premiere.