‘Lanterns’ Debuts With a Bigger Audience Than ‘The Penguin’ Did

Lanterns , the latest HBO Max series from DC Studios, touched down this past weekend , and the numbers are in: it’s a hit. And it’s an even bigger hit on its debut than another recent HBO Max series from DC Studios, Emmy winner The Penguin .

As both Variety and Deadline report, Lanterns , which takes place in the DC Universe, pulled in 9.3 million viewers during its first three days on HBO and HBO Max, 6.6 million of which were in the U.S.

The Penguin , which is set in the “Elseworlds” realm of The Batman , got to 10.4 million viewers in 11 days after release.

While those are not House of the Dragon -level ratings, they’re still excellent; Variety notes it’s “the biggest premiere for a DC Studios show on HBO Max to date and one of the top five premieres on the platform overall.”

While there aren’t too many live-action DC Studios shows to make up the list—other than Lanterns and The Penguin , there’s Peacemaker —it’s still encouraging that HBO Max is trumpeting Lanterns ‘ success so early. Showrunner Chris Mundy recently said he’s already breaking season two even though it’s yet to be greenlit, and with this news he’ll surely keep pressing on.

Season one of Lanterns follows Green Lantern Corps vet Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) at different points in time as they investigate an alien-adjacent crime in small-town Nebraska. Did you tune into the pilot, and are you eager to see more?

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