Well, Lanterns fairly made an impact. The brand new series from DC Studios premiered on HBO and HBO Max to rave reviews from fans and critics, pulling in an astonishing 9.3 million viewers across its first three days of release. That's a major victory for the brand new show, which now boasts the record of DC's most-watched premiere ever, and a much-needed win for James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe after the box office failure of Supergirl this summer.
One thing working in Lanterns' favor is the fact that it is essentially a multi-episode murder mystery that just so happens to be led by DC characters. Those DC characters are two different generations of Green Lanterns, as Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) look to bring some brightest days to the blackest nights of the gripping saga they are currently embroiled in.
If Lanterns roped you in with its gritty first episode, here's what you need to know about the DC TV series, including how - and when - you can watch episode, along with the subsequent installments.
When new episodes of Lanterns come out on HBO and HBO Max
Lanterns episode 2 premieres on both HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, August 23, at 9:00 p.m. ET, 6:00 p.m. PT, 8:00 p.m. CT, and 7:00 p.m. MT. If you watched the premiere, you will know that this is the same time slot that the series kicked off in, and it's the same one that HBO airs all of its high-profile series in.
That in and of itself is an indicator of how much faith the long-running cable network has in the DC Studios show, as it has taken over from the juggernaut that is House of the Dragon (which just completed its third season ahead of the Lanterns premiere). It's also the same time slot that has aired the likes of The Last of Us, Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, The Wire, Succession, Veep, and fellow critically-acclaimed DC TV series The Penguin. It's safe to say that Lanterns is in good company.
With that in mind, Lanterns will be a Sunday regular going forward, running for eight episodes, and here's when you can expect each one of those episodes to come out:
Episode 1: "Pilot" - Released August 16
Episode 2 - Releases August 23
Episode 3 - Releases August 29
Episode 4 - Releases September 5
Episode 5 - Releases September 12
Episode 6 - Releases September 19
Episode 7 - Releases September 26
Episode 8 - Releases October 3
It's safe to say that the opening episode of Lanterns reeled people in. The hour-long mystery saw Hal Jordan teach his protege John Stewart how to be a Green Lantern in a very chaotic, Hal Jordan kind of way. His tough love no-nonsense attitude is a far cry from the hopeful, kinder hero who donned the suit in the 1990s, but time hasn't been as kind to the DC Universe's first superhero.
That brings us to Nebraska, where Hal is convinced that a shootout at a game is actually influenced by potential alien invaders. Although the town's sheriff, Kerry Kane, isn't convinced, Hal annoyingly proves himself to be correct, resulting in a surprising turn of events at the Sheriff's Station in town.
The majority of those events took place in 2016 and they were edge-of-seat and shocking, but none of that could have prepared viewers for the closing moments of the episode - when Lanterns jumped forward to 2026 to reveal a shocking DC Universe murder that nobody saw coming. And with that, the Lanterns saga has well and truly begun.
Lanterns is releasing new episodes weekly on HBO and HBO Max.
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