Image via Hulu
In recent years, Hulu has caught up to streaming giant Netflix (Amazon Prime is on the rise, too). Both streaming platforms house tons of classic network television and a plethora of movies, but Hulu has been ramping things up in a new category lately: original series.
For a while there, The Handmaid’s Tale was the crown jewel of Hulu. And while its awards and nominations and praise from TV tastemakers have kept it in the cultural zeitgeist, Hulu's other shows have made their own splash, too. From comedy to drama to original series based on true stories, the streaming service has gifted TV lovers with tons of new content to choose from. Shows like Difficult People and Harlots paved the way, and now, shows like The Act, Castle Rock, and PEN15 are giving Hulu its own prestige content.
The realm of Hulu Originals is still expanding, but there's already plenty to celebrate. These are the 11 best Hulu original series.
The Handmaid's Tale
Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski, Alexis Bledel
Elisabeth Moss further cements her status as a national treasure of television with her starring turn as Offred in this series, based on the 1985 novel by Margaret Atwood. In a world where many women are barren and all are under the control of an oppressive government, Offred's ability to still bear children puts her in a particularly perilous position. The series, arguably Hulu's most well-known original, has earned five Primetime Emmy Awards, and is nominated for two more this year.
The Bisexual
Starring: Desiree Akhavan, Maxine Peake, Brian Gleeson
When Leila (Desiree Akhavan) and Sadie (Maxine Peake) end their long-term relationship, Leila hooks up with a man. Bisexuality is not new to Leila, but she routinely makes a habit of hiding her sexual identity from her lesbian friends to avoid derision. When her friends find out that Leila’s sexuality isn’t as cut and dry as they thought, they accuse her of being inauthentic and disloyal. Through conversations at parties and banter with her straight male roommate, Leila tackles the stigma of bisexual erasure and the entire sexual identity being coded as indecisiveness.
The Act
Starring: Joey King, Patricia Arquette, Calum Worthy
In 2015, Gypsy-Rose Blanchard was sentenced to prison for second degree murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. The Act is based on this true crime story, and carefully details a heart-wrenching timeline of emotional abuse and Munchausen syndrome by proxy. The lies begin early in Gypsy-Rose’s (Joey King) life, and when she becomes old enough to question details about her myriad of supposed illnesses and ailments, her mother (Patricia Arquette) gets more controlling. As their dynamic becomes more toxic, Gypsy turns to the internet for solace, and meets someone willing to do anything to grant her freedom. Arquette is arresting in her portrayal of the facets of Dee Dee Blanchard, ranging from a hand-wringing concerned mother to a dangerous force to be reckoned with.
Castle Rock
Starring: Bill Skarsgard, Andre Holland, Jane Levy, Melanie Lynskey
Castle Rock is a small woodland town that becomes embroiled in a scandal when prison guards discover a mysterious man (Bill Skarsgard) in an unoccupied wing of the facility. The man doesn’t respond to questions, and only opens his mouth to utter the name Henry Deaver (Andre Holland), a Texas attorney who grew up in the town. When Deaver returns, he finds out that secrets about his own life tie into the mysterious appearance of the prisoner, unveiling answers to questions he didn’t know he had. An eerie town in the Stephen King universe, Castle Rock has a complicated and tragic history that ties everyone together.
Wu-Tang: An American Saga
Starring: Dave East, Shameik Moore, Ashton Sanders
The Wu-Tang Clan is one of the most world-renowned rap groups to achieve career longevity. Wu-Tang: An American Saga begins in New York during the crack epidemic, highlighting the true story of the era and the beginnings of one of the greatest rap groups of all time. RZA and Method Man sit as creator and producer of the miniseries, respectively, to bring one of rap’s most electrifying origin stories to life. This coming-of-age series is based on The Wu-Tang Manual, a guidebook RZA wrote for Wu-Tang fans to learn about the basis and evolution of the group.
Letterkenny
Starring: Jared Keeso, Jacob Tierney, Tyler Johnson
Letterkenny is a quick-witted comedy set in a slow-paced, rural Canadian town made up of 5,000 residents who split into three groups: The Skids, The Hicks and The Hockey Players, who all somehow end up bickering and fist-fighting over insignificant town happenings and petty grievances. Letterkenny began as a web series and was later fleshed out into a full TV show, giving the characters a careful balance between genuine depth and hilarious caricaturization. The brash wordplay and vulgarity is rounded out with an underlying warmth and sentimentality, a combination that is virtually unparalleled among other TV shows.
Shrill
Starring: Aidy Bryant, Luka Jones, John Cameron Mitchell
Shrill gives a seldom seen look into what it’s like to navigate the world as a fat woman. Annie (Aidy Bryant) is a writer who is constantly treated differently because of her size, encountering fatphobia at nearly every turn. From a friends with benefits situation to her family life, Annie’s weight somehow always becomes the topic of conversation. When one of Annie’s articles goes viral, strangers are able to see her for who she is: a funny, talented writer who critiques how the world treats her. Annie unravels these issues in a relatable and relevant way, and side-splitting moments of laughter keep the show from being too serious. Throughout the series, Annie is burdened with the task of juggling other people’s feelings about her weight while coming to grips with feelings she has about herself.
PEN15
Starring: Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, Richard Karn
PEN15 is a sweet, hilarious, and often-cringeworthy story of being a middle schooler in the year 2000. Maya (Maya Erskine) and Anna (Anna Konkle) have been friends their whole lives, and are now awkward middle schoolers surrounded by new situations. The girls repeatedly try to shun their childhood selves and become cool, even though they are both still goofy at heart. Maya and Anna are afraid to be seen as dorks, but they’re more afraid of the idea of growing apart. Erskine and Konkle not only wrote the series, but are brave enough to play their 13-year old selves (among actors of actual middle school age) in order to properly retell the embarrassment of their preteen years.
The Looming Tower
Starring: Jeff Daniels, Tahar Rahim, Wrenn Schmidt
This series is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright, and details intelligence agencies’ roles in counter-terrorism. The Looming Tower unfolds the sequence of events that led up to 9/11, and how the FBI and CIA’s constant rivalry played a part in the threat of terrorism on the United States. Jeff Daniels shines spectacularly as John O’Neill, chief of the FBI counter-terrorism department in New York, who becomes certain that Al Qaeda has locked aim at New York for a focal point of one of many U.S. attacks. When O’Neill’s theories are rebuffed, CIA agent Diane Marsh (Wrenn Schmidt) begins hiding and withholding critical information that supports O’Neill’s ideas. Although we’re well aware of the 9/11 attacks, this riveting series critiques the underlying conflict between the FBI and CIA, and the ways this ongoing battle affected the United States in the long run. The gripping portrayals of real-life agents serve as a damning account of the government’s negligence, which led to the ultimate tragedy.
Future Man
Starring: Josh Hutcherson, Eliza Coupe, Derek Wilson
Josh Futturman (Josh Hutcherson) is an unfulfilled janitor obsessed with video games. When he solves a game that no one else has been able to conquer, characters from the game appear in his bedroom to tell Josh that he is responsible for going back in time with them to save the universe. Tiger (Eliza Coupe) and Wolf (Derek Wilson) take Josh through a series of past cultural milestones, where he is urged to insert himself into history in hilarious ways and change the future, in order to prevent total catastrophe.
Casual
Starring: Michaela Watkins, Tommy Dewey, Tara Lynne Barr, Molly Ephraim
Casual finds a brother and sister living together and coaching each other through the tricky world of dating. Valerie (Michaela Watkins) is a newly divorced therapist with a teenage daughter who has to move in with her brother Alex; Alex (Tommy Dewey) is a bachelor whose driving passion is having casual sex whenever possible, inspiring him to create an algorithm for a dating website. Casual explores the complicated and endearing intricacies of family, while emboldening these very different siblings on paths of self-discovery.