It's Officially The End Of An Era For DCU's Lanterns On HBO Max

Published Oct 16, 2026, 5:10 PM EDT Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more. Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics." Lanterns has become one of the new DC Universe's biggest hits so far, but the popular sci-fi series now faces the end of an era, though its successful run should still continue for some time. Lanterns had the daunting task of making Green Lantern a fan-favorite character in live-action again after 2011's Green Lantern movie, which starred Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, failed to excite. Nathan Fillion's debut in the DCU Chapter One as Guy Gardner in James Gunn's Superman movie had already started to help change that public image. HBO's Lanterns season 1 would successfully flip it entirely. Lanterns stars Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart. Fillion also appears in multiple episodes as Guy Gardner. With eight episodes released between August 16 and October 4, the live-action DC TV show has cemented itself as one of the biggest new series of 2026 worldwide, breaking viewership records for DC Studios, HBO, and HBO Max. Now that there are no new episodes of Lanterns season 1 left to be aired, the latest release in Gunn's DCU has just been dethroned on HBO Max's charts, and the streaming update officially marks the end of an era for Lanterns. Lanterns Is No Longer HBO Max's No. 1 Series At the time of writing, Lanterns is no longer the most-watched TV show on HBO Max in the United States, falling to #2, as per FlixPatrol. Now reigning as the streaming service's most popular series nationwide is 1000-lb Sisters, the reality show that is currently in season 9, with new episodes airing weekly, which is likely what allowed the show to rise above Lanterns, as the DC series just had its first weekend without new episodes following the Lanterns season 1 finale's release on October 4. That said, Lanterns still ranks higher than War, Youth, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and more on HBO Max. While Lanterns might have lost HBO Max's streaming crown in the US, the DC series still stands as the streaming service's most-watched TV show worldwide, according to FlixPatrol data. On HBO Max's global chart, Lanterns leaves behind shows like Collision, Youth, Captive, and many more. FlixPatrol also reports that Lanterns is currently trending on HBO Max in 56 countries, a massive feat for a show that does not have any new episodes coming anytime soon. In addition to that, Lanterns ranks as high as #1 on HBO Max in nine of those countries. Lanterns holds a near-perfect 91% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes. The DCU Show's Future Remains In An Unspecified Limbo While Lanterns is still trending and has proven itself a global hit for HBO and HBO Max, the DC series' future is still undefined. Lanterns season 2 keeps waiting for an official green light, though showrunner Chris Mundy has already assembled a writers' room to work on possible ideas for new episodes. That said, DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran recently talked to IGN about Lanterns' future, confirming that season 2 was not yet greenlit, and that would depend on whether DC, HBO, Mundy, and the team in general felt like they could make "a worthy successor" to Lanterns season 1. Release Date August 16, 2026 Network HBO Showrunner Chris Mundy Cast Aaron Pierre John Stewart Directors Alik Sakharov, James Hawes, Stephen Williams, Geeta Patel Writers Damon Lindelof, Chris Mundy, Tom King, Vanessa Baden Kelly, Justin Britt-Gibson, Breannah Gibson Franchise(s) DC Universe Creator(s) Tom King, Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof