The Last of Us, despite a TV market crowded with post-apocalyptic series, has been pleasing fans and critics alike, but that doesn’t always mean that a show is set to get a second season. It’s a question that has regularly come up for the stars of the series as they go about promoting the new show, such as Bella Ramsey, the 19-year-old Game of Thrones star who plays Ellie in the series.
The BBC ran a recent interview with the star where they talked about the series and what was coming next for the mushroom-headed zombie franchise that’s already earned massive accolades.
Ramsey gave a humorous interview in which she spoke about recently failing her driving test—while being distracted seeing her face blown up and plastered all over billboards which she said she found way weirder in her native England than in downtown Los Angeles which is wall-to-wall show and movie adverts. She also spoke to the fact that her family is trying to watch the series to support her, but that none of them are really horror fans so they’re kind of forcing themselves through it while congratulating her on the massive success. As far as a second season she had this to say: "If people keep watching, I think a second series is pretty likely. It's down to the guys at HBO."
Now, while nothing is set in stone and anything can happen, it should be noted that The Last of Us saw the biggest second episode jump in viewership of any HBO Original drama ever—and this is the network behind The Sopranos, Deadwood, and Curb Your Enthusiasm—so that’s quite the brag and nowhere near being humble. It’s also the kind of numbers that all but guarantees an early nod toward getting a second season since that’s not easily repeatable as well as the fact that the drop-off would have to be steep to have any effect on those kinds of ratings.
The series is partly doing numbers by staying true to the games, letting fans know they’re in safe hands with a video game adaptation that respects the medium and respects their time and experience playing the game—while also being made for television and not a simple 1:1 translation of things millions of PlayStation users and YouTube Let’s Play fans have already experienced. With what Ramsey said, that if fans keep watching, HBO will keep on cranking out cordyceps zombie stories, then so long as fans have that symbiotic relationship with HBO’s The Last of Us, more seasons are all but promised.
The Last of Us is currently airing Sundays on HBO.
Source: BBC