Move aside Vhagar, a more massive behemoth just arrived in town. After House of the Dragon set a new viewership record for HBO with 29 million viewers per episode, The Last of Us is averaging at least a million more viewers, as its season finale reached 8.2 million viewers on HBO Max and cable TV in the United States on its first night.
HBO confirmed the good news itself, revealing that The Last of Us' first episode is already approaching 40 million viewers in the United States. Furthermore, HBO confirmed that The Last of Us is already the "most-watched show in the history of HBO Max in both Europe and Latin America."
According to HBO, the finale's viewership marked a "75% increase in debut night viewing compared to the series premiere."
When you consider how big the first episode of The Last of Us was, you can't blame HBO for giving multiple more seasons of the show the green light.
The season 1 finale of @TheLastofUsHBO set another ratings high on Sunday night, delivering 8.2 million viewers across @HBOMax and linear telecasts: https://t.co/STvEgzFJSr#TheLastOfUs pic.twitter.com/9Q0mBqc8hv
— Inside HBO Max (@InsideHBOMax) March 13, 2023
The Last of Us Season 1 ended on March 12. It saw the conclusion of Joel and Ellie's adventure as the former went from broken father to someone who finally found another person worth protecting at all costs, while the latter found a father figure and someone to look up to.
The crushing finale set up the events of The Last of Us Part II, which, until much recently, was the most GOTY'd game of all time.
Given that The Last of Us Season 2 (and 3) aren't coming anytime soon, anyone who's curious to find out more about how the story goes can check out the video games. The Last of Us Part I is finally coming to the PC later this month while The Last of Us Multiplayer will get an official reveal later this year.
After that, Naughty Dog is rumored to be making The Last of Us Part III but Druckmann is saying otherwise.
As for the show, The Last of Us Season 2 will have a chance to dethrone Game of Thrones Season 8, which averaged 44 million viewers per episode, whenever it comes out.
