Hulu's initial success came from streaming current episodes of TV shows. But when cable services began fulfilling that need with On Demand programming, Hulu needed something to offer beyond reruns. And in the past five years, the company's original TV programming has made Hulu a subscription-worthy service in its own right.
The Handmaid's Tale
Year: 2017-present
Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski
Creator: Bruce Miller
Based on Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, the most critically acclaimed show on Hulu tells the story of women who were forced into sexual servitude as a means of repopulating the Earth.
Normal People
Year: 2020
Starring: Paul Mescal, Daisy Edgar-Jones
Creator: Sally Rooney
A romantic drama set in Ireland, Normal People tells a story about growing up, falling in and out of love, and the arising tensions from unequal social status.
Castle Rock
Year: 2018-2019
Starring: André Holland, Bill Skarsgård, Melanie Lynskey, Lizzy Caplan, Elsie Fisher
Creator: Sam Shaw, Dustin Thomason
A Stephen King-inspired fever dream, Castle Rock combines the horror master's most famous characters and storylines into a common, shared universe.
Animaniacs
Year: 2020-present
Starring: Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, Tress MacNeille
Creator: Tom Ruegger
The smartest animated show from the mid-'90s is back. Watch Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner irritate everyone while Pinky and the Brain try to take over the world.
The Great
Year: 2020-present
Starring: Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Fox
Creator: Tony McNamara
A comedic, darkly satirical take on the life and times of Catherine the Great, and her murderous impulses towards her husband, Peter III.
Harlots
Year: 2017-2019
Starring: Samantha Morton, Lesley Manville, Jessica Brown Findlay
Creator: Alison Newman, Moira Buffini
Set in a brothel in 18th century London, Brothels centers around a madame who's trying to improve the lives of her families--both her professional and personal ones.
Pen15
Year: 2019-present
Starring: Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle
Creator: Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, Sam Zvibleman
Thirteen is an awkward age, and Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, both playing fictionalized versions of themselves, bring the pain in this cringe comedy.
Wu-Tang: An American Saga
Year: 2019-present
Starring: Ashton Sanders, Shameik Moore, Siddiq Saunderson
Creator: RZA, Alex Tse
The Wu-Tang Clan has always engaged in self-mythologizing, and this "based on a true story" epic, about the group's meteoric rise to fame, is another extension of that.
M.O.D.O.K.
Year: 2021-present
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Aimee Garcia
Creator: Jordan Blum, Patton Oswalt
Stop-motion animation isn't the go-to medium when it comes to telling Marvel stories, but M.O.D.O.K., about a big-headed supervillain's midlife crisis, makes it work.
Runaways
Year: 2017-2019
Starring: Rhenzy Feliz, Lyrica Okano, Virginia Gardner
Creator: Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage
Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Runaways is about a group of superpowered teens who discover their parents are supervillains, and band together to stop them.
If you need something new to binge-watch, you can definitely find it on Hulu. Here are the 10 best original shows currently available for streaming.
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