‘The Last of Us’ Finale Becomes Sky’s Biggest Audience Ever For A US Debut Series
‘The Last of Us‘ continues to smash record viewing numbers worldwide, with Sky revealing the drama has become the biggest finale audience ever for a US debut series on the UK platform.
‘The Last of Us’ takes place 20 years after modern civilization’s destruction. Joel (Pedro Pascal – ‘The Mandalorian’), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Bella Ramsey – ‘Game Of Thrones’), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal and heartbreaking journey as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
The finale episode of the critically acclaimed series received the biggest audience ever for a first-series US drama finale on Sky, reaching over 3.1 million UK viewers to date reflected in the 7-day cumulative audience figure. Typically a third of fans watched the show within the first 24 hours of episodes airing on Sky. The official Sky Atlantic overnight ratings reported 1.2 million viewers (you’ll be glad to hear, exceeded the viewership of the ‘Love Island’ finale on ITV which aired on the same night…) The 3.1 million 7-day cumulative figure has also surpassed the audience for the finale of ‘House of the Dragon’.
“I’m blown away by the overwhelming response we have had to The Last Of Us,” said Zai Bennett MD of Content at Sky. “The Sky Atlantic series really has broken new ground with its storytelling and you can really see the impact the show has had with its contribution to a national conversation. It has inspired, challenged, and captivated fans and critics alike.”
The series has given a boost to a number of concepts and artists featured in the drama too. Fans wanting to know more about the science behind Cordyceps, the real world fungi on which the viral outbreak in the show is based, boosted a YouTube video (below) of a 14-year-old episode of ‘David Attenborough’s Planet Earth’ which looks at how Cordyceps can take control of ants up to 11 million views.
Another “halo effect” from ‘The Last Of Us’ put Linda Ronstadt’s song “Long, Long Time” back in the charts after it was featured in episode three, giving it a staggering 4,900% uplift in streams. This gut-wrenchingly beautiful episode, which received critical acclaim across the board, featured Nick Offerman as Bill, a misanthropic survivalist, and his relationship with Frank, played by Murray Bartlett.
If you haven’t caught ‘The Last of Us’ yet, you can find the whole of season one right now on NOW and via Sky On Demand in the UK. The show has also been renewed for Season 2, so will be back in a couple of years to continue the story, based on the second video game in the series. Due to ‘The Last of Us II’ being longer than the first game, creators Craig Mazin (‘Chernobyl’) and Neil Druckmann (‘The Last of Us’ video game) have confirmed they plan for that story to stretch over “multiple seasons”.
Also, if you’ve been avoiding ‘The Last Of Us’ because “you don’t do zombie shows”, we strongly advise you give it a look. The story is not about big zombie (or “infected” in this case) set pieces and is far more about the human story of Joel and Ellie. It is a beautifully crafted, compelling, well-written drama, and very much worth your time.
‘The Last of Us’ is written and executive produced by Craig Mazin (‘Chernobyl’) and Neil Druckmann (‘The Last of Us’ video game). The series is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television and is executive produced by Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Rose Lam. Production companies: PlayStation Productions, Word Games, The Mighty Mint, and Naughty Dog.
‘The Last of Us‘ Season 1 is available on Sky and NOW in the UK, and HBO Max in the USA. If you want to keep track of this or any other show, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when they get a UK premiere date.
