HBO Renews THE LAST OF US for Season 2!
HBO has announced that their awesome series adaptation of the hit video game franchise The Last of Us will be back for a second season! The first season is only two episodes in, but the ratings are great and the critics and audiences are loving it! I finally just got the chance to watch the second episode last night and it was so good!
I’m not surprised that the series is going to be getting a second season, but it’s good to see that it’s been solidified. The series comes from Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and game creator Neil Druckmann.
Francesca Orsi, EVP of HBO Programming, said in a statement: “Craig and Neil, alongside EP Carolyn Strauss, and the rest of our phenomenal cast and crew, have defined a genre with their masterful debut season of The Last of Us. After pulling off this unforgettable first season, I can’t wait to watch this team outshine themselves again with Season 2.”
Druckmann said: “I’m humbled, honored, and frankly overwhelmed that so many people have tuned in and connected with our retelling of Joel and Ellie’s journey. The collaboration with Craig Mazin, our incredible cast & crew, and HBO exceeded my already high expectations. Now we have the absolute pleasure of being able to do it again with season two! On behalf of everyone at Naughty Dog & PlayStation, thank you!”
Mazin added: “I’m so grateful to Neil Druckmann and HBO for our partnership, and I’m even more grateful to the millions of people who have joined us on this journey. The audience has given us the chance to continue, and as a fan of the characters and world Neil and Naughty Dog created, I couldn’t be more ready to dive back in.”
The first episode of the series has surpassed 22 million viewers domestically, up nearly five times from its premiere-night audience on January 15. Episode 2 drew 5.7 million viewers across HBO Max and linear telecasts in the U.S. Sunday night. That’s about a million more than the audience that tuned in for the premiere episode and it marks the largest Week 2 audience growth for any HBO Original drama series.
The Last of Us takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed by a deadly virus. Joel (Pedro Pascal), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone to the Fireflies, a cure-searching organization. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
In addition to Pascal and Ramsey, the first season also stars Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett, Nick Offerman, Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid, Merle Dandridge, Jeffrey Pierce, Lamar Johnson, Keivonn Woodard, Graham Greene, Elaine Miles, Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker.