HBO's big bet on 'The Last of Us' is paying off so far

• HBO's "The Last of Us" had one of the network's biggest premieres with 4.7 million viewers.
• The series is also a critical hit, with a 99% Rotten Tomatoes critics score.
• It's based on the hit 2013 video game of the same name.

HBO's "The Last of Us" is off to a hot start.

The hour-and-a-half series premiere was watched by 4.7 million viewers across linear TV and HBO Max on Sunday, the network announced on Tuesday.

HBO touted the series as its second-biggest premiere of the streaming era — or since HBO content was widely available on a streaming app. "Boardwalk Empire" remains HBO's overall second-biggest premiere of all time, with 4.8 million viewers in 2010.

Taking the top spot is "House of the Dragon." The "Game of Thrones" prequel's debut attracted nearly 10 million viewers in August.

"The Last of Us" is based on the hit 2013 video game of the same name about a man named Joel, played by Pedro Pascal in the show, who has to escort a girl named Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, across a post-apocalyptic US in the aftermath of a fungus-related pandemic.

It's one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, with a 95/100 rating on Metacritic and a devoted fan base.

Fans and critics also seem to love the HBO adaptation. So far it has a 96% audience score and a nearly perfect 99% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.

That's good news for HBO, which is betting big on the series. The show's budget exceeds that of early seasons of "Game of Thrones," according to The New Yorker.

But even if the series continues to be a hit, fans shouldn't expect it to have a long life.

There are two installments of the game thus far, with "Part II" released in 2020. Neil Druckmann, the show's co-creator who also developed the game, told The Hollywood Reporter that the series won't stray far from the source material.

"We have no plans to tell any stories beyond adapting the games," Druckmann said.