Don't try the rainbow: the series "One of us" failed because of LGBT content*
Despite the fact that the third and fourth seasons of the video game series "One of Us" have already been announced, the future of the project now raises questions. Views of the second season finale dropped by 55% compared to the end of the first, and by 30% compared to the opening of the second season. In the days after May 26, when this story broke off in mid-sentence, online discontent only grew: the global audience refused to accept the authors' emphasis on LGBT issues (the movement is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia). Critics see this as a vivid example of how flirting with the "agenda" can bury any undertaking. Izvestia reports on why the series ended and the scandal just began.
What happened to the cult adaptation
The third season of the series based on the game The Last of Us (in Russia — "One of us") they can send it for revision or cancel it altogether. The fact is that the second season, judging by the numbers, was disliked by the audience, its rating on Rotten Tomatoes is 38%, and on Metacritic it is 40/100. The finale of the second season of the show was watched by 55% fewer people than the finale of the first. If the figures are 3.7 million viewers versus 8.2 million. This is also 30% less than the viewers of the first episode of the second season, which was viewed by 5.3 million people. In other words, on the way to the season finale, the film adaptation of the popular video game lost a third of its fans, who simply did not want to watch what would happen next and how it would end.
Ratings for most episodes also found themselves in the "lukewarm reception" zone. The episode "Day One", which is filled to the brim with LGBT propaganda, has the worst two seasons — 6.2 out of 10. The audience's reaction turned out to be predictable — the scene was ridiculed in a number of major Western media outlets, and many users refused to continue watching and even offered to recast actress Bella Ramsey, who since 2024 considers herself a "non-binary person" and actively supports the banned community both on the big screen and in public. In addition to her acting, which received truly massive criticism, the audience did not like the changes that the story from the game underwent during the adaptation, as well as the rewritten character of Ellie and the lack of action scenes in the second season.
Three of the seven episodes received ratings below 7 points — 6.9, 6.2 and 6.6 according to the world's largest film portal IMDb. For comparison, there were nine of them in the first season, but none received a rating below 7.3. Interestingly, there were also two deviant scenes, and these episodes became the lowest rated.
Now the fate of the third and fourth seasons is in question, because the audience's reaction is fixed and must be taken into account. HBO hastened to announce the extension of the story for two seasons ahead, but, as it turned out, without the participation of actor Pedro Pascal. Numerous plot elements angered the audience, and campaigns were launched on sites like Reddit criticizing the unconventional tone of the season.
Inclusivity, representation, political parallels, and the predominance of drama over action are usually warmly received by critics, especially if it is done without hyperbole. But high-budget projects are not made for critics, and the general audience is quite conservative. She wants to have fun, not get her journalism delivered to her home. The authors of the series decided to take a risk and reinforced a certain line," says film critic Sergey Sychev. — But it is clear that viewers are already tired of the imposition of such an agenda and are unlikely to be happy with such content.
Further developments
There is a saying in English: money talks, bullshit walks, that is, as long as the series earns money, it will not be closed. According to industry analyst Chris Columbo, demand for The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered has increased during the broadcast of the second season: over 2 million copies have been sold. At the same time, there was an increase in search queries for "Ellie's guitar", "Abby's jacket", "Cicada pendant", "Nutcracker mask".
Chris Columbo even modeled the coverage figures for the second season: approximately $72 million in subscribers and $17.5 million in advertising revenue. In other words, HBO was able to make money on the series, despite the obvious drop in ratings and the number of viewers.
The third season will focus on the character of Abby Anderson, played by Caitlin Deaver. She was auditioning for the role of Ellie for a full-fledged film adaptation of the game, but the film was turned into a TV series, and another role was found for Deaver. Although she looks much more like Ellie in her portrait. Fans still can't forgive the casting director for this decision. Industry experts expect that the departure of the scandalous Bella Ramsey into the background will help the series regain partial audience trust, but only on condition that the show refuses to impose the principles of "diversity, equality and inclusivity," which were massively abandoned in the United States after Donald Trump's arrival in the Oval Office.
As noted by film critic Andrei Bochkin, the creator of the video game The Last of Us Part 2, Neil Drakmann, deliberately introduces "agenda" narratives that Republicans do not like. And along with them, other adherents of conservative values.
If HBO rewrites the script, softening controversial points (for example, reducing Dina's screen time or changing the plot with Abby), there are chances of success for the third and even fourth seasons. But if they follow the path of the game, ignoring criticism, the project may lose its main audience and close, says Vadim Kovalenko, a lecturer at the Department of Esports at the Faculty of Gaming Industry and Esports at Synergy University.
— The second game and, consequently, the second season of the series made Ellie and Dina the central characters. Due to the fact that LGBT propaganda is not sympathetic to the majority of the audience and causes anger, it is not difficult to regard it as one of the most important factors of failure," concluded Vadim Kovalenko.
Meanwhile, the HBO—owned MAX service has changed the cover of the series, putting actress Isabella Merced in the foreground, who is significantly ahead of Bella Ramsey in terms of audience preferences. Popular blogger Asmongold saw this as a desire to reduce Ellie's concentration on the series and somehow please the audience, which was engaged in review-bombing and discussing the main actress of the series online.
* LGBT — The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized the LGBT movement as an extremist organization
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
