Lanterns is only getting bigger. The DC Studios series’ third episode, which premiered Sunday, August 30, averaged 10 million global viewers and 7 million US viewers in its first three days of availability across HBO and HBO Max, marking a series high and continued week-to-week growth since the August 16 premiere.
For comparison, the series premiere drew 9.3 million global viewers and 6.6 million in the US. The pilot has now surpassed 20 million worldwide viewers and continues to grow. HBO Max also confirmed that Lanterns now ranks among the top five series launches in the platform’s history and remains the biggest premiere for a DC Studios show on Max.
Episode 3, titled “OutKast” and written by co-executive producer Vanessa Baden Kelly and directed by Stephen Williams, dove into the origin story of John Stewart, exploring how his parents Bernadette and John Stewart Sr., played by Jasmine Cephas Jones and J. Alphonse Nicholson, trained him from childhood to one day take over the Green Lantern mantle from Hal Jordan. The episode also generated significant social media conversation, with #Lanterns trending in X’s US Top 10 for 11 consecutive hours, including eight hours at number one.
Starring Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler, Lanterns follows new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland. The full cast includes Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Laura Linney, Poorna Jagannathan, Ulrich Thomsen, Jason Ritter and Nathan Fillion.
The series is co-written by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King, who also executive produce alongside James Hawes, James Gunn, Peter Safran and Ron Schmidt. HBO produces in association with Warner Bros. Television and DC Studios.