The Last Of Us Season 2’s Viewership Is Outpacing Season 1

If you build it, they will come—especially when what you’re building is the most acclaimed video game adaptation ever. After waiting a little over a year to see the aftermath of Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) controversial decision to save Ellie, The Last of Us’s second season debuted to a larger audience than its predecessor.

The April 13 episode of The Last of Us reached 5.3 million viewers on Sunday night, a 13 percent increase over the first season’s premiere episode, which was seen by 4.7 million viewers, according to Variety. This shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise for anyone familiar with HBO’s ratings goldmine. The 4.7 million viewers that watched the first season’s premiere episode was the second-largest debut for an HBO series since Boardwalk Empire in 2010. The first season of The Last of Us also saw an unprecedented ratings increase with each episode, with the season finale gaining a 74 percent bump in viewers compared to the first episode. That could absolutely be the case for this season, given what we can expect from the upcoming episodes.

While the second season won’t cover the entire story of The Last of Us Part II video game, our review of the season promises gripping scenes from the incredible Jeffrey Wright as Isaac Dixon. The trailer hints at Ellie confronting Joel about lying to her at the end of the first season, and the premiere already introduced the idea of infected humans now being more strategic and less blindly bloodthirsty. That’s more than enough mayhem and heartbreak to make this season appointment viewing.

Is this season as engrossing and morally complex as The Last of Us Part II? No. Will it still be one of the most watched shows of 2025? That’s as certain as a whisper leading to death by a Clicker.