The following contains spoilers for The Last of Us Season 1, Episode 4, "Please Hold My Hand," now streaming on HBO Max.
HBO's The Last of Us offers more information about the Raiders.
In Season 1, Episode 4, "Please Hold My Hand," the HBO adaptation appoints Kathleen as the new leader of the Raiders, a group of survivors who attack others to steal resources. In Naughty Dog's original video games, Kathleen does not appear as a character and the Raiders have an unidentified leader. Furthermore, The Last of Us establishes motivation for the Raiders to hunt down Henry, considering he previously murdered Kathleen's brother. The Raiders also seek revenge after Joel killed Brian, a member of the ruthless group.
In the video games, Henry is a survivor who hails from Hartford and the older brother of Sam. In August 2022, HBO announced that Lamar Johnson and Keivonn Woodard would play brothers Henry and Sam, respectively. As for their previous acting credits, Johnson played Charlie in 2020's All the Bright Places and Woodard is new to the acting industry. However, he is among the first Black deaf actors to portray a character in a major production like The Last of Us. Brandon Scott and Nadji Jeter played the sibling duo in the Naughty Dog games.
The Success of The Last of Us
In addition to expanding the knowledge of the Raiders, The Last of Us delved deeper into Bill's tragic backstory. In Episode 3, "Long, Long Time," the HBO series focuses on the timeline of Bill and Frank's relationship between the outbreak of the Cordyceps infection and the present day. The Last of Us also alters the couple's fate compared to the video games. At the end of their last day together, Bill and Frank drink poisoned wine and give Joel the rest of their supplies.
As to how much audience members are enjoying The Last of Us, the series averages around 21.3 million viewers per episode. Its immense viewership record for HBO falls behind only Season 1 of the Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, which averaged 29 million. With only six episodes remaining of Season 1, The Last of Us holds a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes as of writing.
However, Joel and Ellie's post-apocalyptic adventures are far from over. On Jan. 27, HBO officially renewed The Last of Us for a second season. "I’m humbled, honored, and frankly overwhelmed that so many people have tuned in and connected with our retelling of Joel and Ellie’s journey," said co-creator Neil Druckmann of the renewal. "The collaboration with Craig Mazin, our incredible cast & crew, and HBO exceeded my already high expectations."
New episodes of The Last of Us air Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
Source: HBO