‘The Outsider’ Was A Bigger Ratings Hit For HBO Than ‘True Detective’ And ‘Watchmen’

It may not have gotten as much online attention as Watchmen or True Detective, but The Outsider was a quiet ratings hit for HBO.

The Stephen King adaptation pulled in nine million viewers per episode across all platforms (that includes night-of viewings, as well as replays and streaming), which is the “biggest audience for a first-year HBO drama since Westworld in 2016,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. By comparison, Watchmen and True Detective season three were seen by seven and eight million people, respectively, although Big Little Lies season two had them all beat with 10 million. The Outsider also fared well during initial viewings.

Sunday’s finale drew the biggest initial audience for the show with 1.37 million people tuning in. That’s a 16 percent improvement on the previous high of 1.18 million set a week earlier. Replays and streaming pushed Sunday’s total to 2.2 million, a first-night high for the show. (Via)

The Outsider is no Game of Thrones, but HBO will happily take these numbers. As for whether there will be a season two, executive producer Richard Price told IndieWire, “It’s like pulling a rabbit out of a glass hat — of course there will be another . There’s no such thing as a series that, if it does well, they’re not going to want a second season.”