Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in English
“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. WBD also reported a large amount of catch-up viewing, with Season 1’s streaming total last week growing by 150% compared to the week before.
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. With 90 days of delayed viewing accounted for, “The Last of Us” ended up achieving a season average of 32 million viewers.
The official logline for Season 2 of “The Last of Us” reads, “Five years after the events of the first season, Joel and Ellie are drawn into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind.” The series is created and written by Neil Druckmann, who created the video game that serves as source material, and Craig Mazin. They both serve as executive producers alongside Carolyn Strauss, Jacqueline Lesko, Cecil O’Connor, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan and Evan Wells, with Halley Gross serving as writer and co-executive producer. Sony Pictures Television produces with PlayStation Productions, Word Games, Mighty Mint and Naughty Dog.
