Lanterns Lights Up 9.3 Million Views in Three Days, HBO Max's Biggest DC Premiere Yet
HBO's new DC series Lanterns drew 9.3 million views in its first three days across HBO and HBO Max, the network's biggest premiere for a DC Studios show on the streaming platform to date. Variety
HBO supplied the figure, which covers the premiere's first three days of availability. Of those viewers, 6.6 million were in the United States alone, according to HBO. The series also ranks among the top five premieres on HBO Max overall, meaning it sits in rare company on a platform that carries titles like The Last of Us and House of the Dragon.
The numbers are strong, but they are also a three-day figure — a measurement window that captures the burst of interest around a debut rather than the slower accumulation that comes over weeks. For comparison, The Penguin, another DC-derived drama, grew to 10.4 million viewers across all platforms after 11 days when it launched in 2024. It: Welcome to Derry, a horror series based on Stephen King's novel, pulled 5.7 million viewers in its first three days in 2025. Lanterns cleared that bar comfortably at the same checkpoint.
The series is based on DC's Green Lantern comic books and stars Aaron Pierre as John Stewart, a new recruit to an intergalactic police force, and Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan, a seasoned Lantern legend. The two are paired as partners investigating a murder in the American heartland. The ensemble also includes Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Jason Ritter, Ulrich Thomsen, and Laura Linney.
Lanterns was picked up for eight episodes at HBO in June 2024. It was originally intended as a Max original — the streaming-only brand — before shifting to HBO as part of a content plan that separates premium cable dramas from streaming-exclusive titles. The series is produced by HBO in association with Warner Bros. Television and DC Studios.
The writing team carries serious pedigree. Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King co-wrote the series and serve as executive producers alongside James Hawes, who also directs the first two episodes. Lindelof is known for Lost and The Leftovers; King is a celebrated comic-book writer with deep roots in the DC universe.
New episodes air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET and PT on HBO and arrive on HBO Max at the same time, according to Deadline. That simultaneous release means cable subscribers and streaming-only viewers get the show together — a scheduling choice that maximises the opening-week audience HBO just measured.
For the people who made it — a cast led by Chandler and Pierre, a writers' room stocked with award winners, and a crew of hundreds — the premiere number is the first hard signal of whether the story they built reaches people. It did.
