HBO’s “The Last of Us” is one of the hottest shows on television at the moment, and the numbers continue to climb. HBO and parent company Warner Bros. Discovery this week announced that the show’s latest episode, Episode 8 of the hit series, drew the highest audience yet, with 8.1 million viewers across HBO Max and linear telecasts. The viewership increase marks a 74% increase from the show’s series debut, which already drew the second-biggest audience for a premiere episode on HBO in over 10 years.
‘The Last Of Us’ Draws Huge Audience Ahead Of Season Finale
Per HBO, the 8.1 million viewing figure is based on Nielsen and first-party data. It was also the top show overall on HBO Max for the eighth week in a row. All the episodes ranked among the week’s Top 10 individual assets. The first five episodes are now averaging 30 million viewers across all platforms.
Episode 8 of the hit series, “When We Are in Need” marks the penultimate episode before the first season finale. As reported by The Blast, HBO quickly renewed the show for a second season, and the announcement came before the third episode even made it to air.
The hit series is based on the iconic video game franchise created by developer Naughty Dog. It stars Bella Ramsey (“Game of Thrones”) and Pedro Pascal (“Game of Thrones,” “The Mandalorian,” “Wonder Woman 1984”) as Ellie Williams and Joel Miller. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Joel seeks to smuggle Ellie across a deadly quarantine zone, she is immune to a deadly infection that has toppled civilization.
The television adaptation is co-created by Craig Mazin (“Chernobyl”) and Neil Druckmann, who is one of the original creators of the video game franchise and also Naughty Dog Co-President. Ahead of this weekend’s season finale, “The Last Of Us Podcast,” an official companion podcast series for the hit show, will sit down with co-creator Mazin and Druckmann for a scene-by-scene deep dive of each episode. HBO also revealed that the companion podcast has remained a top 5 show on Apple and Spotify’s TV & Film charts in the US.
Additionally, HBO has also set up a spotlight page for the series on HBO Max, featuring additional behind-the-scenes content and access to the companion podcast. There is also an interactive flashlight to help fans find their next HBO series to check out. The spotlight page features a curated selection of films and shows from 2003, which is the year the fictional life-altering outbreak occurred in the series.
Series star Pascal appears to be riding a huge wave of momentum right now. Besides “The Last of Us,” his other huge genre series, “The Mandalorian,” returned last week on Disney+ for the show’s third season. The next episode of the hit series will debut on Wednesday, March 8 once the clock hits midnight on the west coast.
The Season 1 finale of “The Last of Us” debuts on Sunday, March 12 on HBO. The first eight episodes are available to stream on HBO Max. Also, HBO is now streaming the first episode of the show for free on HBOMax.com.
