There’s no guarantee that shows that performed well in season one will perform again in season two. In fact, with the increasingly normal two-year gaps between seasons, keeping an audience can be trickier than ever. But one show that shows no signs of slowing down in season two is The Last of Us. Indeed, The Last of Us’ season two premiere outperformed its season one debut. And that means season one set it up very well indeed. We guess this makes sense because The Last of Us season one really became an incredibly buzzy series, and it had an ardent layer of support from lovers of the game. Still retaining and growing a fanbase into season two is a feat trickier than escaping Infected zombies. Here are all the insights into how The Last of Us season two outperformed season one.
The Last of Us season two debuted with 5.3 million same-day U.S. cross-platform viewers. And according to HBO, that outpaces the Season 1 premiere by about 10%. At the time, the season one premiere of The Last of Us tied for HBO’s biggest premiere with House of the Dragon with 4.7M. But, of course, The Last of Us season two outpaces that by many thousands of viewers.
In total, The Last of Us season one premiere has seen about 32M viewers. And that gets it the title for the largest audience that an HBO/Max debut season has ever seen. Fans were even taking the time to catch up or remind themselves of what happened in season one of The Last of Us before season two, since views of the episodes during premiere week were 150% higher than the week before.
The Last of UsOpens in a new tab season two takes us back to a dystopian, post-apocalyptic universe where a fungal infection turns people into monstersOpens in a new tab. The synopsis for the season shares, “Five years after the events of the first season, Joel and Ellie are drawn into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind.”
Season two of The Last of Us includes a returning cast of Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, and Rutina Wesley as Maria. New cast includes Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, Danny Ramirez as Manny, and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac. Catherine O’Hara also guest stars.
The Last of Us seasons one and two are based on the acclaimed video game franchise developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation® consoles. The series is written and executive produced by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann.
