TV Series
‘The Last of Us’ renewed for Season 2
Following its early success, HBO has already announced that the new series will be renewed for a second season.
HBO’s new hit series ‘The Last of Us’ has officially been renewed for Season 2. The news comes after the show’s debut was watched by 22 million viewers domestically and quickly became a trending topic on social media.
The renewal comes as no surprise to both fans and actress Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie on the show. After only two episodes have aired with a third set to run this Sunday on HBO and HBO Max, the show has gathered a 97 percent critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Viewership increasing
The show has seen the largest week-two audience growth for any HBO Drama series in the history of the network, with a 22 percent jump in viewership from 4.7 million to 5.7 million. The series also trended both in the U.S. and worldwide on Twitter during its series premiere.
Neil Druckmann, the creator of ‘The Last of Us’ Video Game and executive producer of the HBO show, revealed his joy at the announcement.
“I’m humbled, honored, and frankly overwhelmed that so many people have tuned in and connected with our retelling of Joel and Ellie’s journey,” said Druckmann. “The collaboration with Craig Mazin, our incredible cast & crew, and HBO exceeded my already high expectations … Now we have the absolute pleasure of being able to do it again with Season 2! On behalf of everyone at Naughty Dog & PlayStation, thank you!”
The original story
‘The Last of Us’ is based on a 2013 PlayStation game with the same title. In the game, players use firearms and weapons to defend themselves against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated fungus.
Similarly, the HBO show follows Joel, a hardened survivor who is hired to smuggle Ellie, a seemingly immune 14-year-old girl out of an oppressive quarantine zone, 20 years after the initial fungal outbreak occurs.
As viewership for the series grows, so have opportunities for the show’s actors. Later this month Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel on the show, will host ‘Saturday Night Live’ for the first time.
New episodes of the series debut Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and are available to stream on HBO Max. The series finale will take place on March 12, 2023. The first episode of the series is now available for free on HBOMax.com.
The series also has an official companion podcast, with weekly episodes where showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann take a deep dive into each week’s episode.