So far, The Last of Us has been a massive success for HBO, garnering near-universal praise and attracting enough eyeballs to cement it as the first hit series of 2023. Although we’re only two episodes into its debut season, there’s already talk about the show’s future. But while it might be too early for HBO to start considering a renewal, one of its stars feels that a second season is all but a sure thing at this point.
While chatting with BBC Radio, Bella Ramsey—who co-headlines the series as Ellie opposite Pedro Pascal’s Joel—was asked about The Last of Us’ chances of coming back with more episodes. And presumably because she reads the news like the rest of us, she expressed her confidence in the series’ longevity, so long as it doesn’t lose its ratings momentum.
“If people keep watching, I think [a second series] is pretty likely,” said Ramsey. “It’s down to the guys at HBO. There’s nothing confirmed yet so we’ll have to wait and see.”
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Getting fans to keep watching shouldn’t be a problem. The first episode of The Last of Us netted HBO its second-largest premiere in more than a decade when it aired on January 15. That night, 4.7 million viewers tuned in to catch the start of Joel and Ellie’s cross-country journey across a post-apocalyptic America. These numbers later ballooned to 10 million viewers within two days of the episode’s release.
As if that weren’t impressive enough, the show set another record last weekend when episode 2 brought in 5.7 million viewers, a 22% increase from the previous week that marked the largest two-week audience growth for an HBO drama series in the history of the network. The success of the TV series is also generating newfound interest in its source material. IGN reports that sales of Naughty Dog’s original Last of Us video game have spiked as high as 322% in the U.K. since the debut of its live-action counterpart.
The next episode of The Last of Us airs this Sunday, January 29 at 9pm on HBO.
Do you agree with Ramsey about the show’s renewal prospects? Tell us what you think in the comment section below!
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