HBO has hailed the success of The Last of Us Season 2, saying an "influx" of viewers has raised the series' global audience to over 90 million since Season 1 ended.
In the U.S., last night’s Season 2 finale saw 3.7 million cross-platform viewers. The Season 2 premiere episode enjoyed 5.3 million viewers, which shows a decline from series opener to series closer, but Warner Bros. said it expects the audience for the Season 2 finale to grow “significantly” due to low viewing levels over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
It's also worth noting that the Season 1 finale set an audience record of 8.2 million viewers, so the Season 2 finale has some way to go before beating that figure.
However, a positive for Season 2 is that it has a higher average viewer figure per episode than Season 1. Season 2 currently has nearly 37 million worldwide viewers per episode, a figure that Warner Bros. said was “growing.” For context, Season 1 concluded with 32 million U.S. cross-platform viewers at 90 days post-premiere.
IGN’s recently published The Last of Us: Season 2 finale review returned a 6/10. “The Season 2 finale of The Last of Us reaches its agonising cliffhanger ending at a breakneck speed, disorientating as much as it thrills,” we said.
We’ve also got a The Last of Us Season 2 Ending Explained, where we ask: how does it set up Season 3?
The Last of Us premiered in January 2023 to major acclaim, even being touted by some as the best video game adaptation thus far. Season 1 collected a whopping eight Emmy awards out of the 24 nominations it received.
Last week, showrunner Craig Mazin indicated a fourth season is pretty much essential for the series. Speaking to Collider, Mazin agreed that in order to wrap up The Last of Us’ story from the two Naughty Dog-developed video games in Season 3 would mean Season 3 itself "would take forever." So, while there's a "decent chance" Season 3 will be longer than Season 2, at the end of the day "there’s no way to complete this narrative in a third season."
He continued: "Hopefully, we’ll earn our keep enough to come back and finish it in a fourth. That’s the most likely outcome."
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
