The Last Of Us only just premiered on HBO and HBO Max, and it's already chipping away at the achievements of some of the most revered shows in television history. In fact, the new show has already taken a milestone from Breaking Bad's legacy with its rating on IMDb. But will that achievement stick?
Those who check out IMDb's page for top-rated TV series with a threshold of at least 10,000 votes will see that The Last Of Us has successfully dethroned Breaking Bad as the highest-rated series. That's a pretty impressive feat , and one that would surely make Walter White toss a pizza onto a roof out of frustration all over again if he could.
At the time of writing, the promising new HBO series ranks at #1 on IMDb's list with 38,757 user votes supporting its 9.5 rating score out of 10. Breaking Bad, which is ranked #2, has the same 9.5 rating, but with 1,897,658 votes. That's a huge vote disparity between the two, so it stands to reason that TLOU's rating may fluctuate quite a bit once more episodes air and more votes accumulate.
Additionally, those votes for Breaking Bad are for a series that was completed years ago, while The Last Of Us' accomplishment was achieved shortly after its premiere. It's very possible that by the time Season 1 of TLOU comes to an end, it's no longer on the top of IMDb's best-rated shows. Granted, I can imagine that the show could maintain that spot (or at least in the Top 5) after rewatching the premiere with my HBO Max subscription and experiencing just how good it was all over again.
It's also worth noting that in this Top 10 list of shows, there are some titles that fans of Breaking Bad and The Last of Us might not be familiar with. In addition to widely acclaimed popular shows like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones joining the ranks, there are also some much more obscure entries.
Two examples would be The Filthy Frank Show and Critical Role, both are which were created online rather than for a major network or streamer. That's not a knock on the quality of either show, but it appears that projects without a massive audience can make this list provided the fandoms are dedicated enough to vote on IMDb.
Just to reiterate, though, The Last Of Us still achieved something special here. Obviously, TLOU had a bit of help from viewers who are well-familiar with the franchise thanks to the video games it was adapted from, though there are others unfamiliar with the games who are finding the show as well. It will be interesting to see if the HBO series manages to keep its status as one of the best new shows of 2023 at the year's end, as it's already off to a great start.
The Last Of Us airs on HBO on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET. The series is also available to stream online with HBO Max.
