
‘The Last Of Us' Season 2 Review Scores Are Have Arrived Ahead of Its Release Date
The Last of Us
HBO
There has been a lot of talk this past week about how a 'terrible' video game movie like Minecraft just opened with $300 million worldwide, the most for a game adaptation in history. That's a separate conversation, but also it's a sharp contrast from a number of high profile video game stories that have headed to TV the last few years, and are amazing. One of those? The Last of Us on HBO.
The adaptation of the Naughty Dog game was beloved by critics and most fans, and now it's returning for season 2. Reviews are in and there does not seem to be anything like a significant drop-off in quality. The numbers:
That's a negligible difference, plus there are only 10% of the amount of reviews in (I have not often see a show with 486 reviews in like season 1, which is pretty stunning).
The Last of Us season 2 will reportedly cover half of the second game in the series in its seven episodes, according to its showrunners. Season 3 will be the rest of the story, and fans are debating whether an early 'big' moment that defines the rest of the story will in fact be right near the start, or if they might drag it out more than the games did to change the narrative structure. My bet is still early on for reasons I won't get into, lest it result in spoilers.
The Last of Us
HBO
The showrunners have confirmed that they are not going to be pulling a Game of Thrones and go past the existing source material, even if one of the showrunners, Neil Druckmann, is the one who would be making that source material in a potential third game.
While there have been hints that maybe, possibly, someday Naughty Dog could make The Last of Us Part 3, it's now been firmly established that its next project is the sci-fi story Intergalactic, likely not debuting until some time late in 2027, by best estimate. Any potential Last of Us installment would be easily 5+ years away, so we're talking well into the 2030s to get a season 4 that covers that content. My guess is that simply none of this happens at all. HBO and Naughty Dog will both move on, at least for nearly a decade.
There is little doubt this is going to be an epic television event. There has been some fan concern about Bella Ramsey supposedly embodying an older, more violent Ellie, but in these reviews, she's receiving a ton of praise. I can't wait to see what the entire cast puts together.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Bluesky
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
LeBron James drops cryptic social media post about retirement rumors
LeBron James drops cryptic social media post about retirement rumors This is the third straight offseason during which people have wondered if LeBron James is going to retire from the NBA. Most expect him to be back with the Los Angeles Lakers next season, but one can never really be sure what he has planned, and he often tends to keep his cards close to his chest, so to speak. On Saturday, he made a cryptic post on his X (formerly known as Twitter) account. The post features a video in which he is asked by a reporter if rumors of his retirement are true before it abruptly cuts out. Above the video is a caption that reads, "I've been asking myself the same question…" The superstar does have a history of making people wonder for a period of time what could come next for him. Two years ago, right after the Lakers were swept in the Western Conference Finals, he implied that he was considering retirement by saying he had a lot to think about moving forward when it came to basketball. Many figured it was perhaps a ploy to draw some attention and sympathy toward himself, and sure enough, he returned for two more seasons — at least. James has a $52.6 million player option for next season that he can either play on or decline. Insider Anthony Irwin reported that even though James will most likely opt into that option, there is a real chance he will opt out and sign a new two-way deal.


The Hill
13 hours ago
- The Hill
Maher applauds Trump parade, criticizes ‘tanks in the streets'
Comedian Bill Maher on Friday lauded President Trump's military parade for its patriotic spirit but criticized the public display of weaponry. 'Trump said, we're going to celebrate our country for a change. Like so many things with him, like he very often has an idea which in the ether is not a bad idea,' Maher said during a Friday episode of HBO's 'Real Time with Bill Maher' highlighted by Mediaite. During his panel with featured guests, political scientist Ian Bremmer and historian Rutger Bregman, Maher slammed the Democratic Party, which has largely criticized the parade, arguing they don't 'appreciate' the U.S. or its history. 'They have no perspective about it. They think we're irredeemably racist and horrible and colonialist, as if every other country in the world at one time or another wasn't like us or even worse,' Maher said. However, he noted that Trump's show of nationalism could quickly turn militaristic. 'Should we appreciate America more, and in more perspective? Yes,' Maher said. 'But not tanks in the streets! This really worries me, I mean, I just feel like you're getting, I don't even know if that's his grand scheme, thought out that much, but you're getting people used to a site that we have never seen in this country before,' he added, noting GOP Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and John Kennedy (La.), who spoke out about the spectacle. Saturday's parade comes as protesters gather across the country against Trump and his agenda, particularly his crackdown on immigration. Ahead of the June 14 festivities, the president warned demonstrators not to disrupt the Army celebration in Washington.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
TV Ratings: ‘The Last of Us' Season 2 Finale Falls Short of Premiere
The season two finale of The Last of Us brought in a smaller first-night audience than either the season premiere in March or its first season finale in 2023. The season finale drew 3.7 million viewers on HBO and Max on its first night, down from 5.3 million for the season premiere in April. It's also well short of the 8.2 million viewers for the close of the first season in February 2023. More from The Hollywood Reporter Streaming Ratings: 'The Four Seasons' Blooms in Premiere Week, 'You' Stays on Top 'The Chi' Renewed for Season 8 at Showtime YouTube Stays Atop TV Distributor Rankings in April Some of the decline for the May 25 episode may be due to the fact that it debuted on the Memorial Day weekend, when viewing levels are typically lower than normal. HBO notes that the second season is averaging 37 million worldwide viewers across all platforms — 'worldwide' being the key word there. Season one drew 32 million cross-platform viewers in the U.S. alone (HBO measures viewing for its shows for 90 days after a season premiere); HBO hasn't released a U.S.-only figure for the current season. Other ratings items: • Fox Sports got a big turnout for its inaugural broadcast of the Indianapolis 500. The 109th edition of the race averaged 7.05 million viewers, the highest mark for the Indy 500 since 2008 (with the caveat that out of home viewing wasn't included in Nielsen's ratings until 2020). It was up 40 percent year to year (the 2024 race aired on NBC) and peaked with 8.4 million viewers from 4:15-4:30 p.m. Sunday. Fox is in the first year of a rights deal with IndyCar, which previously had a longstanding relationship with NBC Sports. • The seventh season premiere of The Chi delivered 2 million cross-platform viewers over its first seven days. Showtime says it was also the most streamed premiere in the show's history, narrowly beating out the season 6B opener in May 2024. The Chi has set premiere viewership records in each of its last three installments, a rarity for a show that has been around for as long as it has. • The first American Music Awards since 2022 — and the first on CBS — posted improved numbers. Monday's show, hosted by Jennifer Lopez, averaged 4.86 million viewers, leading Memorial Day on broadcast networks and growing by 38 percent over the last AMAs telecast in November 2022 on ABC. The CBS telecast was up by 23 percent (0.63 rating to 0.78) in the key ad sales demographic of adults 18-49. After seven days of linear viewing, the AMAs grew to 5.2 million viewers, its best mark since 2019. About 10 million people watched at least six minutes of the CBS broadcast or encores on MTV, CMT and BET. The AMAs are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Corporation, The Hollywood Reporter's parent company, in a subsidiary joint venture between Penske Media and Eldridge. June 5, 9:30 a.m. Updated with additional ratings figures for the American Music Awards. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise