‘The Last of Us’ Finale: Record-Setting Journey of the HBO Show Remained Unmoved by the Oscars 2023

The Last of Us wrapped its initial season with a bang! While HBO Max’s video game adaption had received some big numbers in the audience charts, the last episode came in strong and broke all the previous records, garnering over 8 million viewers during the premiere. Episode 9 is officially the most-watched episode premiere of the series. 

Although the prestigious 95th Academy Awards aired simultaneously with the episode, the television show still managed to register such phenomenal numbers. However, the lead actor, Pedro Pascal (Joel Miller in the series) had to skip the airing of the finale, as he was present at the Oscars as a presenter. 

Last of Us episode 9 breaks series records 

From the data collected from Warner Bros. Discovery and reports by Variety, they have revealed that the initial premiere (Sunday night airing) of Episode 9 had accumulated over 8.2 million views. HBO broadcasted the latest episode on their cable channel and official streaming service, HBO Max. 

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The data has also revealed that the first six episodes of the series are all now averaging 30.4 million viewers. The first episode is in the neighborhood with 40 million total views since it aired. In the Latin American and European markets, the Last of Us has already become the most-watched show in the history of HBO Max.

According to the data, the viewer count for every Episode’s premier is: 

Episode 1 – 4.7m

Episode 2 – 5.7m

Episode 3 – 6.4m

Episode 4 – 7.5m

Episode 5 – 11.6m* (early premiere, includes data from Fri-Sun)

Episode 6 – 7.8m

Episode 7 – 7.7m

Episode 8 – 8.1m

Episode 9 – 8.2m

(This data is based on the Sunday premier viewer count. Because of the early Friday release of Episode 5, the viewer count from Friday to Sunday was summed together) 

The Last of Us episode 9’s triumph is more impressive because of the Oscars live event broadcasting simultaneously. In spite of the competition, the show managed to steer the Audience to its season finale. However, this is not the first time LoU had successfully outnumbered a high-profile award show.

The premier of Episode  4, titled “Please Hold to My Hand,”, aired during the broadcast of the Grammy’s. Still, it garnered over 7.5 million viewers, which was a series record then. The debut episode of the show had acquired an audience of 4.7 million, which was the second biggest debut in HBO history, after “House of the Dragon”

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What do you make of the numbers for The Last of Us? Are you excited for Season 2? Let us know in the comments below.