Infected Beats Dragons as The Last of Us Viewership Grows Even Larger

The Last of Us may have one less total episode than another of HBO’s hit series, House of the Dragon, but that hasn’t slowed it down as the apocalypse show has managed to captivate even more viewers than the fantasy spinoff.

HBO is saying that The Last of Us’ current viewer count is averaging around 30 million with the first six episodes, meaning this count does not include the 8.2 million that watched the season finale when it aired. This is a slight increase over the penultimate episode’s amount, which came in at roughly 8.1 million. On the other hand, according to previous viewership counts that HBO released in 2022, House of the Dragon averaged 29 million viewers.

All of this being said, it is a very minor difference, as both shows rounded out their first season with incredibly impressive numbers; however, it’s worth noting that The Last of Us indeed looks to be the victor between the two. Also, seeing as how both series bring in an already established fanbase, it’s interesting to see that The Last of Us fans have edged out the remaining Game of Thrones fans by a tiny margin.

These viewership numbers indicate that while many argue that zombie and/or post-apocalyptic films and series are played out, audiences are still interested in the genre.

Both House of the Dragon and The Last of Us are set to receive second installments, which unfortunately, are not likely to be finished for a while. Still, there has been news that The Last of Us Part II’s story will take place over more than one season, yet how exactly the game will be split up remains to be seen.