THE LAST OF US | HUGE NUMBERS for HBO MAX

The Last Of Us Draws HUGE Audiences for HBO Max

The Last of Us on HBO & HBO Max has managed to set some records from Warner Bros Discovery and sure David Zaslav and company are celebrating the win. With allegedly one of the biggest production budgets in HBO's history, The Last of Us is bringing in some wild viewership numbers beyond what many suspected would be the case.

The adaptation of the popular video game released nearly 10 years ago in 2013 was a MASSIVE hit during a time when such Zombie shows like The Walking Dead were peaking in popularity. The story follows the post apocalyptic survival of Joel (Pedro Pascal - The Mandalorian) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey - Game Of Thrones) in a world plagued by flesh eating monsters.

The first two episodes of the adapted TV series in 2023 drew huge audiences and episode 3 continued to build, with the season now averaging 21M viewers each week in the North American Market as per Warner Bros Discovery and Nielsen.

‘The Last Of Us’ Audience Grows For Third Consecutive Week, Becoming HBO’s Fourth Current Series Averaging 15M+ Viewers Per Episode
https://deadline.com/2023/01/the-last-of-us-episodes-3-hbo-ratings-house-of-the-dragon-euphoria-white-lotus-1235244949/

In episode 3 another two major characters from the game were introduced, Bill and Frank, played by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett. The problem here is that Bartlett's character in the original game was dead and the two men were never gay. However, the writers of the show in an attempt to cover some Diversity ground elected to radically alter the nature of the characters and their relationship. Whether or not this will repel some of the original game story purists is something time will tell if the ratings start to plateau or decline.

That said, it's important to note that provides the rest of the show remains excellent story-telling, I don't think most of the audience (particularly the normies who don't know every aspect of the game itself) will be hung up on it, provided the showrunners don't try and ham-fistedly push it at every opportunity.

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