The Best Shows to Watch on Hulu

This list will be updated each month as titles are removed and added to Hulu.

Once thought of as the ugly stepsister to Netflix, Hulu has risen within the streaming ranks to become a powerhouse of original content.

The platform has expanded its television offerings in recent years to include a bounty of buzzy limited series, ranging from literary adaptations like Normal People and Little Fires Everywhere to true-crime hits like The Dropout and Under the Banner of Heaven, popular scripted originals like The Handmaid’s Tale and Only Murders in the Building, and even unscripted additions like The Kardashians. A number of cult classics have found a home on Hulu as well, including comedy giant Schitt’s Creek.

Hulu is also the exclusive streaming partner of FX, meaning it’s where you can find ongoing fan-favorites like The Bear, What We Do in the Shadows, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, in addition to the full run of older critical darlings like The Americans and Atlanta.

Here are the best shows to stream on Hulu right now.

Shōgun

Dubbed a “revelation” by TIME TV critic Judy Berman, FX’s Shōgun miniseries is a 10-part historical epic that deftly adapts ​​the 1,100-plus page, best-selling 1975 James Clavell novel on which it's based. The sprawling narrative largely follows three main players, English pilot John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), Lord Yoshi Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada, a producer on the series), and their go-between interpreter, Lady Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), as their fates intersect against the backdrop of a looming civil war in turn-of-the-17th-century feudal Japan.

Normal People

Based on Sally Rooney’s bestselling 2018 novel of the same name, Normal People traces the on-again-off-again relationship between two Irish teens at opposite ends of the social spectrum, Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal), from their first dalliance in high school through their years attending Trinity College in Dublin. The 12-episode limited series powerfully captures the angst and intensity of young love as the pair each navigates their respective struggles with friendships, trauma, and mental health.

Dopesick

A deep dive into America’s opioid epidemic documenting the crimes of pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, Dopesick utilizes fictionalized characters to tell the true story of how the OxyContin addiction crisis has devastated communities across the U.S. The eight-episode limited series is based in part on journalist Beth Macy’s nonfiction book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America, and puts the uber-wealthy Sackler family, the owners of Purdue Pharma, under the microscope.

The Handmaid’s Tale

Set in a dystopian future where a totalitarian patriarchal theocracy called the Republic of Gilead rules over most of the territory that belonged to the former continental U.S., The Handmaid’s Tale chronicles the plight of fertile women, the titular red-robed Handmaids, who are forced to bear children for high-ranking men and their wives after environmental crises have left much of the population sterile. Based on award-winning author Margaret Atwood’s bestselling 1985 novel of the same name, the show has been renewed for a sixth and final season that will conclude the story of Handmaid-turned-enemy of the state June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) while setting the scene for the forthcoming sequel series The Testaments.

The Dropout

The rise and fall of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes plays out over eight episodes in this nuanced and darkly comedic limited series. The Dropout begins with Holmes, masterfully portrayed by Amanda Seyfried, dropping out of Stanford in March 2004 to found a promising new blood-testing start-up, follows her come-up as a Silicon Valley prodigy, and ends in the wake of the Wall Street Journal publishing its first investigation into Theranos’ questionable claims and practices in October 2015. Holmes has since been sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison after she was found guilty of wire fraud and conspiring to commit wire fraud.

Little Fires Everywhere

Like Celeste Ng’s bestselling 2017 novel on which it’s based, Little Fires Everywhere opens with a devastating house fire. From there, the eight-episode limited series, set in the late 1990s, takes viewers back in time to explore the chain of events that resulted in this scene of destruction, beginning with single mother Mia Warren (Kerry Washington) arriving in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio, with her teenage daughter Pearl (Lexi Underwood). The Warrens’ fates quickly become intertwined with Elena Richardson (Reese Witherspoon) and her seemingly picture-perfect family, as tensions within the all-too-polished community begin to escalate.

The Great

Loosely based on the rise of Catherine the Great (played by Elle Fanning), who goes from foreign outsider to the longest reigning female ruler in Russia’s history, The Great is a satirical black comedy that delivers an absurdist mashup of 18th century history. Initially hoping to find martial bliss with Emperor Peter III (Nicholas Hoult) upon her arrival in Russia, Catherine soon discovers that the great love of her life may actually be her new homeland. The series’ third and final season concluded in 2023 with some shocking late-game twists.

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Only Murders in the Building

A shared obsession with a true-crime podcast brings together an unlikely trio of New York City neighbors, Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez), to hunt for a killer close to home when a grisly death occurs in their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building. The quirky murder mystery premiered in 2021 as an instant hit and quickly became Hulu’s most-watched original comedy. Now, Only Murders‘ forthcoming fourth season is set to add A-list guests Molly Shannon, Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy, Kumail Nanjiani, and Zach Galifianakis to its star-studded ensemble.

The Kardashians

Following the conclusion of Keeping Up With the Kardashians‘ 20-season run on E!, America’s most famous reality TV family brought their talents to streaming for a new iteration of the series documenting the ups and downs of their lives in the spotlight. Now headed for its fifth season, The Kardashians follows the Kardashian-Jenner clan as they navigate family drama, business ventures, and often tumultuous romantic relationships. With Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, and Kris all serving as executive producers, how authentic you believe the show’s version of events to be is up to you.

Under the Banner of Heaven

Adapted from Jon Krakauer’s 2003 true-crime bestseller of the same name, Under the Banner of Heaven explores the investigation by fictional detectives Jeb Pyre (Andrew Garfield) and Bill Taba (Gil Birmingham) into the brutal 1984 murder of a LDS woman, Brenda Wright Lafferty (Daisy Edgar-Jones), and her baby daughter in a suburb in the Salt Lake Valley. A devout Mormon himself, Pyre comes to question his faith as he delves into the origin of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how its evolution, particularly with regards to fundamentalism, led to the violent crime that rocked a quiet Utah community. The limited series mystery plays out over the course of seven episodes.

DAVE

Dave Burd, a.k.a, rapper-turned-actor Lil Dicky, stars as a fictionalized version of himself in this crude yet heartfelt comedy that doesn’t shy away from tackling sensitive topics like sexual insecurity and mental illness with satirical humor. DAVE became a pandemic-era hit when its first season, tracing Lil Dicky’s rise from neurotic rap hopeful to viral sensation, premiered in March 2020, earning the title of FX Networks’ most-watched comedy series ever. Its stellar third season, in which Lil Dicky headlines his first-ever tour, concluded in 2023.

Atlanta

Atlanta‘s award-winning four-season run begins with college dropout Earnest “Earn” Marks (creator Donald Glover) taking over as music manager for his cousin Alfred “Al” Miles (Brian Tyree Henry), an up-and-coming ATL rapper who goes by the stage name Paper Boi. From there, the surrealist dramedy guides viewers on a hypnotic journey, taking increasingly experimental swings from one episode to the next. The show earned a reputation for its fever-dream-like quality and standout cast, including LaKeith Stanfield as Darius, Al’s eccentric righthand man, and Zazie Beetz as Vanessa “Van” Kiefer, Earn’s on-again-off-again girlfriend and the mother of his daughter.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The longest-running live-action sitcom ever, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia recounts the hilariously depraved exploits of a deranged group of ne’er-do-wells who run a seedy Irish dive bar, Paddy’s Pub, in the show’s titular city. The gang, as they refer to themselves, consists of Mac (Rob McElhenney), Charlie (Charlie Day), Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Dee (Kaitlin Olson), and Frank (Danny DeVito), a troop of narcissistic, sociopathic, raging alcoholic friends who wreak havoc on everyone with whom they come in contact. The boundary-pushing FX comedy has earned a loyal cult following over the course of 16 seasons, with fan-favorite episodes including such classics as “The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis,” “The Nightman Cometh,” and “The D.E.N.N.I.S. System.”

The Bear

As the surprise hit show of summer 2022, The Bear quickly established itself as an instantly compelling new entry in FX’s packed lineup—and turned, “Yes, chef,” into everyone’s favorite new catchphrase in the process. The first season of the dramedy follows fine-dining chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) as he takes over his family’s Chicago sandwich shop following the heartbreaking death of his brother. The series delivers a vivid depiction of the fast-paced chaos of working in a kitchen and the harsh realities of restaurant culture, with breakout performances by White and Ayo Edebiri as sous chef Sydney Adamu. The show is set to return for a third season in June.

What We Do in the Shadows

Created by Flight of the Concords alum Jemaine Clement, What We Do in the Shadows is a brilliant addition to the annals of mockumentary sitcom history. Based on Clement and Taika Waititi’s 2014 film of the same name, the horror comedy, now headed for its sixth season, gives viewers a hilarious inside look into the nightly lives of four vampires who have lived together on Staten Island for hundreds of years. There’s the self-appointed leader of the group, Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak), and his beleaguered familiar, Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), longtime couple Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) and Laszlo (Matt Berry), and, last but not least, Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), a so-called “energy vampire” who feeds by draining humans’ mental fortitude rather than their blood.

Reservation Dogs

A critical darling, FX’s Reservation Dogs has earned high praise for its lighthearted yet frank portrayal of life on a rural Oklahoma reservation for four Indigenous teenagers dreaming of making their way to the promised land: California. Created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, the gritty, coming-of-age dramedy allows for an authentic portrayal of one version of the modern Indigenous experience by centering Native voices both behind and in front of the cameras. “We can’t leave it up to Hollywood to give people the opportunity, because they don’t know these people,” Harjo, who is is Seminole and Muscogee Creek, told TIME ahead of the show’s second season. “We are part of this community, and it makes everything better if I bring people along.”

PEN15

PEN15 creators Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle hilariously play 13-year-old versions of themselves in this poignant coming-of-age comedy that hits all the right nostalgia notes for those who endured the trials of adolescence in the early 2000s. Despite running for only two seasons, the show earned a reputation as a cult hit with its pitch-perfect and candid portrayal of the types of uniquely awkward and mortifying experiences that tend to befall anyone who feels like a middle school reject. “We don’t really write jokes,” Erskine told The New Yorker ahead of the second half of the series’ second season. “Someone once called it a ‘traumedy,’ and that’s probably the closest way to describe it.”

Fargo

In buzzy anthology series Fargo, inspired by the 1996 Oscar-winning film of the same name, each new season tracks a new murder investigation in a new Midwestern town with a new cast of characters caught up in the fray. Every installment of the black comedy-crime drama touts itself as a “true story”—an homage to the Coen brothers’ original movie. But while some of the depicted crimes are based on real-life events, the stories shaped around them are totally false. Following a lengthy hiatus, Season 5 of the critically acclaimed limited series, starring Juno Temple and Jon Hamm, was heralded as a return to form for the show.

The Americans

Real-life husband and wife Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell star opposite each other as Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, two undercover KGB agents posing as a typical American married couple in suburban Washington, D.C., in this Cold War spy thriller set shortly after Ronald Reagan is elected president. One of the most beloved dramas of the past decade, The Americans ran for six gripping seasons before reaching its unforgettable conclusion in 2018, offering plenty of bloodshed, betrayal, and intrigue along the way.

Better Things

Creator Pamela Adlon’s ode to her daughters explores the trials, tribulations, and joys of motherhood, with Adlon herself taking the lead as Sam Fox, a single mom and struggling actor raising three daughters and caring for her mom in Los Angeles. The sharp comedy originated as a collaboration between Adlon and her longtime creative partner, Louis C.K., who was fired from all of his ongoing FX projects after publicly admitting to allegations of sexual misconduct as Better Things‘ second season came to a close in late 2017. Adlon, who released a statement calling C.K.’s behavior “abhorrent,” proceeded to part ways with the manager she’d shared with C.K. and put together her own writers room for season 3—the point in the series at which it’s widely considered to have transformed from a good show into a triumph.

Schitt’s Creek

From cult-favorite to cultural phenomenon, Schitt’s Creek turned into a smash sleeper success over the course of its six hilarious seasons—with its final season becoming the first comedy or drama to ever sweep all seven major Emmy awards for its genre. The Canadian sitcom, co-created by comedian Eugene Levy and his son Dan Levy, centers on the laughably out-of-touch Roses, a once-wealthy family who, after losing nearly everything, are forced to move to a small town called Schitt’s Creek that they bought years earlier as a joke. All four members of the Rose family are standouts, with Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara starring as husband and wife Johnny and Moira, while Dan Levy and Annie Murphy play their adult children David and Alexis.