The DC Universe has just pulled off a surprising reversal, with one new chapter soaring at launch while another recently struggled to find its footing. Lanterns has arrived with the kind of opening that instantly changes the conversation around DC’s latest era. After a bruising stretch at the box office, the franchise now has a reason to celebrate.

And just like that, DC’s latest gamble has turned into a record-breaking streaming victory.

Lanterns has racked up 9.3 million views across HBO and HBO Max in its first three days, marking the biggest premiere for a DC Studios show on the platform to date, as revealed by Warner Bros. Discovery. The series also landed among HBO Max’s top five biggest premieres ever, while drawing 6.6 million viewers in the U.S. alone during the same three-day window. That puts the Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler-led series ahead of several recent high-profile launches, giving DC Studios a major early win.

The performance is especially striking when placed alongside other recent HBO releases. The Penguin eventually reached 10.4 million viewers across all platforms, but it took 11 days to reach that figure, while It: Welcome to Derry pulled in 5.7 million viewers during its first three days. With Lanterns already crossing the 9 million mark in just 72 hours, as Warner Bros. Discovery revealed, the new DC series has wasted little time establishing itself as one of HBO Max’s biggest recent performers.

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But the numbers are only part of the reason Lanterns is generating so much attention. Beneath the superhero branding is a much grittier mystery that takes the DC Universe somewhere considerably darker.

Set within James Gunn’s new DC Universe, Lanterns follows veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan and newly recruited John Stewart as they investigate a murder in the American heartland. Aaron Pierre plays Stewart opposite Kyle Chandler’s Jordan, with the series blending superhero mythology with the darker rhythms of crime dramas such as True Detective and Slow Horses. What begins as a seemingly isolated case gradually opens the door to a much larger conspiracy tied to the wider DC Universe.

The series also leans heavily into the contrast between its two leads, with Jordan portrayed as a worn-down veteran questioning his identity and place in the world, while Stewart enters the Corps with a much fresher perspective. Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Jason Ritter, Laura Linney, and Ulrich Thomsen as Sinestro round out the cast, with Nicole Ari Parker, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Sherman Augustus, and J. Alphonse Nicholson appearing across different timelines. With its eight-episode season combining a grounded murder mystery with intergalactic stakes, Lanterns is clearly aiming to make the Green Lantern mythology feel unlike anything DC has attempted before.

Thus, it seems Lanterns may have arrived at exactly the right moment for DC, turning a potentially risky new chapter into an early streaming victory.

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What are your thoughts on Lanterns making DC history with its debut? Let us know in the comments.