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The premiere of HBO’s “The Penguin” generated 5.3 million cross-platform viewers in the U.S. over its weekend debut.
Viewership for “The Batman” spinoff surpassed the premiere of “Succession” Season 4 — which brought in 4.9 million viewers — and “The White Lotus” Season 2 — which brought in 4.1 million viewers — over a similar amount of time. Those series would have a a final average season audience of 9.6 million and 15.5 million, respectively. It also aligns with the premiere of “True Detective: Night Country,” which brought in 5.7 million viewers over a similar amount of time and had a final average season audience of 13.9 million viewers.
The figure marks the biggest four-day audience for a new series on Max in every region globally since “The Last of Us” in January 2023.
Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, the series picks up after the events of Matt Reeves’ 2022 film, exploring how Oz Cobb rose to power to become the iconic villain.
In addition to Colin Farrell in the titular role, the previously announced cast includes Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Deirdre O’Connell, with Clancy Brown and Michael Zegen recurring.
The series is executive produced by Reeves, Dylan Clark, Farrell and Lauren LeFranc, who writes and serves as showrunner, as well as Craig Zobel, who directs the first two episodes. Reeves’ 6th & Idaho Productions and Dylan Clark Productions produce in association with Warner Bros. Television. Daniel Pipski also serves as executive producer under the 6th & Idaho banner, with Rafi Crohn as co-executive producer.
New episodes of “The Penguin” air Sunday evenings on HBO and stream on Max.
