Hulu’s 25 Best Original Series, Ranked

The rapid-fire, down-home Canadian comedy about rural living was developed by Jared Keeso and Jacob Tierney, with Keeso also starring as Wayne, a stoic farmer who prides himself on being “the toughest guy in Letterkenny.” Much of the show revolves around the Hicks: Wayne, his sister Katy (Michelle Mylett), and his best buds Daryl (Nathan Dales) and Squirrely Dan (K. Trevor Wilson), who spend their days hanging around the local produce stand and interacting with the town’s other social circles, including the Skids (the local goths), the hockey players, and the Natives. Known for its epic wordplay and running gags, Letterkenny became one of Canada’s most beloved comedies and even spawned the hit spinoff Shoresy. The series ran from 2016 to 2023, with Tierney also directing, writing, and executive producing along with Keeso before creating Heated Rivalry. – Erin Maxwell

Lucy Albright (Grace Van Patten) is a college freshman looking for a fresh start. New to Baird College, she quickly becomes entangled with the charismatic but deeply manipulative Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White), plunging into a toxic and destructive relationship built on lies, jealousy, and emotional control. Based on the 2018 novel Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering, the drama takes a nonconventional look at toxic relationships by tracing the ripple effects of Lucy and Stephen’s romance over several years, revealing how one damaging connection can fracture friendships, distort personal choices, and leave lasting scars long after the relationship itself should have ended. – Erin Maxwell

One of Hulu’s earlier series, Difficult People features Julie Klausner and Billy Eichner as an iconic friendship duo who are trying to make it in the comedy world. Tracking their day-to-day lives in New York City, it’s a whirlwind of a comedy featuring some insane guest stars.  — Meaghan Darwish

As a Brooklyn record store owner revisiting her playlist of past romances, Zoë Kravitz got a long-overdue starring role. But the music ended too soon: Hulu only gave the show, an adaptation of the same Nick Hornby novel that inspired the 2000 film, a solitary season. — Dan Clarendon

The anthology series inspired by the works of Stephen King‘s library is seriously spooky. Despite only running for two seasons, it remains an underrated gem with all-star turns from alums of King’s other titles like It‘s Bill Skarsgard, Carrie‘s Sissy Spacek, and The Shawshank Redemption‘s Tim Robbins. While the show is set in the titular fictional Maine town, there are Easter eggs galore for King fans to feast on, the biggest one being the inclusion of Season 2 star Lizzy Caplan as Misery‘s Annie Wilkes. — Meaghan Darwish

Starring Saturday Night Live‘s Aidy Bryant, Shrill tells the story of Annie, a young woman working in journalism who is striving to improve her life without having to change herself or her appearance. — Meaghan Darwish

In this 10-episode limited series, Steve Carell plays Dr. Alan Strauss, a grieving therapist who is kidnapped by his patient Sam Fortner (Domhnall Gleeson), a serial killer in need of a little self-care. Over a series of forced therapy sessions, Alan tries to unravel Sam’s psychology while also searching for a way to survive and escape. A minimalist psychological thriller, The Patient is an intense character study driven almost entirely by the performances of Carell and Gleeson. – Erin Maxwell

Amanda Seyfried stars as Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the disgraced biotechnology company Theranos, which raised $700 million on claims it could rapidly and accurately analyze blood tests but ultimately proved far better at separating investors from their cash. The limited series dramatizes the meteoric rise and devastating fall of the Silicon Valley entrepreneur who became the central figure in one of the biggest fraud scandals in tech history, with Seyfried delivering a brilliant performance that earned her both an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

With co-creators Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle playing middle-schoolers at the start of the millennium — as 30-something actors, mind you — this series perfectly captures the humiliations of adolescence outside the cool-kid bubble, the weirdnesses of puberty, and the complexities of teen BFF-ship. — Dan Clarendon

With an Emmy-winning performance by Patricia Arquette, this arresting true-crime series dramatizes the story of Dee Dee Blanchard, a mother who allegedly faked her daughter’s illness and disability and was then murdered by that daughter, played in the miniseries by Joey King. — Dan Clarendon

Based on Jilly Cooper’s bestselling book series, the high-camp British drama is set in the cutthroat world of 1980s television. The series centers on a vicious feud between media mogul Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and scheming executive Tony Baddingham (David Tennant), pulling reporter and family man Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner) and a gaggle of ambitious socialites into their toxic orbit. Rivals is salacious, sordid, and above all else, sensational. – Erin Maxwell

Based on the hit podcast, the limited series follows Molly (Michelle Williams), a woman diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer who chooses to embrace life and desire rather than surrender to illness. After leaving her husband, she embarks on a candid sexual journey, documenting the experience with the support of her best friend Nikki (Jenny Slate) as a way to reclaim her body and sense of self. – Erin Maxwell

Bookstore owner and “truthstorian” Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke) fancies himself an investigative reporter digging into local corruption in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When he publishes a story about an influential family, he may have uncovered something far more dangerous than he expected. Mixing modern neo-noir mystery with quirky dark humor, The Lowdown follows an everyman hero who refuses to stop asking questions. – Erin Maxwell

Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg) is a recently divorced New Yorker whose life just begins to enjoy his newfound freedom when his ex-wife Rachel (Claire Danes) disappears, leaving him with their children. Blending dark comedy with sharp insight, the series explores modern relationships, gender roles, and how two people can experience the same marriage very differently, with Toby’s friend Libby (Lizzy Caplan) narrating a story that gradually reframes what audiences think they know about marriage and adulthood. – Erin Maxwell

This “almost entirely untrue story” about Catherine the Great (Elle Fanning) and Peter III of Russia (Nicholas Hoult) lives up to its title, giving historical figures a royally funny spin. — Dan Clarendon

This Is Us duo Sterling K. Brown and Dan Fogelman reteam for this political thriller which begins as a murder mystery when the president (played by James Marsden) winds up dead. But there’s a lot more to Paradise, a twisty series that hooks you from the very first episode. — Meaghan Darwish

The sci-fi horror series from Noah Hawley expands Alien’s lore by bringing the terror to Earth. As corporations rule and cyborgs mingle with humans, Prodigy unveils hybrids: synthetics fused with human consciousness. The first, Wendy (Sydney Chandler), and her fellow synths soon face a terrifying new life form in a gripping new chapter of the Alien saga. – Erin Maxwell

Screen adaptations of literary gems are hit or miss, but luckily, this romance drama had Sally Rooney, the author of the bestselling source material, on the writing staff. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal played two students in a tenuous, years-long relationship complicated by family trauma. — Dan Clarendon

From Alex Garland, the inventive writer-director of Ex Machina and Annihilation, came this thrilling miniseries about a software engineer (played by Sonoya Mizuno) investigating the death of her boyfriend on the campus of a technology company, while navigating questions of free will in the age of quantum computing. — Dan Clarendon

Toggling between the macro and micro, this limited series told the story of the United States’ opioid epidemic, the people who profited from it, and the people who paid the price — with Michael Keaton giving an Emmy-winning performance. — Dan Clarendon

Starring Ramy Youssef as a 20-something with a lot of growing up to do, this comedy-drama frequently gives the spotlight to his character’s family members, who are trying to chase that mythical American Dream while contending with anti-Muslim prejudices. — Dan Clarendon

Comedy legends Steve Martin and Martin Short play showbiz has-beens who team up with a young artist who shares their true-crime obsession (played by Selena Gomez) to solve the murder of a neighbor in their Upper West Side apartment building. As you might imagine, hilarity ensues, as does additional bloodshed. — Dan Clarendon

Premiering in the age of #MeToo and lasting through the stripping of Roe v. Wade, this Margaret Atwood adaptation — a dystopian story of women trying to upend a society of reproductive slavery — has only gotten more relevant, unfortunately. That timeliness aside, the show is an Emmy darling: Television Academy voters have lavished trophies on Elisabeth Moss, Alexis Bledel, Samira Wiley, Ann Dowd, Cherry Jones, Bradley Whitford, and the show itself. — Dan Clarendon

Led by Shameless alum Jeremy Allen White, this FX-made dramedy follows the kitchen woes of chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, who returns to Chicago to help at his family’s restaurant after his brother’s death. As Carmy tries to establish a more regimented system behind the scenes of the sandwich shop, chaos, comedy, and volatile drama unfold. White, Ayo Edebiri, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Liza Colón-Zayas, Lionel Boyce, Matty Matheson, Abby Elliott, and more make this series that debuted in 2022 a recipe for success as awards wins continue to stack up. — Meaghan Darwish

This brief but mighty series following a group of young Indigenous friends living on a Reservation in Oklahoma is nothing short of perfection. Created by Sterlin Harjo, the FX title explores the grief resulting from the loss of a friend to suicide and the uncertainty of what path to follow in a world where you’re disadvantaged. A coming-of-age celebration of culture and kinship, Reservation Dogs is brought to life with the talent of D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Alexis, and Lane Factor alongside some seriously legendary stars. — Meaghan Darwish