The fourth episode of The last of us premiered on HBO last night and the series continues to find new fans. According to HBO, viewership for “Please Hold My Hand” reached 17.5 million, up 17% from the previous week. That figure is also 60% higher than the series premiere. What this all means is that The last of us not only retains viewers, but positive word of mouth helps the show gain a much larger audience each week. HBO’s figures are “based on Nielsen and first-party data.”

It’ll be interesting to see how viewership is affected by the fifth episode of the show! Unlike the first four episodes, Episode 5 will be released on Friday to avoid conflicting with Sunday’s Super Bowl. That could result in viewers being spread out a bit more, rather than focusing it all on one day. Regardless of when viewers decide to watch the episode, it’s likely we’ll see some big numbers again.

While viewership numbers for The last of us have been impressive, they’re not that surprising given the strong praise the series has received. The third episode in particular has been called one of the greatest episodes of television ever made, with Nick Offerman’s performance receiving high praise. It remains to be seen if the rest of the show’s first season will be a hit or miss, but the show is clearly off to a very strong start.

The last of us closely follows the story of the original PlayStation 3 game. So far, Episode 3 showed the most significant departures from the source material, but in a way that seems to have clicked with the show’s audience. It takes a lot of effort to adapt a beloved video game, and there have been a number of failures over the past three decades. Part of that struggle comes down to knowing when to stay true to the source material and when to do something different. Fortunately, HBO seems to have found the perfect mix for it The last of us!

Have you started watching The last of us follow word of mouth? What do you think of the show so far? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk about all things gaming!