DC Studios has been on a rebuilding mission since James Gunn and Peter Safran took over, and the early results have been uneven. The duo has been working to reshape one of entertainment's most storied superhero brands, launching the rebooted DC Universe with Superman last year and expanding it with a growing slate of films and television. On the TV side, however, DC Studios has had less to cheer about regarding how trailers perform in their first 24 hours until now.
The official trailer for Lanterns, the upcoming HBO Max series starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart, landed on YouTube on March 4 and made an immediate impression. In its first 24 hours, the trailer pulled in 1.7 million views on the platform, a number that is better than trailers for previous shows.
In comparison to Creature Commandos, it's a lot more. The animated series became DC Studios' first official entry in the new DC Universe when it debuted on HBO Max in late 2024. Its trailer crossed one million views over the course of seven days on YouTube.
Lanterns surpassed that figure in less than 24 hours, a notable leap in audience engagement that shows how much people love the Green Lanterns. One could also argue that the controversy surrounding the trailer equally helped.
Before Lanterns, DC's most recent HBO Max series to launch a trailer was Peacemaker Season 2, the John Cena-led show that followed Superman this past year, came in below one million views with its teaser.
Then there's also The Penguin, the The Batman-adjacent show that aired on HBO Max in 2024. Its first teaser drew approximately 1.5 million YouTube views in 24 hours, which is also lower than Lanterns'. Taken together, those numbers paint a picture of low initial momentum for DC's TV show teasers, one that Lanterns now appears to be reversing.
However, it's worth noting the gap between DC Studios' film trailers and its TV trailers. Movies simply draw bigger numbers, and DC's two biggest theatrical releases in the rebooted universe are proof.
The teaser for Superman generated 11 million YouTube views in its first 24 hours, making it one of DC's biggest trailer launches on the platform. Supergirl, the Milly Alcock-led film due in theaters this summer, followed with 9.5 million YouTube views in the same window when its first trailer dropped in December last year. So on the film side, the initial hype is there; it's the HBO Max shows that could do with a bit more momentum from the jump.
How Good Will DC’s Lanterns Show Be?
Lanterns is set up as something genuinely different from what DC Studios has put out so far, and for many, that can either be a positive or negative thing. The show follows Hal Jordan and John Stewart, two Green Lanterns, intergalactic peacekeepers tasked with protecting their assigned sector of the universe, as they are drawn into a grounded murder mystery in Nebraska.
It is co-written by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King, and directed in its first two episodes by James Hawes. Kyle Chandler plays the veteran Jordan, with Aaron Pierre as the rookie Stewart, and Nathan Fillion returns as Guy Gardner, the Green Lantern he first played in Superman.
The creative team is strong on paper, and the show's prestige-crime ambitions are commendable. But the trailer has not landed without friction. The most rampant complaint has been about color, specifically the lack of it. Hal Jordan's suit, briefly glimpsed in the trailer, is a muted leather with faded brown and green colors, a far cry from the vivid emerald designs fans know from the comics.
Fans also noticed that Jordan flies without the green glow typically associated with a Lantern's ring-based powers. Of course, this is likely a deliberate DCU choice as Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner flew without a glow in Superman, too. Understandably, these early details have left many fans worried, but it's early days yet. The show could arrive and turn out to be a case where these elements were non-issues.
The creative foundation gives real reason for optimism. Chris Mundy shepherded Ozark through four seasons as one of the most consistently gripping crime dramas on streaming. Damon Lindelof has a track record of taking familiar genre territory. Tom King, who wrote the source comic for Supergirl, is one of DC's most celebrated modern writers, creating some of the best stories we’ve come to love.
That trio, working alongside two lead actors in Chandler and Pierre, who are more than capable of carrying a prestige drama, leaves room for positive takeaways ahead of the show's premiere. While many would argue that picking a group of space-faring, will-powered ring wielders for a grounded show isn’t the best choice, all we can do is wait and see.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
