Best Hulu Shows and Original Series to Watch (July 2022)

It can be tough to keep an account of everything running on a multitude of platforms these days: from traditional broadcast and cable to premium networks to a multitude of streaming options, knowing where to find the best TV and movies can be a nearly impossible task.

But we are here to help! For those who are already subscribed to Hulu (or who are thinking about it), we’ve compiled a list of our favorite series available, from new classics to old favorites, and everything in between. We’ll also be updating the list as the library changes, or new original series debut that make their case for being some of TV’s best.

Editor’s note: This article was last updated on July 22nd to include The Act.

RELATED: The 75 Best Netflix Shows and Original Series to Watch Right Now

Under the Banner of Heaven

Created by: Dustin Lance Black (based on the book of the same name by Jon Krakauer)

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Denise Gough, Wyatt Russell, Billy Howle, Chloe Pirrie, Seth Numrich, Adelaide Clemens, Rory Culkin, Sandra Seacat, Gil Birmingham

It takes a lot to make a true-crime series memorable these days, but this FX latest (which is dropping exclusively on Hulu, just to make it a little more confusing) is one that delves into the intricacies of religion and humanity in a way that makes it a can’t-miss. Garfield continues his reign over the last year or two on our screens in a leading role as Mormon detective Jeb Pyre, who finds his beliefs challenged firsthand when he’s tasked with investigating the murder of a mother (Edgar-Jones) and child — and the case might be more entangled within the Church of Latter-Day Saints than anyone could have predicted. The Lafferty family has a reputation within the Mormon community, compared to celebrities of a sort, but it turns out they may be hiding a darker side — and rising tensions between the members have clearly led to a terminal breaking point. – Carly Lane

The Act

Created by: Nick Antosca, Michelle Dean

Cast: Patricia Arquette, Joey King, AnnaSophia Robb

Based on the stranger-than-fiction true crime case revolving around Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard, The Act stars Patricia Arquette and Joey King playing mother and daughter. The series shows Dee Dee, who has Munchausen syndrome by proxy, fabricating illnesses and disabilities for Gypsy Rose. As her mother grows more controlling, Gypsy Rose grows more desperate for independence and, after learning the truth, eventually murders her to be free. Arquette won a Supporting Actress Emmy for her portrayal, and King was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress. – Taylor Gates

Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons

Directed by: Matt Tyrnauer

There’s something fascinating about watching the demise of once untouchable brands. From the WeWork documentary (and fictionalized show WeCrashed on AppleTV+) to the numerous Elizabeth Holmes explorations to White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch, observing how businesses can go from dominating the landscape to having their reputation ruined seemingly overnight is riveting. Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons is a docuseries that showcases how the lingerie brand became a phenomenon and then lost it all due to out-of-touch statements as well as ties to the disgraced Jeffrey Epstein. It’s a compelling look at the ugliness behind the beauty the brand is known for. – Taylor Gates

Maggie

Creators: Maggie Mull, Justin Adler

Cast: Rebecca Rittenhouse, Nichole Sakura, David Del Rio, Leonardo Nam, Angelique Cabral, Ray Ford, Chloe Bridges, Kerri Kenney, Chris Elliott

Maggie is a sitcom about a psychic woman who can see people’s futures. Sound like a cool ability? Well, it quickly becomes apparent that sometimes this gift is actually more of a curse, as Maggie (Rebecca Rittenhouse) discovers some unsettling things about her friends and their relationships. Maggie has also consistently had bad luck in her own romantic life, but when she meets Ben (David Del Rio), she’s determined not to give up on love entirely – despite all its complications. Fans of shows like How I Met Your Mother are sure to enjoy this fun, quippy comedy. – Taylor Gates

The Bear

Created by: Christopher Storer

Cast: Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Abby Elliott

The Bear is one of the best new dramedies of the year. The show follows Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), a James Beard Award-winning chef who moves back home to Chicago to run his family’s restaurant after his brother commits suicide. While there, Carmy is torn between his high-end cooking aspirations and the love he has for his family’s traditions. The series absolutely nails both the culture of The Windy City as well as what it’s really like to work in a restaurant, making it an excellent watch. – Taylor Gates

American Horror Stories

Created by: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk

Cast: Matt Bomer, Gavin Creel, Sierra McCormick, Kaia Gerber, Paris Jackson, Aaron Tveit, Merrin Dungey, Celia Finkelstein, Ashley Martin Carter, Valerie Loo, Selena Sloan and Belissa Escobedo

A spinoff of the extremely popular American Horror Story series, American Horror Stories is another anthology series that tells a new story every episode instead of in season-long arcs. From killer mall Santas to video games based on Murder House, fans of spooks and scares are sure to delight in the signature blend of genuine fear and biting satire Ryan Murphy has come to be known for. – Taylor Gates

Love, Victor

Created by: Isaac Aptaker, Elizabeth Berger

Cast: Michael Cimino, Rachel Hilson, Anthony Turpel, Bebe Wood, Mason Gooding, George Sear, Isabella Ferreira, Mateo Fernandez, James Martinez, Ana Ortiz, Anthony Keyvan, Ava Capri

Inspired by (and set in the same world as) the hit 2018 film Love, Simon, Love, Victor is a heartwarming teen dramedy that centers around Victor Salazar (Michael Cimino), who struggles with his identity and moving to a new city. Throughout the series, Victor has ups and down in all his relationships: with his family, friends, love interests, and even himself. However, the tone is always hopeful – a refreshing change for an LGBTQ+ series. – Taylor Gates

The Orville

Created by: Seth MacFarlane

Cast: Seth MacFarlane, Adrianne Palicki, Penny Johnson Jerald, Scott Grimes, Peter Macon, Halston Sage, J. Lee, Mark Jackson, Jessica Szohr, Anne Winters

The Orville is a sci-fi show like no other. Offering a great balance of drama and comedy, the show both satirizes and pays homage to the genre. The series revolves around the crew of a spaceship as they explore various planets and parts of the galaxy. Main characters include Captain Ed Mercer (Seth MacFarlane), the ship’s commanding officer, and his ex-wife and the ship’s first officer, Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki). Talk about some out-of-this-world complicated dynamics. – Taylor Gates

Candy

Created by: Nick Antosca, Robin Veith

Cast: Jessica Biel, Melanie Lynskey, Pablo Schreiber, Timothy Simons, Raúl Esparza

Fans of true crime, meet your new obsession. Candy is a five-episode miniseries chock-full of mystery, 1980s Texas aesthetic, and shocking twists. Starring an unrecognizable Jessica Biel in the titular role, this show delves into the real-life murder of Betty Gore (played by Yellowjackets standout Melaine Lynskey) – the woman who was supposed to be Candy’s best friend. It’s one of those stories that proves truth is stranger than fiction. Candy will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. – Taylor Gates

Conversations with Friends

Directed by: Lenny Abrahamson, Leanne Welham

Written by: Alice Birch, Mark O’Halloran, Meadhbh McHugh, Susan Soon He Stanton

Cast: Alison Oliver, Sasha Lane, Joe Alwyn, Jemima Kirke

Based on the novel by Sally Rooney, the author behind the hit Normal People, Conversations with Friends is another nuanced tale of young love and connection. The show centers around two college students, Frances (Alison Oliver) and Bobbi (Sasha Lane), as they forge a surprising dynamic with an older married couple, Melissa (Jemima Kirke) and Nick (Joe Alwyn). Offering a refreshingly honest look at desire, jealousy, and chemistry, it’s a moody character study that’s unflinchingly real and at times deeply relatable. – Taylor Gates

The Girl From Plainville

Created by: Liz Hannah & Patrick Macmanus

Cast: Elle Fanning, Chloë Sevigny, Cara Buono, Kai Lennox, Colton Ryan, Norbert Leo Butz

In the streaming landscape, Hulu has been right in the game when it comes to ripped-from-the-headlines series, with much of their programming actually succeeding at tackling real-life events in a way that doesn’t seek to sensationalize or make us watching at home feel like we’re rubbernecking in any obvious way. The series, starring Fanning as Michelle Carter, who was tried for involuntary manslaughter relating to the death by suicide of her then-boyfriend Conrad (Ryan), explores the circumstances that led up to the tragedy and the aftermath, and deftly depicts events without lending bias to one side over another. A very large portion of that is due to Fanning herself, who by her own admission explored emotion and circumstances she had never encountered in her career before. The result is a series that may overall be a bit uneven, especially towards the end, but succeeds because of what its immensely talented cast brings to the table, with no performance stone left unturned. – Carly Lane

The Killing

Created by: Veena Sud

Cast: Mireille Enos, Joel Kinnaman

This pick on the list might speak more tellingly to where my head’s currently at in terms of comfort rewatches, but when I saw that The Killing (Sud’s American series remake of the Danish original Forbrydelsen) had made it to Hulu, I knew I wanted to spend a good chunk of my off-working hours reliving the mystery of what happened to Rosie Larsen. At the time of its original airing, the show’s decision to not tie up those loose threads by the end of Season 1 was viewed with some dislike by general audiences and critics alike, but rewatching it now is as close to a comfort-blanket viewing experience as you can get. Maybe it’s the constantly rainy Seattle weather, maybe it’s the fact that the cast spends half their time in hoodies and knitwear, maybe it’s the repetitive percussive theme that always plays right when you’re about to end another episode, but The Killing has become almost a wind-down show with increasingly strong performances by Enos and Kinnaman in spite of its twisty mystery that might overstay some of its welcome. – Carly Lane

Life & Beth

Created by: Amy Schumer

Cast: Amy Schumer, Violet Young, Michael Cera, Yamaneika Saunders, Michael Rapaport, Susannah Flood, Kevin Kane, Laura Benanti

There have been a lot of semi-autobiographical takes in comedy series lately, with Pamela Adlon’s Better Things serving as the most recent example, but with Life & Beth, Schumer has joined the small-screen landscape in baring more of her own story to the masses, and the results have never been more successful. Schumer plays the titular Beth (actually the comedian’s middle name), who has been trapped in a listless state when it comes to both her professional and personal lives. Retreating to her Long Island hometown also enables the series to take a trip to the past, as we see young Beth (Young) experience many of the formative memories that have made the adult version who she is today (Rapaport and Benanti star as Beth’s parents). It’s a series about a woman stuck in place who realizes she needs to break free of her circumstances, which sounds all too familiar in concept, but Schumer’s execution succeeds, with the comedian and writer (and helmer as director on several episodes) being her most personal and powerful project yet. – Carly Lane

The Dropout

Created by: Elizabeth Meriweather (based on the ABC News podcast of the same name by Rebecca Jarvis)

Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Naveen Andrews, William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf, Elizabeth Marvel, Stephen Fry, Dylan Minnette, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Kate Burton, Alan Ruck, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Camryn Mi-Young Kim, Sam Waterston, Kurtwood Smith, Ebon Moss-Bachrach

If you’ve been feeling a little beleaguered by all of the based-on-a-true-story stories lately, you’re not alone; some of them are not exactly worth the streaming price of admission, but then there’s The Dropout. The series, which largely follows the story tracked by the hit podcast of the same name, takes some dramatization liberties (there’s likely much more portrayed about the complex dynamic between Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and her on-again off-again boyfriend and Theranos COO Sunny Balwani than anything public details could ever reveal on their own), but the Hulu adaptation knows the difference between making its lead overly sympathetic and a fleshed-out character rather than a one-note villain. Much of that should be credited to Seyfried, who gives a staggeringly good performance worthy of Emmy nomination alone, let alone award. You might not walk away from The Dropout feeling anything but complex emotions, but that’s a good thing. – Carly Lane

Pam & Tommy

Created by: Robert Siegel

Cast: Lily James, Sebastian Stan, Nick Offerman, Seth Rogen, Taylor Schilling

Pam & Tommy is unquestionably a case of being more thoughtful than the marketing wants to submit; it does follow the speed at which a seemingly salacious celebrity sex tape took over the internet and by extension the public’s consciousness, but it also tackles the very real privacy issues that were at stake via this stolen property making its way online (especially since several people mistakenly believed, at the time, that Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee had leaked the tape themselves). It’s also tough not to think about how the real Pamela Anderson has tried to distance herself from this narrative, and the Hulu series might be bringing this back to the forefront, but it holds a position sympathetic to the people who deserve it most — and condemns its audience for our tendency to latch on to the next big headline without considering the humanity underneath. Whether the end result is successful is ultimately up to the viewer. – Carly Lane

Watch any of these shows on Hulu now.

How I Met Your Father

Created by: Isaac Aptaker & Elizabeth Berger

Cast: Hilary Duff, Christopher Lowell, Francia Raisa, Suraj Sharma, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran, Kim Cattrall

How I Met Your Father isn’t the first time that a writing team has tried to launch a sequel series to How I Met Your Mother — even if the previous attempts were met with ranging levels of success (if you can call not making it past the pilot stage success, that is). What How I Met Your Father might have needed the most to thrive, however, was time and distance from the original. The dating world has changed since Ted Mosby and friends were a part of it; now, it’s Sophie’s (Duff) turn, with Cattrall on-screen relaying this history as the older version of the character instead of serving as a voiceless, omniscient narrator. The show is also distinctly more diverse than its predecessor, which works to its benefit, although time will tell if this cast will win over our hearts in the same way. Then again, nothing can be as infuriating as that original HIMYM finale was, so really, there’s nowhere for this series to go but up, and so far it’s off to a really fun start. – Carly Lane

Grey’s Anatomy

Created by: Shonda Rhimes

Cast: Ellen Pompeo, Chandra Wilson, James Pickens Jr., Kate Walsh, Kevin McKidd, Kim Raver, Camilla Luddington, Caterina Scorsone, Kelly McCreary, Jake Borelli, Chris Carmack, Richard Flood, Anthony Hill, Scott Speedman (as of Season 18)

I’ll admit it: I was a devoted viewer of Grey’s Anatomy back in the day. I remember tuning in for new episodes each week, and I definitely remember watching that epic two-parter kicking off right after the Super Bowl when the surgeons-in-training at Seattle Grace had to deal with a bomb in a body cavity. (An episode with both Christina Ricci and Kyle Chandler? Who could forget, honestly.) But even while I’ve fallen behind on keeping up with recent seasons, this long-enduring medical drama has always been a solid comfort show — around whenever I need it, waiting for me to jump back in. It’s a series whose theme song has never felt more apropos than it does right now, as the ABC drama currently sits in its 18th season with no signs of slowing down: nobody knows where they might end up! Until then, Hulu’s got all of the heartbreak, hardship, and honestly bonkers medical cases for you to revisit over and over again. – Carly Lane

Abbott Elementary

Created by: Quinta Brunson

Cast: Quinta Brunson, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, Sheryl Lee Ralph

Mid-season replacement shows can definitely be a mixed bag, but when it comes to the newest mockumentary out of ABC, Abbott Elementary clearly has risen to the top of the class. It’s not necessarily untrod territory for comedy — and we’ve seen a lot of school-set shows come and go, some making their mark more successfully than others, but what sets this show apart isn’t necessarily the fact that it takes place in an environment where the students skew a lot younger, but focuses on teachers who aren’t showing up to work and consistently loathing their jobs. The staff of Philly’s Abbott Elementary is committed to their roles, but the disadvantage is that they’re not usually given the resources they need — which manages to serve as a searing indictment of our educational system and maybe an all-too-real component of an otherwise delightful series (at least for those of us who know a teacher or two in our lives). – Carly Lane

Vikings

Created by: Michael Hirst

Cast: Travis Fimmel, Katheryn Winnick, Clive Standen, Jessalyn Gilsig, Gustaf Skarsgård, Gabriel Byrne, George Blagden, Donal Logue, Alyssa Sutherland, Linus Roache, Alexander Ludwig

It’s not often you have a historical drama series that airs on the History Channel and then quite literally pops off, but that’s exactly what happened when Vikings first premiered back in 2013 (which feels like forever and a day ago in pandemic years). Vikings, as its title suggests, really shone a light on a side of history that doesn’t often get portrayed on drama television, but casting Fimmel as the Norse hero Ragnar Lothbrok ensured its impact — and Winnick’s furious performance as Ragnar’s wife and shieldmaiden Lagertha gave the series its longevity after Fimmel’s departure in Season 4. (Besides, casting any Skarsgård never hurts.) The world of Vikings is set to return with a new Netflix spinoff series, so before Valhalla launches, there’s no better time to revisit the original than right now. – Carly Lane

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Created by: Dick Wolf

Cast: Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, Richard Belzer, Dann Florek, Stephanie March, Ice-T, Diane Neal, Tamara Tunie, Danny Pino, Kelli Giddish, Raúl Esparza, Peter Scanavino

Chances are I’m a little preternaturally biased when it comes to this show, having spent the better part of the five years I lived in New York shamelessly binge-watching it. For me, SVU became the equivalent of a TV security blanket — comfortable in its formulaic nature, with nothing that truly required paying attention to long, winding plots or continuity. All of us probably have a Law & Order we came up on, whether it’s the original (which just got revived this year!) or one of several spinoffs that never seemed to last as long. SVU, on the other hand, had the magic of the Benson and Stabler partnership until Meloni, sadly, departed the show — though recent episodes have seen him returning for the occasional crossover as his character takes the lead on the new Law & Order: Organized Crime. If you need to catch up on past seasons or even want to start a rewatch from the very beginning, it’s all right here waiting for you. DUN-DUN. – Carly Lane