Is Hulu Preparing to Lose Adult Swim?

There’s something familiar about Hulu’s latest original. From the creative team behind Robot Chicken, Crossing Swords takes another innocent childhood character and thrusts him into a world of chaos and criminal activity. But that familiarity extends past the stop motion animation John Harvatine IV and Tom Root have long perfected. With this release of this new series, and the recent premiere of Justin Roiland’s Solar Opposites, it seems like Hulu has been taking some cues from Adult Swim as it braces itself for a potential mass adult animation exodus.

Hulu first took a gamble on becoming the next Adult Swim way back in 2015. That’s when the streaming service first welcomed the vast world of alternative animation to its library. Since then, Hulu’s commitment to adult animation has only grown. The streaming giant has long been the home of Comedy Central’s South Park, and though South Park has never graced Cartoon Network’s airwaves, the raunchy comedy has long been one of the standards of this genre. Similarly, Hulu has found a notable amount of success by adding Rick and Morty to its collection.

With shows like Family Guy, The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, Rick and Morty, and South Park, Hulu has established itself as the go-to streaming service for adult animation. But Solar Opposites and Crossing Swords mark something different: they prove that Hulu is no longer content to merely acquire these shows, it wants to make them, too.

It’s easy to imagine both Solar Opposites and Crossing Swords airing on Cartoon Network around midnight. Roiland and Mike McMahan’s Solar Opposites is tonally a copycat of Rick and Morty that replaces depression with silliness. And though it’s not as consistently funny as its predecessor, Crossing Swords shares its love of vulgarity and shocking humor with Robot Chicken.

Investing in making these shows instead of merely housing them couldn’t come at a better time. With the launch of big name streaming services like Disney+, HBO Max, and Peacock, beloved legacy shows are becoming a commodity now more than ever. Even South Park, a long-held library staple, is about to leave Hulu for HBO Max. At the moment Hulu is retaining its streaming rights to Adult Swim shows… Even though WarnerMedia owns both Adult Swim and HBO Max, it seems that Hulu currently has the same streaming deal as HBO Max as evidenced by Rick and Morty’s Season 4 episode distribution. But it’s not difficult to imagine a time when that’s no longer the case, and Hulu is seemingly preparing for that eventuality.

Creating original content for a genre that’s been tested and proven to resonate with audiences bypasses all of these woes. If Solar Opposites and Crossing Swords can find their audiences, it’s a smart play. But it’s also one we can likely to see more of as the streaming wars continue.