The 25 Best Hulu Original Series You Should Watch
You’re likely already familiar with Hulu’s most popular series, including The Building Murders , The Bear , and The Handmaid’s Tale . They’re all good, even great! But there are others that are just as good, and some are even better.
Like Netflix and Max , Hulu has been developing its own original (and co-production) shows since 2012, building a library that goes far beyond re-released shows from broadcast networks.
Chad Powers (2025 – )
One minute, Russ Holliday (series star and co-creator Glen Powell) is the biggest name in college football, whose future couldn’t be brighter. The next? He misses a touchdown pass, then uses his wheelchair to push a fan into a cancer patient. Not great! Eight years later, he’s looking for a comeback, and so, in echoes of Mrs. Doubtfire , he reinvents himself with prosthetics and a wig as the titular character Chad Powers, a charmingly naive athlete who signs up for the small Georgia college football team (and who somehow looks a bit like Owen Wilson). It’s a silly premise, but Powell’s performance overpowers it, and the show becomes more interesting as Russ/Chad is forced to ask himself whether this new character is a fraud or the person he wishes he were. Stream Chad Powers .
Alien: Earth (2025 – , renewed for a second season)
Noah Hawley’s new take on the Alien universe (technically a prequel, but who can follow?) aims to explore some of the series’ key themes (greed, hubris, and the general nastiness of capitalism) without feeling entirely tied to what came before. Sydney Chandler plays Wendy, a dying woman whose consciousness is transferred into a synthetic human body as part of an experiment conducted by the megacorporation Prodigy. When a rival company’s spaceship crashes on Earth under mysterious circumstances, she and others like her are sent to rescue and investigate. This is an Alien story, so the ship will essentially only crash if a xenomorph is involved, but that’s just one of many ugly secrets uncovered by the so-called “Lost Boys. ” Watch Alien: Earth .
Everything by the Rules (2025 – , renewed for a second season)
Ryan Murphy’s New Divorce Legal Drama: Worst Show of the Year ? Ever? Reviews for the show and Kim Kardashian’s performance have been absolutely savage, and it seems like a sort of arms race has broken out among critics to see who can beat “All Things Considered” : Ed Power of The Telegraph called it “a crime against television,” Lucy Mangan of The Guardian said of it , “I didn’t know television could still be this bad.” And YET! The show debuted as the best in three years on Hulu, and viewers continued to watch it online—likely because of the closers. Good, bad, or gloriously bad, it’s one of the most talked about shows of the year. Niecy Nash-Betts, Teyana Taylor, Sarah Paulson, Judith Light, and Glenn Close join Kim in the shenanigans. Watch “All Things Considered” .
Cat’s Eye (2025–)
Sisters Hitomi, Rui, and Ai run Café Cat’s Eye, a cute little coffee shop located next door. And by night? They’re world-class art thieves: Hitomi is an incredible athlete, Rui is a master strategist, and Ai, the younger sister, is a gadget maker. There are plenty of complications, of course, but the biggest one involves Detective Toshio: he’s hot on the heels of the art thieves, but he’s also Hitomi’s boyfriend. Oops! It’s a stylish and energetic update of the wildly popular ’80s manga and anime, but it doesn’t require a Cat’s Eye-style backstory. Watch Cat’s Eye .
Reasonable Doubt (2022 – )
Emayatzy Corinealdi ( Middle of Nowhere , The Invitation ) plays Jax Stewart, a former public defender now working at a major Los Angeles firm. Alternately a smug do-gooder and deeply insecure, she’s not always the most likable character, often taking her cases far more seriously than her clients. Despite the show’s sappy, soapy charm (created by Scandal writer Ramla Mohamed), this occasional indifference feels real. One of the show’s main recurring themes, particularly in the first season, is Jax’s separation from her husband and the return of a former client (Michael Ealy), recently released from prison and with whom she still has a warm relationship. Watch Reasonable Doubt .
Paradise (2025 – , renewed for a second season)
Paradise reunites This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman with one of that ensemble’s stars, Sterling K. Brown, for something entirely different. This high-concept sci-fi series initially plays more like a political thriller: we’re seemingly in a wealthy suburban town where everything seems fairly tidy—it’s the home of Xavier Collins, Brown’s character, a widower and Secret Service agent for the president, who we learn has been assassinated (much of the series takes place in flashbacks). Before the end of the first episode, we learn that Collins is a suspect in the murder, and that this quiet suburb represents something far stranger. James Marsden plays the president, and he’s received strong reviews for his role opposite Brown. Fogelman and company bring emotional intensity and scope to a concept that gets pretty wild. Watch Paradise .
The Tangled Case of Amanda Knox (2025)
In 2007, 19-year-old Amanda Knox arrived in Perugia, Italy, only to find herself arrested a few weeks later and charged with the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher. The prosecution did a remarkable job of smearing Knox’s name in the Italian press, so that she was ultimately convicted of murder, despite a near-total lack of evidence and the fact that the real killer had already been tried and convicted. Grace Van Patten is quite good in the title role, and the series does a phenomenal job of dramatizing the various mistakes and fabrications that lead to the guilty verdict. A bit of fascinating behind-the-scenes lore: while Meredith Kercher’s family wasn’t involved, Knox herself is an executive producer, along with Monica Lewinsky, another person who knows what it’s like to be judged by the media. Watch The Tangled Case of Amanda Knox .
Deli Boys (2025–, renewed for a second season)
Pakistani-American journalist and producer Abdullah Saeed was best known for his investigative reporting and documentaries for Vice, many of which focused on the impact of cannabis laws. This experience lends a unique perspective to this comedy series, which follows two brothers—the hard-working Mir (Asif Ali) and the hard-partying Raj (Saagar Sheikh)—after the death of their wealthy father. They soon discover that the bulk of their family’s wealth comes not from a network of open-air stores, but from an illegal drug trade operating behind the scenes. Fast-paced and often highly engaging, the series is unlike anything else on television right now. Watch Deli Boys .
Mid-Century Modern (2025)
Touted (if “touted” is the right word) as a men’s take on The Golden Girls , Midcentury Modern stars the brilliant trio of Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, and Nathan Lee Graham as three middle-aged gay friends living together as a family. Directed by Will & Grace creators Max Mutchnick and David Cohen, the series feels like a throwback in many ways, but we could use a good old-fashioned sitcom with a talented cast (including Linda Lavin’s recent work, who seems to be making a great showing here). Watch Midcentury Modern .
King of the Hill (2025–)
There’s something fundamentally disorienting about this particular revival: usually, the solace of cartoons is that the characters don’t change. But “King of the Hill” picks up a few years after the original series (which ended in 2009), with Hank and Peggy returning from years working in the Saudi Arabian oil industry to find their beloved Arlen, well—not quite unrecognizable, but very different from what they’d hoped. Given the pace of change for all of us over the past few years, it’s a familiar feeling, even if you’ve never been away. Hank and Peggy are as set in their ways as ever, but people who only remember that side of the characters quickly recall that these two were always capable of acceptance and growth, confident in their convictions without being jerks to those who lived differently. The returning cast is as good as ever, and, most importantly, the show is as funny as ever. Watch King of the Hill .
Futurama (1999–, renewed for a 14th season)
Picked up by Hulu in 2022, this is the third Futurama revival, and while the show’s best days are behind it, there’s still something vibrant about the current version. Many episodes showcase the show’s endearing silliness, but there are also some classic high-concept moments: in “100%,” Bender becomes tethered to several intersecting simulated universes; in “Otherwise,” he’s tangled in an emotional time loop; and in “A Gap in Numberland,” the crew finds itself drawn into a world of pure mathematics. Watch Futurama .
Queenie (2024 – , renewal pending)
Based on Candice Carty-Williams’s best-selling novel of the same name, Queenie stars Dionne Brown as a 25-year-old British-Jamaican journalist dealing with a traumatic breakup that plunges her into a self-destructive spiral. She’s a deliberately and unexpectedly complex character, navigating a complex web of intersecting identities while simultaneously struggling to grow. Carty-Williams serves as showrunner, and Brown delivers a phenomenal performance. Watch Queenie .
Spellbound (2023–, third season in production)
A successor to Find Me in Paris ( also on Hulu ), set at the same Paris Opera Ballet School, Spellbound features a new cast, and while the previous series focused on time travel, Spellbound , as the title suggests, is more about magic. Here, 15-year-old American CeCe Parker Jones travels to Paris to enroll in a prestigious dance school, only to discover she’s a real witch with a family history of magic. Now she struggles to balance dance, magic, and her desire to be a normal teenager while facing Mystics, the natural enemies of witches like CeCe. It’s a solid teen drama. Watch Spellbound .
The Bravest Knight (2019–, two seasons)
This Canadian series, which is probably still available to watch without a subscription, was Hulu’s first original kids’ series, and it’s delightful. TR Knight voices Cedric, a former pumpkin farmer married to Prince Andrew (Wilson Cruz), who tells his daughter Nia stories of his journey to becoming the greatest knight. It’s action-packed, but it teaches that being a hero isn’t so much about fighting as it is about helping others and making friends, not jumping to conclusions about people. Watch The Bravest Knight .
Hit-Monkey (2021–2024)
A breath of fresh air among over a million hours of Marvel television and film content, the animated Hit-Monkey eschews clichéd morality in favor of, essentially, simian violence. The title character, simply known as Monkey (Fred Tatasciore), is a highly aggressive macaque exiled from his tribe and mentored by Bryce (Jason Sudeikis), a murderer who was killed and returned as a helpful ghost. The talented voice cast includes Ally Mackie, Olivia Munn, George Takei, Leslie Jones, and Cristin Milioti. Watch Hit-Monkey .
Shogun (2024 – , renewed for second and third seasons)
The first season of this miniseries, based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel, was so successful that two more seasons were ordered to continue the story. Set at the very end of Japan’s Warring States period, the series follows ambitious English naval aviator John Blackthorn (Cosmo Jarvis) as he is shipwrecked in Japan and falls under the control of the powerful warlord Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada)—each with something special to offer the other. Reluctantly serving as a translator between them is Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), loyal to Toranaga but with a complicated past. All the main characters have real-life counterparts, so this (mostly) Japanese-language drama has a certain verisimilitude, along with Game of Thrones -style intrigue and drama. Watch Shogun .
PEN15 (2019–2021, two seasons)
You get used to the show’s intricacies within a minute: thirty-year-old creators/comedians Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle play teenagers among real thirteen-year-olds. Oddly enough, Erskine and Konkle are so good, and the show is so captivated by the plot, that after a while, you forget it even exists. The result is a striking and funny comedy that accurately and surprisingly heartfeltly recreates the pain of seventh grade. Even though the show was cut short after just two seasons, it’s still worth watching and ends on a rather satisfying note. Watch on PEN15 .
High Fidelity (2020, one season)
It’s easy to compare it to John Cusack’s 2000 film, but keep in mind that this is actually the third major adaptation of Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel “Hi-Fi,” so it may not be a remake so much as a generational phenomenon in its own right. Maybe the quirky music fans of the future will get their own version where everyone, I don’t know, shares their Spotify username? Either way, here Zoë Kravitz takes on the lead gender-inverted role of Rob, a biracial, bisexual record store owner with a checkered romantic history and an obsessive need to compile ranked lists of both music and her past relationships. It can be hard to believe the effortless awkwardness of the cool Kravitz as a character, but otherwise the series successfully updates the rhythms of the book, film, and musical. Its unexpected cancellation after one season was a minor tragedy. Listen to “Hi-Fi . “
The Orville (2017–, three seasons)
Seth MacFarlane’s Fox series The Orville initially appeared as a slightly raunchy Star Trek parody—a show with a nod to The Next Generation but with jokes about sperm. However, it quickly evolved into something more interesting, as MacFarlane’s obvious affection for Star Trek steered the show in a more serious direction. By its third season, released on Hulu, it had undoubtedly become one of the most ambitious sci-fi series on the air. Word is that a fourth season is on the way , but I’ll believe it when I see it. Watch The Orville .
Piercing (2019–2021, three seasons)
Based on Lindy West’s memoir , Shrill: Notes of a Loud Woman , this comedy-drama stars SNL alum Aidy Bryant as Annie, an unabashedly fat character. Annie (and the show) isn’t shy about using the f-word, insisting there’s nothing shameful about being fat. Annie has no intention of changing her body, though the first couple of episodes make it clear the journalist is working on a variety of other projects. Annie is a remarkably funny and fully fleshed-out character, and it’s delightful to watch her evolve her self-image as the series progresses. Watch Shrill .
Castle Rock (2018–2019, two seasons)
It’s hard to imagine J.J. Abrams’s production based on various Stephen King books could escape anyone’s attention, but the fact that this show was canceled after just two (excellent) seasons suggests it was more a victim of Peak TV than anything else. I think the marketing relied too heavily on King Easter eggs, failing to recognize that there were real stories here, told with real dramatic weight —the first season’s “Queen,” told from the unstable perspective of a character with worsening dementia, was one of the best things on television that year. The cast across the two seasons (each with a standalone storyline) is stellar: André Holland, Bill Skarsgård, Sissy Spacek, Lizzy Caplan, to name a few. There’s plenty of material for King fans to dig into, but it all works beautifully on its own. Listen to Castle Rock .
Into the Dark (2018–2021, two seasons)
It’s sometimes marketed as a collection of short films, but it’s technically an anthology series, so I’ll call it that—and many of the episodes have little narrative threads that run through them, much to the delight of discerning horror fans. There has never been, and probably never will be, a horror anthology that isn’t a bit of a mixed bag, but that’s its beauty: the different episodes represent different genres. Some are psychological thrillers, some are splatter films, some are social satires, and a couple of them star a giant furry creature named Pooka. All of them are entertaining and expertly produced, and the standout episodes are truly magnificent. Highlights include “Nasty Job” (starring the late Julian Sands, who throws a disgusting holiday party at work), the immigration-themed “Culture Shock,” the aforementioned “Pooka!” , and the queer slasher “Midnight Kiss.” Look in the dark .
Welcome to Chippendales (2022–2023, miniseries)
The true story of Indian immigrant Steve Banerjee (played here by Kumail Nanjiani) is incredibly dramatic and poignant, but it doesn’t always live up to expectations. The making of Chippendales, which chronicles Banerjee’s rise to wealth as the founder of a future iconic male strip club, is a story in itself, but its creator’s downfall is even more dramatic, pushing the miniseries into true crime territory: less than a decade after founding his empire, Banerjee abandoned it, deciding the only way to grow his business was through murder. The film also stars Murray Bartlett, Annaleigh Ashford, Juliette Lewis, and Dan Stevens. Watch Welcome to Chippendales .
Courtesans (2017–2019, three seasons)
Harlots takes the period costume drama in a unique direction and deserves more attention than it’s received in three seasons. The women in these series wear elegant dresses not because they’re royalty, but because they’re high-class prostitutes (if the title isn’t clear) in Georgian England. When Margaret Wells moves her brothel to the more upscale Soho, she finds herself in direct competition with her former owner, who runs an upscale establishment in the same area. It’s sexier and faster-paced than more traditional period dramas, and the chess match between the rival houses (who battle male-dominated law enforcement) makes for a thoroughly enjoyable watch. Watch Harlots .
Unchained (2023–2024, two seasons)
The always brilliant Kerry Washington plays Paige Alexander, a therapist who naturally has her own issues to work through. Her life becomes immeasurably more complicated when her father, Edwin (Delroy Lindo), moves in with her and her teenage son after serving a lengthy prison sentence. Her sense of order is upended, and her father’s charismatic exterior conceals his insecurities about his new life. Creator Tracy McMillan draws part of the comedy from her own experiences, resulting in a thoughtful yet refreshingly optimistic look at life after prison. Watch “UnPrisoned . “