The Last of Us has only needed two episodes to prove that it is, by far, the best adaptation of a video game ever made. The extraordinary audience numbers, moreover, have convinced HBO to go ahead with the post-apocalyptic world. For this reason, the company renewed The Last of Us for a second season, thus ending the speculation that has arisen in recent weeks regarding the future of production. The announcement was made via the series’ official Twitter account.
Neil Drukmann, showrunner of the series with Craig Mazin, it was pronounced On the renewal: “I’m honored, and frankly overwhelmed, that so many people have tuned in and connected with our narrative of Joel and Ellie’s journey. The collaboration with Craig Mazin, our amazing cast and crew, and HBO, exceeded my high expectations. Now we have the pleasure of being able to do it again with the second season. On behalf of everyone at Naughty Dog and PlayStation, Thank you!”
For his part, Craig Mazin commented: “I am very grateful to Neil Druckmann and HBO for our partnership, and I am even more grateful to the millions of people who have joined us on this journey. The audience has given us a chance to continue, and as fans of the characters and world that Neil and Naughty Dog created, I couldn’t be more ready to delve back into it.”
During this week, Bella Ramsey, the actress who plays Ellie in The Last of Us, said that the second season was not yet guaranteed. Of course, given the excellent reception that the beginning of the series has had, she considered that it was quite likely that there would be more episodes. “If people keep looking, I think [una segunda temporada] it is quite likely. It’s up to the guys at HBO. There is nothing confirmed yet, so we will have to wait and see,” he commented.
Now, HBO, like any other company involved in the streaming video market, tries to tread carefully when it comes to renewing series. Even more so because, in the specific case of The Last of Us, it is one of the most expensive productions in its history, something that is evident with the surprising audiovisual quality. Therefore, they had to first ensure that it was profitable before reopening the portfolio.
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Fortunately, for HBO, The Last of Us has managed to attract the interest of millions of people. Not only from those who became fans of the franchise since the launch of the first game in 2013, but also from those people who, for one reason or another, have not enjoyed the playable experience.
A rather revealing fact that shows the success of the series is the audience growth between the premiere of the first episode and the second. According to the numbers provided by HBO itself, the debut chapter was seen by 4.7 million people in its first hours of availability, while the next one rose to 5.7 million.
What does the last thing mean? Basically, that during the days after the premiere of the first episode, The Last of Us made enough noise to attract more people. Beyond the positive reviews, it also had to see that many recommended it to their close contacts. That significant growth allowed the series to set a record on the platform.
“This is the highest week 2 viewership growth for an HBO original drama series in the platform’s history”
HBO.
Of course, if the first season was in charge of representing the events of The Last of Us Part 1, we can intuit that the second will do the same with the second title. Without going into spoiler territory —because many people haven’t played it— I can only tell you that The Last of Us Part 2’s story is even rawer.