The best shows on Hulu right now (May 2025)

Returning for a second season almost four years after the first, despite initially being classified as a miniseries, Nine Perfect Strangers is a compelling drama with an ensemble cast led by Nicole Kidman in season one. She and the others make up nine strangers who come together for what they believe to be a standard health and wellness retreat. But when they arrive for the 10 days of R&R, they are surprised to learn that they’ve been drugged. As fighting begins, they learn one another’s deepest, darkest secrets.

Now an anthology series, season two picks up with an entirely new cast, including Murray Bartlett, Annie Murphy, Christine Baranski, and Henry Golding. As the stories unfold, Nine Perfect Strangers has the potential to become one of the best Hulu original series.

Mir (Asif Ali) and Raj (Saagar Shaikh) have a seemingly decent life, enjoying the spoils of their family business of convenience stores, run by their father, Baba Dar (Iqbal Theba). But when Baba suddenly passes away, the young men need to spring to action to help out. Except there’s one small detail: it seems their father wasn’t just a business owner but the head of a criminal enterprise.

Deli Boys is a delightfully funny comedy about two pampered men having to both simultaneously deal with the reality of who their father really was and take over the business to prevent the family dynasty from falling. At just 10 episodes long, it’s a quick watch if you’re looking for a new show to binge over a weekend and one of those hidden shows you don’t want to miss.

If you’re a fan of the Canadian comedy Letterkenny, you’ll love Shoresy. In Letterkenny, the character of Shoresy is never seen by face, and that’s for good reason: He is actually played by the show’s creator Jared Keeso, who also stars as the lead character, Wayne. In this spinoff, Shoresy is seen in all his glory. He has decided to move to Sudbury to help a flailing local hockey team, bringing his unique sense of small-town Canadian flare.

Apparently, Shoresy is one of the most popular characters from Letterkenny when it comes to merchandising, so fans were excited to learn more about his story in this comedy that is rife with Canadian slang and other familiar humor.

Receiving rave reviews right out of the gate, Shōgun is a spectacular reimagining of the 1980 TV miniseries and the James Clavell novel on which that was based. Three people end up in the same place by happenstance: John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), an English sailor, Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), a powerful daimyo, and Lady Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), a woman who has been dishonored by her family.

While the story in Shōgun is largely fictional, it’s also loosely based on real historical events, with each character based on a real person. Blackthorne, for example, is based on English navigator Williams Adam, who became a samurai. He was taught by Tokugawa Ieyasu, on whom Toranaga is based, while Mariko is modeled after Hosokawa Garasha, an aristocrat from the Sengoku period. With a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic score, Shōgun is poised to be one of the best new shows this year. CNN’s Brian Lowry calls it an “intoxicating combination of action, romance, and political intrigue.”

You can watch the full series of Ash vs. Evil Dead, a sequel series to the popular Evil Dead movies created by Sam Raimi, including all three seasons before its untimely cancellation. Bruce Campbell reprises his role as Ash Williams, who is now, 30 years after the events of the last movie, working as a stock boy in a value grocery store. Naturally, however, Ash must roll up his sleeves and get to work once again when he’s faced with the return of the Evil Dead.

Now joined by two friends Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo), the trio must do what’s necessary to save humanity. For fans of the original movies, Ash vs. Evil Dead provides a new perspective and an interesting future story for the beloved hero.

Sterling Archer is an agent for a dysfunctional intelligence agency in this animated sitcom that takes inspiration from franchises like James Bond and mid-century comic art. Relying on reference-heavy humor and meta-comedy, Archer revolves around the narcissistic, womanizing secret agent Archer and his seven colleagues, each with their own quirks, like his snarky mother, delusional and psychotic personal assistant, and a morally bankrupt scientist.

The later seasons of Archer, which was originally created for basic cable network FX and then moved to sister network FXX, are designed like an anthology, with each season having its own self-contained story. Season 14 is the long-running show’s last.

Donald Glover is a modern Renaissance man: Since launching a comedy career via skits circulated on YouTube, he has branched into rapping, acting, and even showrunning, with the remarkable, surreal comedy-drama Atlanta. The show follows a dogged college dropout named Earn (Glover), who sleeps at his on/off-again girlfriend’s place and struggles to provide for their child. When he learns that his cousin Alfred is starting to achieve success as a rapper — stage name: Paper Boi — Earn becomes his manager. There is not much of an overarching plot to Atlanta. Most episodes play out like short films, and the show experiments with a variety of stories and formats — one standout episode is presented entirely as an episode of a local interview show, complete with fake commercials. Daring and frequently poignant, Atlanta is one of the most exciting shows on TV today.

Hailing from FX, The Americans originally aired for six seasons from 2013 to 2018. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys star as Soviet KGB intelligence officers posing as American suburbanites, living with their two kids just outside of Washington. The spy drama was universally praised for its writing, characters, and acting. Set in the ‘80s, it covers stories surrounding the Ronald Reagan administration, examining issues from the perspectives of both the KGB and the FBI. Contributing to its sense of realism is the fact that the show was created by Joe Weisberg, a former CIA officer. Named by many critics as being among their favorite TV dramas of all time, it’s worth a watch, even years after the show concluded its run.

A refreshingly modern take on your typical coming-of-age teen drama, this series follows a young man named Victor as he navigates life in a new high school and embarks on a journey to self-discovery, including figuring out his sexuality. The series is set in the same world as the 2018 teen drama Love, Simon, which starred Nick Robinson as the title character. Robinson is now a producer and narrator, helping Victor through his struggles and providing guidance. The spinoff series, which ended after season 3, received an overwhelmingly positive reception, with the consensus being that it’s an easily digestible and entertaining watch.