“The Last of Us” returned to HBO for its second season on Sunday night, reaching 5.3 million viewers with its Season 2 premiere.

That marks a 13% increase from the Season 1 premiere, which hit 4.7 million viewers in January 2023. These totals come from a combination of Nielsen’s measurement of linear viewers who tune in via HBO’s cable channel plus Warner Bros. Discovery’s own data regarding streams on Max.

Led by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us” was an immediate ratings juggernaut for HBO upon its debut. After achieving as the second-most watched HBO premiere in more than a decade, the sci-fi drama grew to 5.7 million viewers with Episode 2, which was then HBO’s largest-ever increase between a series’ first and second episode. It continued to perform well throughout the season, growing almost every week before delivering a series high of 8.2 million viewers with its finale.

More to come…