The Disney+, Hulu Purge Has Begun
Andrew Mccoy Hot off the heels of Disney’s earnings call last week, Vulture has learned that the company is already looking to fulfill its promise of pulling the plug on a number of television shows on both Disney+ and Hulu. A Disney rep has confirmed to us but declined to comment further that both of the Walt Disney Company–owned streamers will be removing a handful of titles from their services as soon as next week on May 26. Titles such as Willow, Dollface, FX’s Pistol and Y: The Last Man are among the first round of shows to be pulled, they confirmed. Disney+’s Howard was initially reported to be pulled, but a Disney rep clarified to us that it was never meant to be taken off the platform. In all, it’s expected that the the final number of titles pulled from Disney+ and Hulu will be a bit under 100, per a source familiar with the plans.
The move from Disney CEO Iger and co. follows the track set by Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO David Zaslav last year, when that company removed content from HBO Max in exchange for tax breaks. Currently, there are no concrete plans for where Disney+ and Hulu’s removed shows go next, though there’s a good chance many will resurface on a FAST channel (akin to Warner Bros. Discovery’s deal with The Roku Channel and Tubi), or be licensed out to other third party platforms — despite Bob Iger starting Disney+ to avoid just that. As recently as 2022, Iger told the New York Times that while their previous licensing deals with companies like Netflix “did a brilliant job,” he later realized that “[Disney was] basically selling nuclear weapons technology to a Third World country, and now they’re using it against us.” It led Disney to “[wean themselves] off all that licensing.” But these current removals underscore that nothing is forever, especially in streaming.
The current list of shows being removed from Disney+ and Hulu:
Note: Titles with an asterisk(*) have been newly added since this story was published.
• America the Beautiful*
• Among the Stars*
• Artemis Fowl*
• Be Our Chef
• Best in Dough
• Best in Snow
• Better Nate Than Ever*
• The Big Fib*
• Big Shot
• Black Beauty*
• Cheaper by the Dozen (2022)*
• Chef vs. Wild*
• Clouds*
• Club Mickey Mouse*
• Darby and the Dead*
• Diary of a Future President*
• Disney Fairy Tale Weddings
• Dollface
• Earth to Ned
• Encore!*
• Everything’s Trash
• Family Reboot*
• Fearless: The Inside Story of the AFLW*
• Flora & Ulysses*
• Foodtastic
• @Gina Yei: #Withallmyheartandyours*
• Harmonious Live!*
• Hollywood Stargirl*
• The Hot Zone*
• It’s a Dog’s Life With Bill Farmer
• Just Beyond*
• Little Demon
• Love In The Time Of Corona
• Maggie
• Magic Camp
• The Making Of Willow
• Marvel’s Hero Project*
• The Mighty Ducks*
• More Than Robots*
• The Mysterious Benedict Society
• National Geographic Investigates: LSD and Psychedelics*
• The One and Only Ivan
• Own the Room*
• Pentatonix: Around the World for the Holidays*
• Pick of the Litter*
• Pistol
• The Premise
• The Princess*
• The Quest
• The Real Right Stuff*
• The Right Stuff (2020)*
• Rogue Trip*
• Rosaline*
• Shop Class*
• Stargirl*
• Stuntman
• Timmy Failure
• Turner & Hooch*
• Weird but True!*
• Willow
• Wolfgang
• The World According To Jeff Goldblum
• Y: The Last Man
This story has been updated throughout.
The Disney+, Hulu Purge Has Begun
