It turns out The Penguin doesn’t need Batman to be a bonafide TV hit. That’s right, the HBO miniseries is off to an impressive start following its September 19 debut, with the Colin Farrell crime drama drawing 5.3 million viewers in its opening weekend.
The confirmation of the success of the Max show comes thanks to Varietywho reported that The Penguin has become HBO’s latest success story, just four days after the first episode aired. What makes The Batman The spin-off series’ performance has been so impressive that the opening chapter was watched by more people on Max and HBO – in the US alone, by the way – than the premiere episodes of Succession season 4 (4.9 million viewers) and The White Lotus season 2 (4.1 million). Only Real Detective: Nightland (5.7 million) boasts a better debut weekend on HBO than The Penguin in recent times.
There is more good news for The PenguinAccording to Variety’s article, the show had the biggest four-day opening on Max, also known as one of the world’s top streaming services, in all regions where the streaming giant is available. The last of us Season 1 was the, well, last Max series to have a similarly fantastic debut. As word of mouth spreads about how well The Penguin You can also expect the viewing figures to rise even further.
Run, don’t waddle, to victory
It’s worth noting that Variety’s figures only include audiences who watched the show via Max and HBO. The Penguin Also launched on Sky and Now TV in the UK, plus Binge in Australia, so global viewing figures are likely to be even higher than what has been reported. I’ve reached out to my Sky and Binge contacts to get more details on their specific viewing figures for The Penguin‘s premiere and I will update this article if I get more information.
Honestly, I’m not shocked that The Penguinin which Farrell reprises his 1969 role as Oswald Cobb The Batmanbecame an overnight success. In my review of The PenguinI suggested it deserved a spot in HBO’s pantheon of crime dramas, alongside other similarly epic genres, such as The Sopranos. As a limited series, it’s highly unlikely that it will have a multi-season run like one of the best Max series of all time. That said, given the critical and commercial acclaim it has received, I’m sure HBO execs will be begging showrunner Lauren LeFranc, executive producer Matt Reeves, and Farrell to make a second season.
Anyway, given what happens over the course of the eight episodes – I’ve seen them all, but don’t worry, I’m not terrible enough to spoil anything – The Penguin certainly sets up some fascinating storylines that can be further developed later Batman Part IISo even if a second season doesn’t pan out for the aforementioned trio, we’ll be seeing more of Farrell’s Cobb in the future.
I will cover The Penguin throughout the eight episodes, so while you wait for Episode 2 to drop on September 29 (US) or September 30 (UK and Australia), you can read this article about the fascinating Batman Easter egg in Episode 1 that will fill fans of The Dark Knight with delight or dread.