TV Show
The Grammys didn’t stop ‘The Last of Us’ from maintaining its viewership
Although the HBO series aired at the same time as the award show, ratings remained high
‘The Last of Us’ fans proved their loyalty by tuning into the latest episode on Sunday, even though it was at the same time as the 2023 Grammy Award Show.
With 12.4 million people watching the ceremony live, ‘The Last of Us’ stood the test with 7.5 million viewers tuning in to watch Episode 4, ‘Please hold my hand.’
The show has consistently held high ratings, with the series premiere ‘When You’re Lost in the Darkness’ earning 4.7 million U.S. viewers. Since then, each episode has maintained a high viewership rating. Episode 2, ‘Infected,’ had roughly 5.2 million viewers, and Episode 3, ‘Long, Long Time,’ had 6.4 million viewers.
Consistently high viewership for ‘The Last of Us’
HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’ had 10 million viewers watch the premiere, but the series saw viewership slowly dwindle by Episode 3. ‘The Last of Us’ has so far shown consistent viewership and could even surpass ‘House of the Dragon’ by the time it gets to the season finale on March 12, which also coincides with the Oscars.
The high viewership is also a testament to the high-quality production of the series, standing out compared to other video game adaptations that have fallen flat in the past.
Despite holding up its ratings during the Grammys, HBO has rescheduled the premiere date of Episode 5 from its usual Sunday spot to Friday, February 10 in light of Super Bowl LVII.
This is one of the rare times the network has moved an episode premiere because of the Super Bowl. In February 2022, the network aired Episode 6 of ‘Euphoria’ on the same night as the Super Bowl.
New characters introduced in the latest episode
Episode 4 introduced a new character that doesn’t appear in the video game, played by Melanie Lynskey, named Kathleen Coghlan. Lynskey plays an unassuming villain, masked by Lynskey’s soft-spoken voice.
“I wanted her to be kind of gentle. I wanted her to be soft-spoken and delicate in the way she looked around. I wanted her to feel like a sweet person, and then to have a surprising capacity for violence. I thought the difference between how she carries herself and how she speaks and the things she’s doing would be interesting.” Lynskey said of the character in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.