Lanterns opened to a seriously strong debut. It pulled in a 9.3 million figure for viewers worldwide across HBO and HBO Max during its first three days after premiering on August 16. This makes the biggest debut yet for a DC Studios television series.
It also landed among the top five HBO Max series premieres overall. Not merely among DC shows. TheWrap reports that it surpassed the launches of The Penguin and IT: Welcome to Derry.
There is another encouraging ingredient here: people seem to actually like it. Lanterns currently sits around 94% from critics and 86% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, so the big premiere hasn’t arrived in isolation. It’s getting strong reviews alongside strong viewership.
Lanterns isn’t exactly the easiest superhero show to sell. It’s a darker space cop drama centered on John Stewart and Hal Jordan, rather than Batman, Superman, or another character with enormous mainstream recognition.
HBO describes the pair as intergalactic cops investigating a murder in the American heartland, with Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King developing the series. So getting 9.3M in three days suggests audiences are willing to follow the DCU into less conventional territory.
And that’s potentially great news for the Green Lantern side of the universe specifically. If Lanterns maintains strong weekly numbers, DC has considerably more incentive to expand beyond Hal and John into the wider Corps. Guy Gardner is already part of the DCU, and the mythology gives DC a gigantic toy box of characters, planets, and other Lantern Corps to explore.
Honestly, I loved the first episode. The chemistry between the pair was absolutely incredible, and I can not wait for the rest of the season.
