HBO Is Giving The Last of Us Justice

The Last of Us made its debut on January 17 on HBO and HBO Max. As you might have guessed, it is a TV Series that ports one of the most popular games, The Last of Us. 

The Last of Us game already has captured our hearts with its deep storylines. This also meant many surely received the tv adaptation well. The video game adaptation was a recipe for success given the established fan base.

It also included a star-studded cast and an accurate representation of the franchise. 

While it’s too early to predict if The Last of Us will become the most popular TV series based on a video game. The viewership data is a sure sign that HBO is doing something right. Notably, The Last of Us is the company’s first time adapting a video game into a show.

The Last of Us TV series premiere garnered 4.7 million U.S. viewers, making it HBO’s second-largest debut since “Boardwalk Empire” premiered over a decade ago with 4.81 million viewers. House of the Dragon remains the biggest premiere in HBO history with nearly 10 million viewers.

The premiere caused a 69% increase in first-time U.S. downloads of the HBO Max app. This download is across iOS and Android devices, per third-party app intelligence estimates from data.ai. 

Plus, the HBO Max app reached #4 on the overall free iPhone app ranking on the U.S. App Store on the night of the premiere. The last time it was this high in the ranking was when it hit #3 on the list when House of the Dragon debuted in August 2022.

The Last of Us TV Series Premiere

September 26, 2003, a girl named Sarah wakes up in her suburban Austin home to the searchlights of military choppers. Her dad, Joel, is gone, and the TV is blaring a national emergency warning. 

The neighbor’s dog starts scratching on the window. Sarah goes to the house across the street and steps in a trail of smeared blood in the kitchen. Following its line, she finds the elderly mother of her neighbor Connie hunched on all fours, Connie’s throat between her teeth. 

Sarah races outside, and the mother chases her, jerked along as if on puppet strings. Just in time, Joel screeches up in a truck with her uncle Tommy and beats the mother’s head in with a wrench. As Sarah, Joel, and Tommy escape in their pickup, a house burns on the horizon. “Everybody had the same f-cking idea,” Tommy says as cars cram the highways.

As Joel and Sarah soon learn, billions of people have become infected by a parasitic fungus that turns them into vicious zombie-like husks that bite their prey to multiply. By the time the father and daughter pull up into downtown Austin, the “infected” swarm the streets. 

A plane falls out of the sky, then their car flips in the explosion. The explosion caused Sarah’s ankle to break. Joel carries her through a diner while the infected give chase. The pair finally reach a soldier, who asks if they are sick. Then, following orders, the soldier opens fire on them, killing Sarah.

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