Episode 3 of HBO’s The Last of Us had the highest audience ratings yet

The third episode of HBO’s The Last of Us has recorded another week of ratings growth.

The latest episode of the adaptation aired on Sunday night in the US, where it attracted 6.4 million viewers, based on Nielsen and HBO data.

The viewing figure was up 12% from the previous week’s 5.7 million viewers and up 37% from the first episode’s 4.7 million viewers.

Last week, HBO said it had renewed The Last of Us for a second season. The news came after the show’s second episode recorded the largest ever week two audience growth for an HBO original drama series.

HBO said on Wednesday that season one of The Last of Us is now averaging 21.3 million viewers across its first two episodes.

Based on Naughty Dog’s hit PlayStation series, the HBO adaptation stars Pedro Pascal as smuggler Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, a 14-year-old girl who might hold the cure to a deadly parasitic virus that has swept the globe.

The Last of Us is produced and written by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann, who also co-wrote and directed the game series.

Over the course of nine episodes, its debut season will cover the events of The Last of Us, which was released for PS3 in 2013, and its downloadable expansion The Last of Us: Left Behind, which arrived the following year.

Further reading

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Co-creator Neil Druckmann says he's “humbled, honoured, and frankly overwhelmed" by the response

The third episode of the show introduced Bill and Frank, two post-pandemic lovers living alone in their own isolated town. Bill is played by Nick Offerman, who is best known for playing Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation, while Frank is played by Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus).

HBO recently released a preview trailer for the fourth episode of The Last of Us. It teases the introduction of a hostile group of survivors called the Hunters, and the arrival of Kathleen, a “ruthless leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas City”, who is played by Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynskey.