The return of The Last of Us brought in a bigger audience than the show’s series premiere two years ago — but not as big as where season one ended.

The season two premiere of the HBO drama delivered 5.3 million viewers across platforms Sunday night — including the show’s on-air premiere and replays and streaming on Max.

That’s a 13 percent improvement on the series premiere in January 2023, which had 4.7 million night one viewers. The season one audience built steadily over the course of its nine episodes, hitting a high of 8.2 million first-night viewers for its finale. The season as a whole drew better than 32 million viewers per episode (HBO measures series ratings for 90 days after a season premiere).

Sunday’s audience also compares favorably to other recent HBO premieres. It more than doubled the premiere audience for season three The White Lotus, which had 2.4 million viewers in February. It took four days for The Penguin’s premiere to hit the same number of viewers The Last of Us had on Sunday. Season two of House of the Dragon is the high for recent HBO season premieres with 7.8 million first-night viewers in June 2024.

HBO also notes that viewing for season one of The Last of Us spiked on Max in the days leading up to the season two premiere. Viewing on Max was up 150 percent last week compared to the prior seven days, HBO says — though, as is often the case with streaming, it didn’t share precise figures.

HBO has already ordered a third season of the show, which is based on the best-selling video game. Season two (and, presumably, season three) adapts The Last of Us Part II.