The Last of Us held an impressive viewership record on Max for its debut in 2023 but according to a new report, DC Studios' The Penguin has eclipsed it. proving that the spinoff to The Batman didn't need a caped crusader to succeed.
The Penguin's 4-Day Launch Hits Impressive Viewership on Max
Following Matt Reeves' The Batman, the spinoff story about Colin Farrell's "Oz Cobb", The Penguin, sits at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes since its debut on the streamer on September 19.
According the HBO, The Penguin debuted with 5.3 million U.S. viewings across its platforms, which includes the repeated airings on HBO and the streaming viewership records on Max.
The record puts The Penguin on top of Succession's final season premiere (4.9 million viewers) and The White Lotus season 2 premiere (4.1 million viewers) while falling short of merely 400,000 viewers behind True Detective: Night Country's debut.
The non-Batman spinoff also happened to land the "biggest 4-day audience" for a newly released series on Max in every region globally since The Last of Us joined the streamer in January 2023.
Despite initial backlash on why The Penguin series was being made in the first place, Colin Farrell's return, along with the live depiction of Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone, surprised fans from the get-go of the pilot episode.
While no Caped Crusader is rescuing Gotham from The Riddler's post-destruction, the focus on Oz Cobb and Sofia Falcone's greatest rivalry story is more than enough to keep DC fans on the hook for what the next episode plans to bring to the table.
A similar thing happened with The Last of Us, after seeing Game of Thrones star Bella Ramsey portray the live adaptation of 14-year-old Ellie prior to the debut of the series.
However, once the Naughty Dog production played its 9 episodes on the streamer, fans turned over a new leaf and looked forward to how HBO could replicate The Last of Us Part II's revenge story on the small screen.
READ NEXT: The Penguin's Cristin Milioti Once Obsessed Over Batman Forever
DC fans should expect The Penguin episode 2 to release on Max on Sunday, September 29. Meanwhile, The Last of Us season 2 returns to Max sometime in 2025.
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