HBO's The Last of Us saw significant audience growth following the premiere of the critically acclaimed Episode 3, setting new records for the network.
According to TVLine, Season 1, Episode 3 of The Last of Us, "Long, Long Time," attracted over 6.4 million viewers during its premiere night on Jan. 29, up 12% from Episode 2 and 37% from the series opener. Additionally, Season 1 of the HBO show is averaging around 21.3 million viewers per episode, making it the first time HBO has multiple current original series garnering over 15 million viewers on average in its history. It is second only to Season 1 of the Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, which averaged 29 million.
"Long, Long Time," starred Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) and Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus) as Bill and Frank, a pair of survivalists living together in an isolated town. Though the characters were slightly altered from how they appeared in the 2013 video game, Offerman and Bartlett's performances, as well as the storyline, of Bill and Frank, were widely praised by viewers. Series co-creator Neil Druckmann even teased fans for "crying" over the emotional episode, claiming "Long, Long Time," was the show's "happy" episode.
The Last of Us Sets Viewership Records for HBO
Episode 2, "Infected" similarly set viewership records with 5.7 million viewers across HBO's television and streaming platforms, marking a 22% increase from the series premiere, which brought in 4.7 million. According to HBO, the second episode of the post-apocalyptic drama series was the "largest week 2 audience growth for an HBO Original drama series in the history of the network." With six episodes left to go in Season 1, The Last of Us boasts a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing.
The Last of Us follows Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie Williams (Bella Ramsey) as they travel across a post-apocalyptic United States that has been ravaged by the Cordyceps virus with the hope that Ellie is the key to finding a cure. Shortly after its premiere, the series scored an early Season 2 renewal from HBO and HBO Max. The live-action adaptation of The Last of Us was originally announced in 2014, just a year after the release of Naughty Dog's original game.
"I’m so grateful to Neil Druckmann and HBO for our partnership, and I’m even more grateful to the millions of people who have joined us on this journey," said Mazin about the Season 2 renewal. "The audience has given us the chance to continue, and as a fan of the characters and world Neil and Naughty Dog created, I couldn’t be more ready to dive back in."
New episodes of The Last of Us premiere every Sunday at 9 p.m. EST on HBO and HBO Max.
Source: TVLine