As The Last of Us withdrawal begins to set in, fans can take comfort in knowing that the series’ ratings momentum hasn’t slowed down at all. Even when going against the Academy Awards, HBO’s critically-acclaimed adaptation managed to set an all-new ratings record. Via Deadline, HBO announced that last night’s season finale attracted 8.2 million viewers across its linear channel and digital platforms, resulting in the show’s largest same-day audience yet.
January’s pilot episode previously gave HBO its second-largest debut in over a decade with 4.7 million viewers. And over the next eight weeks, these numbers continued to climb at an impressive rate. The latest figures mark a 74% increase from the series’ initial launch and a slight increase from the penultimate episode’s 8.1 million viewers. Additionally, HBO claims that The Last of Us is the most-watched show in the history of HBO Max in Europe and Latin America.
Without giving too much away, Naughty Dog’s original Last of Us video game featured one of the most talked-about endings in the entire history of the medium. Fans have been wrestling with the consequences of Joel’s actions since the game hit stores in 2013. And now, a much larger audience can join them in pondering this moral conundrum with the show having presented these events in strikingly faithful detail. As with earlier episodes, it certainly doesn’t hurt that the finale also re-created a number of familiar shots from the source material, which continues to be a nice treat for longtime players.
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Not long after series premiered earlier this year, HBO officially renewed The Last of Us for a second season. Creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have already confirmed that the next batch of episodes will begin adapting Naughty Dog’s 2020 sequel, The Last of Us Part II, which takes place four years after the original game.
Because of the time jump, many fans were wondering if the producers planned on casting an older actress to replace Bella Ramsey as Ellie. However, Mazin and Druckmann recently assured fans that this won’t be the case.
All nine episodes of The Last of Us’ first season are currently available to stream on HBO Max.
Did you enjoy watching the finale last night? Let us know in the comment section below!
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