While Netflix seemingly led the way for other streaming networks to create compelling original programming, Hulu actually beat them all to the punch. In 2011, a year before Netflix’s Lilyhammer and two years before the arrival of House of Cards, the burgeoning streamer premiered The Morning After, a pop-culture-focused news show that ran for 800 episodes over three years.
Hulu has continued to make TV history in the years since, most notably in 2017 when it became the first streamer to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series with The Handmaid’s Tale (which recently dropped its long-awaited final season). In the years since, the streamer has continued to match—and often exceed—that high bar for quality entertainment with shows Shōgun, which set an Emmy record in 2024 with 18 wins in a single season, and The Bear.
While more competition has popped up since Hulu started gaining critical credibility, the network has continued to stand out for its carefully curated selection of original series and network partnerships that make it the home of FX series and more. Below are some of our favorite shows streaming on Hulu right now.
Not finding what you’re looking for? Head to WIRED’s guide to the best TV shows on Amazon Prime, the best TV shows on Disney+, and the best shows on Netflix. Have other suggestions for this list? Let us know in the comments.
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To Cook a Bear
While Bill Skarsgård is terrifying HBO’s audiences with his latest outing as Pennywise, the sewer-dwelling clown in It: Welcome to Derry, his older brother—and fellow actor—Gustaf Skarsgård is tackling a different kind of horror altogether. In this 1852-set Nordic noir series, Skarsgård plays a preacher who arrives with his family in Kengis, a secluded village in northern Sweden, with the hope of finding a community that will embrace his puritanical teachings. Instead, he is met with suspicion when his arrival coincides with a series of local deaths that may or may not be the work of a hungry bear on the loose. It’s an intriguing concept that ultimately has audiences questioning the true nature of man, with a standout performance from Skarsgård.
Murdaugh: Death in the Family
In February 2019, Lowcountry lawyer Alex Murdaugh brought his prominent South Carolina family’s name into spotlight when his 19-year-old son Paul, after a long night of partying, crashed the family’s boat into a bridge with five other people aboard. One of the teens—19-year-old Mallory Beach—was thrown from the vessel and did not survive. It was just the beginning of a bizarre, yearslong series of tragedies that struck the family, resulting in multiple arrests, murders, and ultimately two life sentences for Alex Murdaugh. Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty) and Patricia Arquette (Severance) take on the role of Alex and Maggie Murdaugh in this dramatic retelling of the crimes that have rocked a nation.
Abbott Elementary
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