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‘Lovecraft Country’ Season Finale Ratings Jumped 16 Percent from Pilot Episode

Tyler Hersko
·2 min read

HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” has been one of the fall’s most-discussed television shows, and viewers turned out in particularly high numbers for the horror title’s season finale on Sunday.

Per Variety, the tenth and final episode of “Lovecraft Country” Season 1 reached an audience of 1.5 million viewers on Sunday night. The statistic marks a season high for the show and a roughly 16 person viewership increase from the season premiere in August. Around 881,000 viewers tuned in to the season’s final episode via linear HBO broadcast, according to Variety. The show was also a hit on WarnerMedia’s HBO Max streaming service, where it stands as the streamer’s top-rated show.

The series, which serves as a continuation of author Matt Ruff’s 2016 novel of the same name, follows Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) and Letitia Lewis (Jurnee Smollett) as the former searches for his missing father in 1950s Jim Crow America while overcoming both the racism of white America and various Lovecraftian horrors.

“Lovecraft Country” has been well-received by most critics, though IndieWire’s Ben Travers had mixed feelings about the show’s season finale in his grade C+ review, where he praised the series’ outlandish elements and high production values but criticized its character development in the handling of its themes.

Unless “Lovecraft Country” gets a lot better at balancing its convoluted plotting with precise character development, Season 2 needs to lean in to its most entertaining elements. Aside from its excellent production design and costly VFX, this isn’t a prestige TV show; it’s a bonkers TV thriller. And that’s OK! Take the big budget and make more bloody, batshit TV; it’s often just as vital to audiences as those steeped in import, and such a talented ensemble and ambitious producers can certainly turn this one into something special. Right now, between the messy narrative, bendable rules, and buckets of blood, it’s just too hard to get a grip on “Lovecraft Country.”

“Lovecraft Country” has yet to be officially renewed for a sophomore season, but if the show’s strong ratings are any indication, the creative team behind “Lovecraft Country” will have ample opportunity to make more bloody and batshit TV via a second season sometime in the near future.

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