Episode 4 of HBO’s The Last of Us had the highest viewership yet

HBO’s The Last of Us has recorded a third consecutive week of ratings growth.

The fourth episode of the show premiered on Sunday night in the US, where it drew 7.5 million viewers, based on Nielsen and HBO data.

The viewing figure was up 17% from the previous week’s 6.4 million viewers and up 60% from the first episode’s 4.7 million viewers.

HBO recently 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.

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.

The fourth episode of The Last of Us introduced Kathleen, a ruthless leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas City, played by Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynskey.

The fifth episode will air two days earlier than usual, likely in a bid to avoid a clash with Sunday’s Super Bowl. It will be available on Friday, February 10 at 9pm ET (February 11 at 2am GMT ).