The Last Of Us Viewership Drops Massively: What Went Wrong?
We’ve been covering the situation with The Last of Us TV show, and the numbers are in – the viewership has absolutely plummeted. After the first season garnered significant attention, we’ve seen a dramatic decline in tuning in for the second season. This looks like another classic “get woke go broke” moment.
Looking at the data, the Season 2 finale brought in just 3.7 million viewers on its first night across HBO and Max. This is a significant drop from the 8.2 million viewers who watched the Season 1 finale in February 2023. We estimate the Season 1 premiere likely drew even more, closer to 9 or 10 million viewers. While HBO claims the second season is averaging 37 million worldwide viewers across all platforms, which they say is higher than the first season’s per-episode average, that global figure includes all platforms and compares to Season 1’s 32 million cross-platform viewers in the US alone. We believe the US numbers, measured 90 days after premiere, will show a massive decline for the current season.
We could have predicted this outcome, remembering the massive backlash to The Last of Us Part 2 video game. For whatever reason, Hollywood seems shocked by this. We believe there are several key reasons for this viewership drop, and it proves why modern TV production is broken.
One major issue we identified is the narrative direction. The decision to end Joel’s character the way they did was one of the worst narrative decisions in history. The show has also gotten wildly out of bounds in terms of its source material. While similar events and characters are present, they often feel like completely different characters. Specifically, we saw the creation of an entirely new version of Ellie in Season 2 that never existed in the games. This Ellie feels like a kid on a road trip, only occasionally activating a revenge mode. The show seems afraid to portray her as unsympathetic or cruel, unlike the game’s Ellie who, after five years of training, was a killing machine bordering on sociopath. We feel the show has completely “soyified” the main character.
The show’s focus on LGBTQ+ relationships also feels misplaced to us. They spent a whole episode making a character who wasn’t canonically gay into a gay character and centering the episode around that romance. We knew the show was doomed after that point. It’s become a “woke joke”. The Bella Ramsey character has also been laughable to some, and we find her acting cringe-worthy as the main character, although we acknowledge the show’s issues aren’t solely because of her, but rather the scripts and fundamental alterations to Ellie’s character from the game.
Beyond the narrative and character issues, there’s a significant problem with the production and release schedule. The second season had only seven episodes, compared to nine in the first season. After waiting nearly two years for this shorter season, we’re now waiting again after a big cliffhanger. Season 3 probably won’t be released until 2027. This pace is absurd. Viewers get fed up with this stop-start experience and abandon shows altogether. We deeply identify with this issue; we often forget about shows by the time the next season comes out after long waits. We used to see shows like The Simpsons air new episodes weekly for most of the year, or Breaking Bad and The Sopranos deliver many episodes over shorter overall runs. While productions are complex and involve extensive effects and famous cast scheduling, we question if this stretching out is truly necessary.
Despite the massive drop in viewership, Season 3 may have been greenlit. However, it faces huge problems. The Season 2 finale’s cliffhanger won’t be resolved anytime soon. We have no idea when filming for Season 3 will even start, likely not until 2026. Even the show’s lead actor, Bella Ramsey, only has a rough idea of their role and expects not to be in it a whole lot.
In our view, the massive drop in The Last of Us viewership is a clear signal. When even people like Paul Tassy from Forbes are criticizing the show for deviating wildly from the source material and creating a “new alley”, you know it’s as bad as it gets. We believe the numbers are likely even worse than publicly known. This series serves as a prime example of how modern television, in chasing certain agendas and mishandling beloved source material while adopting frustrating production schedules, can alienate its audience.
