Friday night, NBC’s new pirate drama Crossbones, starring John Malkovich, aired and drew in a decent amount of viewers, despite the difficult 10 p.m. timeslot.
Though Deadline reports the show was originally meant to air during the midseason alongside Grimm, the show was pushed back and given a summer release.
The show received a 1.1 rating with adults 18-49, according to The Hollywood Reporter and an overall viewership total of 4.9 million—the same amount the second season premiere of NBC’s Hannibal back in Feb.
Crossbones was the only original drama airing last Friday night, and it was beaten in the ratings by ABC’s 20/20 and NBC’s own Dateline. Notably, the show did better than last week’s premiere of Gang Related on Fox.
The show stars John Malkovich as the famed Blackbeard and centers around his reign in 1729 on the island of Santa Compana.
Crossbones is set to air nine episodes during the show’s first season summer run.