Max is touting strong viewership for its true-crime limited drama series Love & Death.
The streaming service says that the Elizabeth Olsen and Jesse Plemons series has become its number one most-watched Max original limited series globally.
Previous limited series for the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned service, which didn’t give any hard numbers for Love & Death, include Station Eleven, DMZ and The Staircase.
It also noted that the limited series, which comes from writer David E. Kelley and director Lesli Linka Glatter, had the biggest launch of any Max original in 2023. However, there haven’t been any other big original drama or comedy launches this year – Love & Death has been its first original live-action scripted title to launch out of the U.S. since Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin and Rap Sh!t in July 2022, although it has launched series such as animated comedy Fired on Mars and Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai as well as reality series The Bridge this year.
Love & Death has grown its viewership week-over-week since its April 27 debut, with a finale audience that was 59% larger than that of the premiere, according to Max.
The limited series is among the Top 5 biggest launches ever for a Max original globally, coming in at No. 1 in Latin America (it is available in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela).
The limited series also launched across certain countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Love & Death tells the true story of Candy and Pat Montgomery and Betty and Allan Gore – two churchgoing couples enjoying their smalltown Texas life… until an extramarital affair leads somebody to pick up an axe.
In addition to Olsen and Plemons, it stars Lily Rabe, Patrick Fugit, Krysten Ritter, Tom Pelphrey, Keir Gilchrist and Elizabeth Marvel.
The series is co-produced by Lionsgate. Executive producers are Kelley through David E. Kelley Productions; Nicole Kidman and Per Saari through Blossom Films; Linka Glatter; Scott Brown and Megan Creydt through Texas Monthly; Matthew Tinker; Michael Klick and Helen Verno.
The limited series is inspired by the book, Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs, and a collection of articles from Texas Monthly (Love & Death in Silicon Prairie, Part I & II).
