Dragons vs Zombies; who won the ratings battle between HBO juggernauts House of the Dragon and The Last of Us?

The first season of HBO’s The Last of Us came to an end over the weekend as despite going up against the 95th Academy Awards, it managed to retain a sizable viewing figure of 8.2 million viewers. The show has been a critical and commercial success, with the world finally giving Pedro Pascal the attention he’s deserved since appearing on screens in Game of Thrones and showcasing Bella Ramsay’s fantastic, nuanced performance in such a gruelling role.

But the end of that HBO series elicited conversations at PeopleWorld regarding how good it was compared to another HBO juggernaut that recently concluded its first season; Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. That show also proved to be a ratings juggernaut, with data measurement company Nielsen reporting that House of the Dragon earned over a billion views once the episodes were made on demand through HBO Max.

Not to lose the pace, The Last of Us also passed that billion viewers mark two weeks ago, despite not having the same mythology behind it as compared to House of the Dragon. Which has been the point of contention some of us have used to argue the case: which was better - House of the Dragon or The Last of Us?

While some in the office feel that The Last of Us felt more like a television show than a grandeur cinematic masterpiece that House of the Dragon, and Game of Thrones before it, others in the office, myself included, felt that despite not having the same lead-in presence that House of the Dragon had (come on, it’s part of the hugely successful Game of Thrones franchise) the show ominous undertones, including those false senses of security, clearly made it a more compelling show.

We could have arm wrestled or played paper-rock-scissors to decide who was right, but instead we took a purely sporting approach to decide out of the two mammoth HBO successes, who ultimately was the winner in the viewing battles.

We’ve taken to Nielsen to look at the viewing figures for the season premieres, mid-season episodes and season finales to determine if The Last of Us or House of the Dragon was, audienceship-wise, the better production.

Round 1: Season Premieres

Both season premieres of House of the Dragon and The Last of Us were hyped through very strong marketing campaigns, with House of the Dragon focusing on the fact it was a Game of Thrones prequel while The Last of Us was touted as the next great work from Craig Mazin - who wrote the critically acclaimed series Chernobyl in his first outing for HBO.

While The Last of Us’ first episode was more steeped in creating the world that the remainder of the series would focus on, including what led our hero Joel to meet Bella and how the outbreak of Cordyceps brain infection, House of the Dragon already had a world built for it.

We knew about House Targaryen and Game of Thrones regaled viewers with tales of the Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen (played by Paddy Considine), and given Game of Thrones was a pop culture phenomenon, more people tuned into the premiere of the Targaryen saga than to get the jist what The Last of Us will present to viewers.

• House of the Dragon: 9.9 million viewers

• The Last of Us: 4.7 million viewers

• Winner: House of the Dragon (+5.2 million viewers)

Round 2: Mid-Season Episodes

Both opening episodes have come out swinging, but have they got the pace to withstand the dreaded mid-season drop?

The Last of Us episode "Endure and Survive" saw Joel and Ellie continue their stay in Kansas City, under the watchful eyes of Katherine (played by Melanie Lynskey), the ruthless leader of the former FEDRA-operated QZ. We were introduced to Henry, a wanted man, and his younger brother Sam who would lead our intrepid pair safely out of the area - with disastrous consequences in the end (spoiler-free zone as best as we can here at Peopleworld.)

For House of the Dragon, their mid-season episode focused on Daemon visiting his estranged wife, Rhea Royce, in the Vale and the wedding of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Ser Laenor Velaryon. It was one of the few episodes to receive a B- rating from The AV Club, and also drew the ire of LGBTQIA+ fans who did not like its supposed use of the "bury your gays" trope, a pattern by which LGBT characters in film and TV are killed off at a much higher rate than heterosexual characters because they are deemed more expendable.

The heartwrenching episode of The Last of Us beat out the mid-season episode of House of the Dragon by 1.8 million viewers - round two goes to Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay.

• House of the Dragon: 9.8 million viewers

• The Last of Us: 11.6 million viewers

• Winner: The Last of Us (+1.8 million viewers)

Round 3: Final Episodes

The final episode of The Last of Us, in this humble writer’s opinion, seemed very rushed. Without spoiling the episode for those who haven’t watched it yet, it seemed that the overarching storyline throughout season one was put to bed… rather quickly? Perhaps the idea of including giraffes in the episode was meant to offset what felt like a rushed ending to the season…

House of the Dragon’s season one finale saw Princess Rhaenys’ arrival at Dragonstone from King’s Landing to deliver the news of King Viserys’ death. Rhaenyra is subsequently crowned Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and opposes her faction’s demands for open war, instead wanting to secure alliances.

While The Last of Us left us on somewhat of a cliffhanger, it wasn’t to the extent of the cliffhanger House of the Dragon left viewers with, and the viewing figures demonstrated just how fervent the storytelling in the series became, ramping up to the tenth episode and leaving critics in awe of the performances of both Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith.

• House of the Dragon: 9.3 million viewers

• The Last of Us: 8.2 million viewers

• Winner: House of Dragon

Judges Scoring: Overall viewing figures

So as both series came to an end, and early viewing figures for The Last of Us’ season finale has come through, the overall viewership for both shows has been impressive - with both shows averaging over 20 million viewers throughout their tenures on HBO and HBO Max.

It comes as no surprise that with the amount of mythology and world-building that Game of Thrones created that lent itself to the world of House of the Dragon that the viewing figures healthily beat The Last of Us, earning 7.7 million more viewers on average than its fellow celebrated HBO premiere.

How these numbers will compare in 12 months’ time, with repeat screenings and on-demand streams picked up, alongside overall viewing figures across the world, we shall have to see. Welcome to the PeopleWorld cliffhanger - one that we’ll have to wait until both shows, who have both had second seasons commissioned, return to our screens tentatively in 2024.

• House of the Dragon: 29 million viewers

• The Last of Us: 21.3 million viewers

• Winner: House of the Dragon (+7.7 million viewers)