Watch Your Backs, Netflix And HBO: Hulu is Going Big on True Crime

Netflix and HBO may need to watch their backs. Though 2023 has just begun, Hulu Huluhas already dropped three ambitious true crime docuseries with at least two more to come in the next couple weeks. It’s an unusual move for Hulu, and one that signals that the streamer may be taking the true crime genre more seriously.

There have been so many true crime docuseries on streaming that you can develop a shorthand for them. Netflix is good for middling documentaries that are always too long and a tad biased. Meanwhile, HBO is the gold standard. And if you’re really desperate for content over quality, there’s always discovery+. But Hulu has only really dabbled in this space. Since the streamer started making original content in 2011, they have only released five true crime docuseries: Sasquatch, Wild Crime, City of Angels: City of Death, The Murders Before the Marathon, and Where Is Private Dulaney? Of those five, two premiered last year. It should be noted that this list doesn’t include any of the docuseries that FX has produced over the years, which is why A Wilderness of Error, Children of the Underground, and the often crime-focused The New York Times Presents aren’t counted.

Yet in 2023 alone, Hulu will double its production of true crime docuseries. The streamer has already released Death in the Dorms, an examination of six murdered college students throughout the U.S.; How I Caught My Killer, a deep dive into homicide cases; and Web of Death, a six-part series about digital sleuths. Those will be followed by the Colin Kaepernick-produced Killing County and the anticipated Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence in early February. Killing County, which premieres on February 3, will explore the case of Jorge Ramirez, a father who was working as an informant for the Bakersfield Police Department, the same department that would later kill him in a shootout. Meanwhile, Stolen Youth will use first-hand interviews to take a hard look at the cult Larry Ray started on Sarah Lawrence’s campus, a tragic case that The Cut covered in depth. That one will premiere February 9.

It’s too early to say whether this trend will continue for Hulu. Streaming services can be surprisingly fickle. Sometimes it’s fashionable to make too many documentaries about Fyre Festival. Other times the cool kids decide to scrap giant animation divisions they’ve poured millions into over the years. It’s also impossible to tell where Hulu ranks among its peers when it comes to these sorts of projects. There simply haven’t been enough of them to tell. Regardless, it’s interesting to note. The next time you’re in the mood to learn about a devastating case that will make you question your faith in humanity, don’t count out Hulu.