The Last of Us hits new viewership high on HBO ahead of Season 1 finale

HBO’s The Last of Us continues to break and set new viewership numbers, with the most recent episode 8 hitting a brand new series high for the popular zombie show.

There is no denying that The Last of Us has been a massive hit for HBO. With almost universal praise from critics and millions upon millions of viewers each week, the new series has well and truly broken the mold that video game adaptations of the past have so tirelessly tried to rid themselves of.

According to Warner Bros. Discovery and as reported by Variety, the most recent episode, When We are In Need, brought in 8.1 million viewers on debut. These numbers were a 74% increase from the first episode of the show which brought in 4.7 million people.

On top of HBO’s success, the popularity of the show has also seen an extreme rise in sales for the original video game. Just months prior we reported that sales for the first game have skyrocketed.

In Dexerto’s review of episode 8, we wrote, “The Last of Us Episode 8 is a total knockout, bringing the game’s scariest villain to life with a complex, brilliant performance by Scott Shepherd and Bella Ramsey at the peak of her powers.”

Prior to these new viewership statistics, Episode 4 held the record for most watchers with 7.5 million viewers. And with the first season of the show set to conclude in the next episode, there’s a good chance that the finale will bring in even more numbers.

While the show has been getting massive praise, there have also been issues surrounding review-bombing. In particular, episodes 3 and 7, which focused on LGBTQ+ romance and characters, were heavily attacked by online users.

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