Season 2 of The Last of Us concluded Sunday night with an audience of 3.7 million cross-platform viewers in the U.S., per HBO.
This is significantly lower than the Season 2 premiere episode’s 5.3M viewers, but the network says it expects there to be significant growth after the Memorial Day holiday weekend. That potential for growth is evidenced by the fact that Season 2 is already amassing more average viewers over time than Season 1.
According to HBO, Season 2 is tallying nearly 37M global viewers per episode and growing. For context, the Season 1 premiere eventually went on to generate nearly 32M viewers in 90 days post-premiere, which is the largest audience for an HBO and Max debut season ever.
The Last of Us has seen an influx of viewership to the series, exceeding 90M total viewers since Season 1 ended. So far, the series has yet to surpass the audience record set by the Season 1 finale, for which 8.2M tuned in.
While there is still plenty of room for the finale to grow its audience, the viewership decline is not entirely without precedent. The Last of Us Part II was quite a bit more controversial than its predecessor, making some bold narrative choices that continue to spark debate and elicit strong opinions nearly five years after its release. Season 2 of the HBO series adapts the first half of the second game and has similarly drawn mixed reactions.
Based on Naughty Dog’s award-winning video game, The Last of Us takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal and heartbreaking journey as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
Season 2 picks up 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.
In addition to Pascal and Ramsey, returning cast includes Gabriel Luna and Rutina Wesley. Joining Season 2 are Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Young Mazino, Ariela Barer, Tati Gabrielle, Spencer Lord, Danny Ramirez and Jeffrey Wright. Catherine O’Hara also guest stars.
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