On Sunday night, HBO saw a respectable amount of viewers for The Last Of Us. The Pedro Pascal-led gaming adaptation attracted 4.7 million viewers on both linear and HBO Max.
After House of the Dragon, it was the most anticipated debut since Boardwalk Empire debuted in 2010. By debuting with 9.986M viewers across linear and HBO Max, the Game of Thrones spinoff made history last year. This was the highest audience for any new original series in pay cabler’s history. Steve Buscemi starred in the historical drama Boardwalk Empire, which had 4.81 million viewers for its broadcast debut on a linear network in 2010.
The premiere statistics were almost twice as high as Euphoria’s 2.4M viewers on its season two launch night in January. In the U.S., that series eventually attracted 19.5M viewers per episode on average.
According to HBO, viewers on Sunday nights often make up 20% to 40% of each episode’s overall gross audience. The PlayStation game-inspired television series is set 20 years after the destruction of modern civilisation. Joel, a hardened survivor, is recruited to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of a harsh quarantine zone. A simple task quickly turns into a gruelling trip as they both travel across the US and rely on one another to survive.
The film also features Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid, Merle Dandridge, Jeffrey Pierce, Lamar Johnson, Keivonn Woodard, Graham Greene, Elaine Miles, Ashley Johnson, and Troy Baker in addition to Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett, and Nick Offerman.
Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann are the authors and executive producers of The Last Of Us. It was co-produced by PlayStation Productions, Word Games, The Mighty Mint, and Naughty Dog in addition to Sony Pictures Television. Additionally executive producing are Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Rose Lam.
“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,” said Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO, HBO & HBO Max Content. “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.”
“Our focus was simply to make the best possible adaptation of this beloved story for as big an audience as we could,” said Mazin and Druckmann. “We are overjoyed to see how many fans, both old and new, have welcomed The Last of Us into their homes and their hearts.”
