'Lanterns' Record-Breaking Streaming Numbers Just Secured the Fate of the DCU

DC Studios has had plenty of ups and downs with its releases since co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran launched their new franchise in late 2024. Along with 2025’s Superman hitting fairly big in theaters before 2026’s Supergirl became one of this year’s worst flops, the new DC Universe has also expanded into the streaming world on HBO Max. This started with the animated Creature Commandos in Dec. 2025 and continued in Aug. 2025 with Peacemaker Season 2, the latter of which earned higher viewing numbers than Season 1 and still has a 94% average positive critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes as of Aug. 2026.

After these releases, DC Studios returned to HBO and HBO Max on Aug. 16 with the first episode of Lanterns, the first live-action Green Lantern project released in 15 years. Starring Aaron Pierre as John Stewart and Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan, this show delivers a True Detective-esque, TV-MA-rated story centered on a mysterious murder investigation that the two find themselves drawn into in a rural Nebraska town. Episode 1 took some wild twists and turns, jumping across multiple points in time in the DCU to show John and Hal’s evolution. Now, as many wonder about the DCU’s future, this show appears to have become a massive success.

Variety reported that DC Studios’ Lanterns garnered an astonishing 9.3 million views in its first three days of availability on HBO and HBO Max. This ranks as the biggest premiere for a DC Studios show on HBO Max to date, and it is also one of the five most-watched premieres on the streamer overall. Those numbers included 6.6 million viewers in the United States alone. For comparison, 2024’s The Penguin had 10.4 million viewers across all platforms over its first 11 days. Another recent hit, IT: Welcome to Derry, drew in 5.7 million viewers in its first three days in 2025.

As the conversation around the DCU fluctuated amongst fans, Lanterns has seemed to resonate with viewers across all demographics upon its debut. Showing the most mature look at these heroes with a TV-MA rating, Pierre and Chandler’s performances resonated deeply, bringing almost everything the fandom loved from the comics to live action for the two Green Lantern heroes. Considering how long it has been since Green Lantern took this kind of spotlight, seeing it reach numbers this high can only be deemed a success for DC Studios.

Now, after DC Studios finishes Lanterns in the next few weeks, the studio is also preparing for the release of Man of Tomorrow next July, which brings back Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart. These numbers for Lanterns should give DC confidence to work out more entries for its Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters slate, the schedule for which is still being kept under wraps.

The first episode of DC Studios’ Lanterns is now streaming on HBO Max.