DC Studios' latest TV show has officially closed out its first season, and the show's season length has now landed in record-breaking territory for the studio. Since James Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC Studios at the end of 2022, the studio has been steadily stacking its TV slate, with each new project carving out a different corner of the new DC Universe. The studios' shows not only have unique tones and stories, but the episode counts have also varied just as widely. The most recent show to wrap a season set a new benchmark on that front.
DC Studios officially closed out the first season of Krypto Saves the Day, its animated shorts series following Superman's super-powered dog, with just four episodes total. The Season 1 finale, Coastal Catastrophe, landed on HBO Max and the DC Kids YouTube channel on April 18, capping a run that started back in August 2025.
This four-episode count makes Krypto Saves the Day the shortest season any DC Studios show has produced under the Gunn and Safran era, beating the previous low by three full episodes. The studio also confirmed that Season 2 is already in production at Warner Bros. Animation, with Supergirl set to play a bigger role moving forward.
Krypto Saves the Day is now the fourth DC Studios show under the Gunn era to close out a full season, joining Creature Commandos, The Penguin, and Peacemaker Season 2.
How DC Studios' Shows Differ In Season Lengths
Creature Commandos - 7 Episodes
With just seven episodes, Creature Commandos holds the second-shortest season for a DC Studios series, trailing Krypto Saves the Day. The adult animated series was the very first DCU project to release under the Gunn and Safran era, kicking off the new universe in December 2024. The show follows a black ops team of imprisoned monsters, including The Bride (Indira Varma), Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour), Doctor Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), Nina Mazursky (Zoe Chao), Weasel (Sean Gunn), and G.I. Robot, all sent on missions deemed too dangerous for human soldiers.
The first season closed out early last year with "A Very Funny Monster." The finale gave Nina Mazursky her tragic backstory, then killed her off in the final mission against Princess Ilana of Pokolistan. The Bride, in turn, took out Ilana herself, motivated by the loss of the only friend she had made on the team. A post-credits scene confirmed Eric Frankenstein had survived The Bride's bullets, setting up his return for Season 2, which is currently in production at Warner Bros. Animation.
Peacemaker Season 2- 8 Episodes
With eight episodes, Peacemaker Season 2 is the first live-action TV show released under the new DCU. John Cena returned as Christopher Smith, picking up the story after the events of Superman. This time, the show sent Peacemaker into an alternate dimension where his abusive father, August Smith, and his dead brother Keith were both alive, healthy, and part of a beloved superhero team. The season premiered on HBO Max on August 21, 2025, with new episodes dropping weekly through October 9 that year.
The season finale, "Full Nelson," is easily the most plot-heavy closer the studio has produced so far. Chris ended the episode stranded on Salvation, the prison planet that has been steadily teased as a major DCU story driver. Reactions to the finale were mixed, with the Salvation detour and a Nelson musical sequence proving polarizing among fans. Even so, the season as a whole earned a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the best-reviewed entries in any James Gunn project.
The Penguin - 8 Episodes
The Penguin also closed its season with eight episodes on November 10, 2024. The HBO series was the first live-action follow-up to Matt Reeves' 2022 movie The Batman, with Colin Farrell back under the prosthetics as Oswald "Oz" Cobb. The show belongs inside Reeves' "Epic Crime Saga" branch of DC, a corner of the studio that operates as its own continuity and exists outside the new DCU. The season followed Oz's rise from low-level Falcone enforcer to kingpin of Gotham's underworld, with Cristin Milioti playing his rival Sofia Falcone and Rhenzy Feliz as his young protégé Victor Aguilar.
The finale, "A Great or Little Thing," was also the longest episode of the season. The episode had two of the most talked-about moments in any superhero show that year. First, Oz had Sofia shipped back to Arkham Asylum, completing his takeover of her crumbling empire. Then, in the closing minutes, he strangled Victor to death after Victor called him family, telling him that family makes you weak. The closing shot panned up to the Bat-Signal in the Gotham sky, a deliberate handoff back to Reeves' upcoming The Batman Part II.
Lanterns - 8 Episodes
Lanterns is the only completed-but-unreleased entry in this rundown, with HBO confirming an eight-episode straight-to-series order. The show is set to premiere on August 16, 2026, taking the Sunday 9 p.m. slot on HBO and HBO Max. Created by Ozark showrunner Chris Mundy, Lost producer Damon Lindelof, and comics writer Tom King, the series puts Kyle Chandler in the role of Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as new recruit John Stewart. The two are pulled into a murder investigation in the American heartland, with Gunn pitching the show as True Detective with Green Lanterns.
The cast also includes Nathan Fillion reprising Guy Gardner from Superman, Kelly Macdonald as a local sheriff, Ulrich Thomsen as Sinestro, and Garret Dillahunt in a major recurring role. Filming wrapped in July 2025, and Pierre is already locked in to reprise John Stewart in the 2027 film Man of Tomorrow, which is currently in production.
Harley Quinn Season 5 - 10 Episodes
Harley Quinn, the show with the longest season length under the DC Studios umbrella, ran ten episodes in its fifth season. The show premiered Season 5 on HBO Max on January 16, 2025, and wrapped on March 20 that year. Season 5 sent Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy out of Gotham and dropped them in Metropolis, where they crossed paths with Superman, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor's sister Lena, and Brainiac.
Gunn and Safran have classified this show as part of the Elseworlds banner rather than the main DCU continuity, the same banner that covers Reeves' The Batman films and The Penguin. The show predates the Gunn era at DC Studios entirely, having launched all the way back in 2019 on the now-defunct DC Universe streaming app before migrating to HBO Max. Even so, it continued running under DC Studios' watch.
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.
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