HBO’s series adaptation of the hit PlayStation game ‘The Last of Us’ premiered on Sunday, with the cable channel’s second-biggest debut in the last 13 years, just behind ‘La casa del Dragon’. According to Nielsen ratings and Warner Bros. Discovery’s own data, the first episode of the drama with Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey garnered 4.7 million viewers in the US on both HBO and the HBO Max stream. .
That figure makes the premiere of ‘The Last of Us’ be the second-biggest opening for an HBO show since the premiere of ‘Boardwalk Empire’ in 2010, long before HBO Max, HBO Go and HBO Now were available to customers. The only series premiere that surpasses it is ‘The House of the Dragon’, which premiered last summer with almost 10 million viewers, while ‘Game of Thrones’ obtained “only” 4.2 million viewers in its premiere in 2011 .
In addition, the numbers for “The Last of Us” were almost double that of Season 2 for “Euphoria,” HBO’s biggest modern hit alongside the RR Martin prequel. Also, It beats other hits like ‘True Detective,’ ‘The Leftovers,’ ‘Westworld,’ ‘Silicon Valley,’ ‘Veep,’ ‘Succession,’ and the previous series from the adaptation creator, ‘Chernobyl.’. The channel notes that Sunday night viewership for an HBO series typically makes up 20-40% of the show’s total gross viewership per episode, so the show is expected to grow from here. .
Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO & HBO Max content. has commented:
“We are thrilled to see fans of the series and the game experience this iconic story in a new way, and we extend our gratitude to them for helping make it such a success. Congratulations to Craig, Neil and the brilliant cast and crew who worked tirelessly to bring this show to life. We hope fans around the world enjoy the rest of the season.”