Another big factor is HBO’s understanding of ‘water-cooler’ TV-shows that we collectively become invested in to the point that referring to it becomes an ice-breaker in offices, parties and so on.

It’s a big-budget, star-studded, well-shot and well-performed story that sticks to its videogame roots while expanding and updating the game’s universe. There are solid reasons behind the runaway success of The Last of Us. What made the moment extra special was that Ellie’s mom is played by Ashley Johnson, who voices Ellie in the video game. When a tearful Anna tells her daughter, “You fuckin’ tell ‘em, Ellie”, I wager there wasn’t a single dry eye among fans. And earlier on Sunday, with Episode Nine (the season finale), we got a heart-wrenching, emotionally charged scene between Ellie and her mother Anna. Episode Four introduced us to the fierce and fabulous Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey from Yellowjackets), who quickly became a fan favourite. Episode Three, with its beautiful and sensitive depiction of a long-term relationship between two men, Bill (played by Parks & Recreation star Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett). The country has been ravaged by a mystery fungal infection that transforms the infected person into a zombie-like creature crazed by bloodlust-except Ellie seems to be immune to the infection.Įvery new episode, it seems, was an event and the craze behind the show would begin all over again.

Based on the superhit video game of the same name, the show (streaming on Disney+Hotstar in India) follows Joel (Pedro Pascal), a smuggler tasked with transporting teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsay) across a post-apocalyptic American landscape. For every Monday for the past nine weeks, #TheLastOfUs has been trending on Twitter, because seemingly everyone everywhere has been doing the same thing Sunday night - tune into the most talked-about TV show on the planet (yet another winner for HBO, home to Game of Thrones and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver).

You know a show is popular when even the Oscars cannot upstage you online.

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