HBO’s newest show, The Last Of Us, had a massive series premiere. The first episode picked up 4.7 million viewers on Sunday night, HBO announced today. This counts viewers across traditional linear TV and via HBO Max platforms for Sunday night alone.
With 4.7 million viewers, The Last of Us is HBO’s second largest debut since 2010, only behind the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon (9.98 million) in that time.
HBO said said Sunday night viewership for any HBO series makes up only about 20%-40% of an episode’s total audience, so The Last of Us’ viewership is likely to grow significantly in the days to come. For example, The Last of Us did “nearly double” the numbers of the Season 2 debut evening for HBO’s Euphoria. Euphoria went on to average 19.5 million viewers per episode in the US, so The Last of Us is poised to put up even bigger numbers than that.
“We are thrilled to see fans of the series and game alike experience this iconic story in a new way, and we extend our gratitude to them for helping to make it a success,” HBO’s Casey Bloys said. “Congratulations to Craig, Neil and the brilliant cast and crew who worked tirelessly to bring this show to life. We look forward to fans around the world enjoying the rest of the season.”
Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann said in a joint statement, “Our focus was simply to make the best possible adaptation of this beloved story for as big an audience as we could.”
They added: “We are overjoyed to see how many fans, both old and new, have welcomed The Last of Us into their homes and their hearts.”
New episodes of HBO’s The Last of Us air Sunday nights at 9 PM ET, running up to the Season 1 finale on March 12. There is also an official podcast hosted by Troy Baker in which Mazin and Druckmann break down each episode scene-by-scene.
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