‘The Last Of Us’ Episode 2 Breaks Viewership Records for HBO

The Last of Us broke viewing records.
HBO

Apparently viewers are very invested in the fates of Joel and Ellie on The Last of Us because the second episode of HBO‘s post-apocalyptic drama brought in 5.7 million viewers across linear airings on HBO and streams on HBO Max, up from 4.7 million views from the series premiere.

Per HBO, the jump from the initial premiere viewership to Episode 2’s debut audience is the “largest week 2 audience growth for an HBO Original drama series in the history of the network.”

Variety offered yet another update on the premiere of the series, which is based on the popular video game, reporting, “After one full week of availability, Episode 1 is now tracking at 18 million viewers, up nearly 4x from its premiere night audience.”

The Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann-created series will run for nine episodes. We’ll have to wait and see if viewership will grow to rival HBO’s Game Of Thrones spinoff House Of The Dragon, which estimated 29 million viewers across all platforms each episode.

From the series logline: “Set 20 years after the destruction of modern civilization, The Last of Us stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, a hardened survivor who is hired to smuggle 14-year-old Ellie (Bella Ramsey) out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.”

The Last of Us, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO