What TV shows could you watch on Hulu if you want to see some gay, lesbian or bisexual women characters? Hulu’s original content keeps getting more queer and there are so many television programs for the LGBT audience, and if you’re looking for the answers to these questions — and I think you are, because here you are — boy have I got the post for you, my friend! (We’ve also got a list of the best queer movies on Hulu if you’re in the market for that.)

Although Hulu famously hosts content from a variety of studios and networks, this list is focused on Hulu originals — shows you can expect to remain on Hulu indefinitely and in most of the markets they serve.

The Bisexual

2019 // One Season // 6 Episodes // Channel 4 Co-Production

The Bisexual sets itself apart by featuring a diverse group of lesbian friends in addition to focusing on the queer protagonist’s narrative and the entire show just feels so undeniably authentic. “Akhavan has done something truly brilliant here,” wrote Heather Hogan in her review. “She’s created a show for an audience that understands the joke ‘Bette is a Shane trying to be a Dana’ and then centers it on a character who’s meant to make everyone who gets that joke a little uncomfortable.”

Casual

2014 – 2018 // 4 Seasons // 44 Episodes

(Photo by: Greg Lewis/Hulu)

Smart, irreverent family comedy Casual centers on Valerie (Michaela Watkins), who, along with her daughter Laura (Tara Lynne Barr), moves in with her dating-app-founder brother Alex (Tommy Dewey) after her divorce. In Season One, Alex dates a poly bisexual woman named Emmy, and in Season Two, Laura has a thing with a female friend — and it seems for a bit that that is the end of it, but nope! Laura is bisexual and continues dating and having things with other women through the series’ four seasons. However, you do have to suffer through four seasons of Alex, a very entitled white man!

Conversations With Friends

2022 // Limited Series // 12 Episodes

The latest Sally Rooney adaptation haf a lot going for it, including Sasha Lane as Bobbi, the ex-girlfriend / best friend / slam poetry partner of the lead character, Frances, but unfortunately is often just as annoying as its characters. According to Refinery 29, “The dynamics of gender and sexuality underscore the show, which centres on Frances, a 21-year-old bisexual woman whose antithetical desires are the catalyst for an examination of romance and dissection of monogamy.”

Dollface

2019 – 2021 // 2 Seasons // 20 Episodes

This Kat Dennings Hulu show tars Kat as “a young woman who – after being dumped by her longtime boyfriend – must deal with her own imagination in order to literally and metaphorically re-enter the world of women, and rekindle the female friendships she left behind.” One of those female friendships is with Stella Cole (Shay Mitchell), who has a queer storyline in the second season in which she dates Liv (Lily Singh), a single mother and the owner of a cocktail lounge.

Dopesick

2021 // One Season // 8 Episodes

Based on Beth Macy’s non-fiction book, this acclaimed limited series tackled the opioid crisis from multiple angles: The Sackler family who got rich lying about a highly addictive drug, the Purdue Pharma salespeople trained to exploit doctors and shortchange patients, the D.A.s and other government employees who dared to build a case against Purdue and, finally, the residents of a small coal mining down in Virginia that became ground zero for the epidemic. In that town we meet Betsy (Katelyn Dever, who earned an Emmy nomination for her role), a closeted lesbian coal miner whose on-the-job injury leads to a prescription that leads, soon enough, to addiction.

East Los High

2013-2017 // 4 Seasons // 61 Episodes

Ser Anzoategui (Vida) made their small-screen debut playing Daysi in this show about a group of interconnected friends at a high school in East LA. The first season has a coming out arc that ends pretty brutally, but it’s a show that tackles a lot of social issues and was Hulu’s first with an all Latino cast and crew.

The First

2018 // 1 Season // 8 Episodes

Paul Schiraldi / 2018 Hulu

Lisa Gay Hamilton plays Kayla Price, a former mission commander and a lesbian, in this show about the first human mission to Mars. Her wife is played by Gay for Pay Queen Tracie Thoms, of course. Kayla is part of the main ensemble but her sexuality doesn’t come up very often.

The Girl From Plainville

2022 // Limited Series // 8 Episodes

This Hulu docuseries traces the very bizarre case of Michelle Carter, who was prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter after her internet boyfriend killed himself following some encouragement via text message from Carter. Elle Fanning’s stand-out performance as Carter, who was bisexual (which is addressed in the series) is amongst many elements giving this psychological complicated story some heart without dwelling heavily in sensationalism.

The Handmaid’s Tale

2017 – // 5+ Seasons // 60+ Episodes

This brutal Hulu TV show is dripping with artistry and performed by a magnificent cast, capable of communicating entire worlds in a line and also with silence. Lesbian characters Moira (Samira Wiley) and Emily (Alexis Bledel) get bigger stories in later seasons as we delve deeper into a dystopian nightmare gradually unraveling at its fundamentalist seams. Eventually, Moira’s sexuality becomes a bit of an afterthought as she focuses more on activism and mothering June’s child while June goes bananas. It’s not a pleasant world to witness, yet it remains a seductive watch. Every moment of dark humor is hard-won, like freedom itself.

Harlots

Hulu/ITV // 2017 – 2019 // 3 Seasons // 24 Episodes

I declared Harlots the most accurate portrayal of indoor-market sex work ever represented onscreen in Season One — surprisingly more resonant to me as a former sex worker than any contemporary portrayals — and its extra queering in Season Two made it moreso and then some. If Season One was about sex work, Season Two is about the reality that what’s done to sex workers is inextricable from what’s done to all women — the lessons about power, violence, solidarity and struggle in stories about sex work are ones that the larger conversation about gender ignores at its peril. Season Three I would prefer not to discuss, thank you.

High Fidelity 

2020 // One Season //10 Episodes

Although Rob’s relationships with women aren’t central to the plot, Zoe Kravtiz’s character is a smart, wry, endearing hot bisexual mess on this truly delightful re-imagination of the original film (which starred John Cusack as Rob), which was based on a Nick Hornsby book. Updated for the current era with a diverse cast of clever, passionate and musically-obsessed hipsters. Unfortunately, it was cancelled after merely one short season.

How I Met Your Father

2022 – // 1+ Seasons // 10+ Episodes

In this spin-off of How I Met Your Mother, the framing device is Sophie (Hillary Duff in the present, Kim Catrall in the future)’s story of meeting her son’s father, Jesse. Jesse’s adopted sister, Ellen (Tien Tran) is a farm-owning lesbian who’s just moved to New York City looking for love following her divorce with her wife. Her character was “criminally underused” at first but stepped closer to the spotlight as the season progressed.

Little Fires Everywhere

2020 // Limited Series // 8 Episodes

This brilliant adaptation of the bestselling book adds some queer elements that weren’t explicitly present on the page for the characters of Izzy and Mia Warren (played by Kerry Washington, who produced the series with co-star Reese Witherspoon). Set in an affluent Ohio suburb in the ’90s, Little Fires Everywhere is a searing investigation of class, race and the idea of “good white people.”

Marvel’s Runaways

2017 – 2020 // 3 Seasons // 33 Episodes

This unfortunately wrapped-up but undeniably excellent comic book adaptation follows a group of fierce, supernaturally talented teenagers challenging the abhorrent compromises their parents made, supposedly in their best interest, for a “better world,” at the expense of, you know — humanity, socioeconomic equality, and our planet. Virginia Gardner literally shines as Karolina Dean, a human-alien hybrid initially hiding her superpowers and her lesbianism ’til coming out near the end of Season One and starting a relationship with her crush, cynical goth Nico Minoru. At times it fumbles, having bit off more than it can chew thematically and w/r/t sheer population, but it still manages to combine the easy joy of a teen drama with the satisfying anxiety of suspenseful sci-fi.

Letterkenny

2016 – // 10+ Seasons // 68+ Seasons

Valerie describes this quirky Canadian comedy as “full of quick-witted, fast-talking folks with very specifically Canadian humor that somehow seems universally hilarious.” Though many of the women are canonically queer, the on-screen proof of that is not always central.

Light as a Feather

2018-2019 // 2 Seasons // 26 Episodes

Light as a Feather started out as a fun campy horror/teen drama that happened to have a gay character in its main ensemble, and it was all fun in games through Season One and most of Season Two. It had the Final Destination “cheating death” kind of spook factor, mixed in with some supernatural twin stuff and secrets upon secrets upon lies. Season Two gave the queer lead, named Alex of course, a girlfriend, but the end of Season Two took a bit of a turn re: its queer characters.

Love, Victor

2020 – 2022 // 3 Seasons // 28 Episodes

Carmen wrote of this LGBTQ Hulu TV show: “Love, Victor has always led with its sweetness! Even when grappling with serious themes (one of Victor’s love interests has had an alcohol addiction, this season another gay character is almost involved in a hate crime, a different member of their friendship circle has a mom who struggles with clinical depression) the angst level never moves much beyond ‘way harsh Disney Channel.'” And Season Two ends on a gay cliffhanger for perpetual high school popular girl Lake making eyes with Lucy, the ex of the school’s biggest jock, and picks back up in Season Three exactly where you want it to.

Mrs. America

2020 // Limited Series // 9 Episodes // Co-produced with FX

Sarah Paulson, Niecy Nash, Cate Blanchett, Tracy Ullman, Rose Byrne, Uzo Abuba and Melanie Lynskey are just some of the wildly talented women at the forefront of this history of the feminist movement in the 1970s and its fight against conservative activist Phyllis Shalafley (Cate Blanchett), specifically. Bria Henderson plays Black lesbian early Ms. magazine editor Margaret Sloan-Hunter. In episode five, Ari Graynor shows up as Brenda Feigen, a feminist activist and attorney who falls for Jules, a lesbian photographer portrayed by the one and only Roberta Colindrez. In Episode 7, we briefly glimpse Midge Costanza and Jean O’Leary, a lesbian couple who pushed for inclusion in the feminist agenda and within the Carter administration.

Only Murders in the Building

2021 – // 2+ Seasons // 20+ Episodes

(Photo by: Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu)

From our beloved Jamie Babbit came the Hulu TV show Only Murders in the Building, an immediately buzzy whodunit set in a New York City apartment building where a murder is followed by a homegrown true crime podcast hosted by nosy neighbors Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez). In Season One, we had a lesbian cop, but in Season Two Mabel ends up enchanted by a lesbian art gallery owner played by noted agent of chaos Cara Delevingne.

Pam & Tommy

2022 // Limited Series // 8 Episodes

The story of how Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson’s sex tape got leaked and basically created the celebrity sex tape industry at a revolutionary time in the history of the internet is truly a wild one, weaving between Pam and Tommy’s chaotic romance and the tale of the handyman Tommy fucked over who stole the tape, Rand Gauthier. Rand’s ex-wife, Erica, a former porn star, is played by Taylor Schilling, and lives with her hot girlfriend.

Reasonable Doubt

2022+ // 1+ Seasons // Onyx Co-Production

Kerry Washington’s the EP of this new legal drama with an all-Black writers room starring Emayatzy Corinealdi as Jax Stewart, “the most brilliant and fearless defense attorney in Los Angeles who bucks the justice system at every chance she gets.” Tiffany Yvonne Cox (Good Trouble) plays Autumn, “the listener and caretaker of Jax’s friends” who’s happily married to her wife and has been best friends with Jax since tenth grade.

Reboot

2022- // 1+ Seasons // 8 Episodes

Hannah (Rachel Bloom) tells Hulu (it’s meta!) that she wants to reboot classic sitcom Step Right Up… but make it edgy. What she doesn’t tell them in the original pitch is that the original showrunner was in fact her father, with whom she has a contentious relationship, and that Step Right Up was his way of re-telling his own story in a less-horrifying manner. And, as Heather wrote in her glowing review, “basically every single woman on this show is, in some way, gay! Surprisingly gay! Hilariously gay! Subversively gay!” It’s light and fun and full of surprises. This is one of Hulu’s best LGBT shows for sure!

Shrill

2019-2021 // 3 Seasons // 22 Episodes

Aidy Bryant stars in this adaptation of writer Lindy West’s memoir, in which she navigates the world as a young journalist in a fatphobic world, including working at an eccentric Seattle newspaper with a very weird person named Ruthie played by our favorite weirdo Patti Harrison. Her best friend, Fran, is a black British lesbian with all the self-confidence Annie herself lacks, and her romantic storylines eventually land her in a delightful relationship with Emily (ER Fightmaster).

This Way Up

2019 – // 2 Seasons // 12 Episodes // Channel 4 Co-Production

This cute comedy centers on Aine, an Irish woman living in London who returns from rehab to re-make her life. Her sister, Shona (Sharon Hogan), realizes she is bisexual and dates a co-worker, Charlotte (Indria Varna) in Season One. Soooo… it’s not a big storyline but also don’t you want to see Sharon Hogan be gay for a second??

Utopia Falls

2020 // One Season // 10 Episodes

It’s hundreds of years in the future and New Babyl, the last living colony on earth, has divided into different sectors for specific industries, from which 24 candidates are chosen to compete in The Examplar performance competition. Six of these candidates are followed by the show’s narrative, including sexually fluid Brooklyn and dancer Sage.

Woke 

2020 – // 2+ Seasons // 16+ Episodes

Keef Knight is a Black cartoonist on the up-and-up who avoids controversial material in his work — but after being traumatized by an encounter with the police, he gains the ability to see and hear inanimate objects talking to him and is increasingly aware of the racial microaggressions that infiltrate his life. He eventually befriends Ayana (Sasheer Zamata), a lesbian reporter who calls him out.

Y: The Last Man

2021 // One Season // 10 Episodes // FX Co-Production

Based on the problematic graphic novel series, this Hulu LGBT TV show Y: The Last Man only got one season to present its more evolved television adaptation: a dystopia where everybody with a Y chromosome is wiped out except for one lazy white cis dude and his monkey. Trans actor Elliot Fletcher plays a lead role as Sam, the best friend of Olivia Thirlby’s Hero Brown. There’s also a lesbian biogeneticist and a lot of queer and trans filler characters. After spending years in controversial stages of development, the show was swiftly cancelled after its first season.

Other streaming TV lists:

• 60 Best Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer TV Shows on Netflix
• 41 Queer TV Shows with Lesbian and Bisexual Characters Streaming on Prime Video
• The 40 Best LGBTQ+ TV Shows on HBO Max With Lesbian or Bisexual Characters

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