6.4 million people tuned in to watch the third episode of HBO's The Last of Us TV adaptation on Sunday night, meaning the series has pulled in more viewers than ever before for a second week in a row. The show's debut pulled in 4.7 million viewers upon its first airing, which was beaten by the second episode at 5.7 million. The latest instalment represents a 12 per cent increase in viewership over episode two and a 37 per cent jump over the premiere.
The TV series' first two episodes are now averaging at around 21.3 million viewers, which is only beaten by House of the Dragon at 29 million. Capitalising on the instant success, HBO has announced it's renewed The Last of Us for a second season, adapting at least some of PS4 game The Last of Us: Part II.
These latest stats mean HBO now have four original shows pulling in more than an average of 15 million viewers across all platforms. As well as The Last of Us and House of the Dragon, season two of Euphoria gets 19.5 million views per episode while the second stint of The White Lotus draws 15.5 million people on average.
Described as the best episode in the first season by many, it deviated from the game's narrative to tell the story of Bill and Frank. "It drew light to a different side of one of the game's most iconic characters, while fleshing out the narrative threads that were present on PlayStation, but never explored," we explained in our review. "It's perfectly paced, disastrously emotional, filled to the brim with terrific performances, and assuredly an episode of TV we aren't likely to forget for a long, long time."
[source deadline.com]
Comments 25
Even though this episode deviated heavily from the game's source material, wow did it do justice for the characters of Bill and Frank. Easily the best episode so far and high chance of this winning a few Emmys.
Makes me excited for the expansion of the Ish storyline in the " Suburbs" section later on.
Well deserved. Brilliant way to adapt a storyline that couldn't be told as it was in the games, which was mostly through objects you picked up, and instead adapt it for a new medium and a new audience.
I love how this show acts as a brilliant companion to the games too with a lot of nods to those who played.
Agree with @jimbouk that this could end up winning Emmys at this rate. Masterful.
Rhonda Rousey as Abby 😎
My god, this episode is beautiful. Goes to show they know how to do adaptation, make it a new experience and still stay totally and undyingly faithful to the source material.
This is how it's done. They deserve the success.
@Loamy , Nick Offerman was great and the casting was excellent, but Murray Bartlett as Frank stole the show for me. Sad to see how it ended for both of them but what was once a minor character only mentioned in a note in the game has a full blown character arc. Love how this show is expanding upon the lore and acts as a faithful companion piece to the game
This was one of the strongest episodes of TV I've seen in a long time. I sat next to my girlfriend watching and my throat was in agony from trying not to burst into ugly tears - I don't know how that works but that's what happened. My girlfriend, who is usually an absolute robot btw, couldn't hold it in either and by the end were just a total shambles.
This episode hit hard. Really tremendous stuff.
I am very curious how the viewership numbers look for the next episode. Unfortunately, there are many who probably didn't appreciate episode three "having an agenda." I don't recommend it, but if you look in the IGN comment section for an article about the episode, you see far more hate than we should.
Episode three was about love and it was beautiful. That's it.
I’m honestly not getting the crazy amount of gushing over this most recent episode. It was well produced and certainly well acted, but the massive focus on Bill and Frank did nothing to move the plot forward or even add to it. In fact, if you removed their ‘love story’ from the show entirely it wouldn’t have made a single bit of difference to the over-arching narrative of the show itself and thus came off as a massive waste of time, money and resources. And I’ll also say that at no point was I ever on the verge of tears and I DO get emotional at well done tragedy in film. I just couldn’t get past the feeling that the vast majority of what I was watching was totally unnecessary and kept waiting for the story to get back on track.
Craig Mazin's ability to take advantage of the longer form is impressive and on full display in this episode. Chernobyl also did a great job of this, making each episode its own powerful vignette through multiple POV's.
With part 1 still holding firm as my fav game of all its no surprise to me its doing great numbers especially when it appears they've adopted the script to tv show correctly. For all of part 2 devisive audience I actually think it's suited more to tv than part 1 is cause part 2 script has a set of balls many other tv shows rarely ever dare to go
@DETfaninATL BUT... PLOT!!!!!!!!
Sorry, had to respond. TV shows can expand on the world away from the main story and still be great. It's good to see this, as we can now imagine how there will be other people surviving in their own unique ways all across the globe. And these characters have influenced both Joel and Ellie now, via the letter, and the life they led.
This is world building. This is a story of love and survival definitely worth telling. People are maybe a bit too focused on THE PLOT MOVING. I blame critics making people watch TV like they are also film critics, and social media because that's where these new critic type habits formed.
What even is plot, really. A nuisance at times that gets in the way of a good tale 😃 A story is a story. Enjoy it for what it is. And see it's influence grow in the other characters.
@Ravix I certainlly respect your opinion, but plot is the central device to which a story is told. Without it you have nothing but an incoherent mess of ideas struggling for some sort of cohesion. Even Bill & Frank's mini-story had it's own 'plot' or 'narrative'. To deny that is just plain foolishness. So, again, I felt their story added little to nothing to the overall narrative of Joel and Ellie's story, which is, after all, what the entire show is about.
@DETfaninATL yeah, I know, I was being a little tongue in cheek with the plot stuff. But overall I'm left thinking, after your comment, does it really matter? I don't think it does. Not everything has to be all about the 'main plot' it's the world and the people who also inhabit it, and that affects those who the main story follows.
But I get wanting to see more Joel and Ellie, that's fair enough. I read a fair few books though, and the amount of time focused on just a few people is very rare, so I'm always glad to see more detail in world building and support stories in TV shows too. And I'm very patient, I just want quality stuff either way 😃
@WolfyTn
Yeeeeeeeeeees
@DETfaninATL
From my friends that never play tlou and watched it, they're not lost and they love it.
@Ravix Well, I, like you, am glad (likely for the first time in, ........well......, EVER!) that a video game adaptation is not only being handled well, but being given the incredible quality of treatment like this show is. Especially since the core material is beloved by the fan base. So true enough, whether you like what they did with ep. 3 (like many aparently do) or whether you found it cumbersome, boring and unnecessary (like I did), there's NO DENYING this show is of very high quality and I'm certinly glad to see it!
@GodofCapcom Not sure I follow your comment? I never said or implied anyone would be 'lost' with the amount of time they spent on Bill and Frank. I just think it was unnecessary to the overall narrative and if I'm being honest, was gratutious. But to each their own. It's just entertainment.
I laugh every time someone says OMG THIS IS THE BEST TV SHOW EVER (or any variation of that) when there has been 3 episodes so far. You look like a fool making absurd statements like that.
@marnelljm do people really say that? 😅 It's definitely not the best show ever. It's most likely the best adaption of a game ever. And probably the best apocalypse type show (I imagine) and it's probably the best show currently showing at this moment in time (which can excite people)
It's got a long way to go to reach something like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and even early Fargo, as yet though. Hopefully the whole season keeps on at this rate though, as it's really high quality.
I still genuinely wish it was more drawn out to have really built on the collapse of society and the rebirth of a new world, but now with the flashbacks we get to see some more of that at least 😃
Haters can suck it
@Loamy The actor playing Frank is outstanding and hilarious in The White Lotus season one, he stole the show for me.
@TheCollector316 A few people being loud on the internet (ON BOTH SIDES) doesn't make it a common line of thinking.
The show will continue its success I have no doubt.
Game story was more interesting. This was nice and well acted though.
Glad to see the show doing well. It's been great for the most part. Episode 3 was a bit of a dud but episode 1&2 were excellent and episode 4 is going to start getting into the really good stuff.
I have no idea how folks think the 3rd episode was an all time great. I thought it was at best okay but to each their own I guess.
"Good Job, Craig and Neil..." " Neil I was losing my faith in you since 2020, the road to redemption is possible.."
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