Summary
Bella Ramsay’s Ellie may have taken a major step forward inThe Last of Usseason 2 finale, but the same can’t be said for the show itself. Judging by the latest viewership figures, it’s a regression that should certainly worry HBO, or anyone with stakes in this survival horror.
The Last of Usseason 2 came to a close on July 25, 2025, with seven episodes—two shorter than the nine of season 1—and takes viewers closer to Ellie’s search for Abby and her group. However, it ends on a cliffhanger that’ll likely take till 2027 to resolve. The inaugural season of thevideo game-to-film adaptationhas proven to be one of the biggest hits to ever grace the small screen, becoming the second-most-watched HBO premiere of the past decade. It also set a record for the largest viewership jump between a show’s debut and second episode, gaining an impressive 5.7 million viewers.
The Last of UsSeason 2 Finale Attracted Fewer Viewers Than the Season Premiere
It’s Also a Disappointing Decline From Season 1’s Finale
According toVariety,The Last of Usseason 2 finale drew just 3.7 million viewers on its premiere night across HBO and HBO Max in the U.S. That’s 30% lower than the 5.3 million the season opened with and less than half the 8.2 million who tuned in for season 1’s finale. For reference, the first season not only ended with double the premiere viewership, but also had three episodes with over one million live viewers—season 2 has none.
That a highly anticipated TV show sequel such as this is struggling to match its previous numbers is alarming. Other less positively received HBO shows did much better:House of the Dragonseason 2 finale, which also ends on an annoying cliffhanger, debuted with 8.9 million viewers, andThe White Lotusfinale pulled in 6.2 million. Analysts, including those from Warner Bros. itself, blame the Memorial Day holiday for slowing down streaming activities, but such weekends have historically been good ones for TV shows; it’s not for no reason that Netflix chooses the summer and holiday seasons to drop its biggest hits.
This is not to say that there aren’t other factors at play which are entirely the fault of HBO and Warner Bros. A rushed second season, and the refusal (fear, more like it) of showrunners make sane deviations from the source material game—The Last of Us: Part II—have translated into a show that’s getting worse with each season.
It’s not all bad news forThe Last of Us and its seven-episode season, though; there’s a silver lining. Data from HBO shows that the second season’s previous episodes averaged an audience of 37 million globally. Compared to the 32 million of season 1 in the U.S. alone, these numbers cease to look impressive. But it’s at least a sign that there is still a chance for the finale to gain momentum.
