The Last of Us ratings rise AGAIN with Episode 4, despite stiff competition

The Last of Us is on a rare roll. HBO’s new zombie drama premiered to strong numbers; around 4.7 million people tuned in to watch the first episode live. That’s the strongest premiere for any HBO show since House of the Dragon, which premiered to around 10 million viewers.

But unlike House of the Dragon, where the same-day ratings dropped off by the third episode and stayed pretty consistent through to the end, The Last of Us has been watched by more and more people every week! Per Variety, the latest episode, “Please Hold To My Hand,” was watched live by 6.4 million people. That’s up 17% from Episode 3, which was up from Episode 2, which was up from the premiere. That’s despite “Please Hold To My Hand” airing opposite the Grammys.

The third episode of The Last of Us, “Long, Long Time,” was one of the best episodes of TV I’ve seen in a while, so I’m not surprised the show picked up some speed from that. The Last of Us still hasn’t matched the highest highs of House of the Dragon, but it’s well on its way to becoming another HBO smash hit.

When Pedro Pascal forgot he got the role of Joel on The Last of Us

The Last of Us is taking star Pedro Pascal’s career to the next level, and he was already doing great. He plays Joel, the main character on the show.

Pascal was thrilled when he received the good news from creator Neil Druckmann. It was a feeling he got to experience twice, as he revealed during a visit to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. You see, when Pascal spoke to Druckmann on video, he was in London. Druckmann was back in the states, so Pascal had to stay up really late to talk to him. To ensure he didn’t miss out on sleep thanks to his adrenaline high, Pascal took preventative measures.

“I take an Ambien to go to sleep just in case,” Pascal said. “They’ve got my adrenaline going and my hopes up… but I get a call and I get told that I got the job after I took the Ambien. And so I was excited, I guess, but I didn’t remember. I woke up in the morning and the first thing that occurred to me was, ‘Aww man, I really want that job… I’m gonna wait by the phone all day long. This hasn’t happened in a while. I’m gonna think about it all day.'”

Happily, all he has to do was check his phone and find the message of congratulations to remind himself of what happened. “I was like, ‘Oh yeah! I got the job!'”

The Last of Us Episode 5 will stream early on HBO Max

Usually, new episodes of The Last of Us drop on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday nights at 9:00 p.m. EST/8 CST. And that will still be true for Episode 5…for the linear viewing on HBO. However, on HBO Max you’re be able to watch Episode 5, “Endure and Survive,” on FRIDAY NIGHT instead.

HBO is doing this because it doesn’t want to compete with the Super Bowl, which airs this Sunday. If it means we get to watch The Last of Us earlier, it’s fine by us.

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