Beloved Crime Series Now Streaming in Its Entirety

In the streaming age, getting the exclusive rights to a popular and long-running TV series is a really big deal for any streaming service. It’s why HBO Max shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars to secure Friends and The Big Bang Theory, or why NBCUniversal opted not to renew a rich deal from Netflix to bring The Office to Peacock, its in-house service. Originals are huge but previous hits that subscribers can binge are sometimes the backbone of streaming services. On Wednesday, Hulu added another one of these popular shows to its lineup, one that hasn’t been streaming anywhere in its entirety before.

Early Wednesday morning, Hulu added all eight seasons of Castle to its lineup. The crime series, starring Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic, was a major hit for ABC during its run, and fans have been anxious to binge it again. The option to watch the whole show online wasn’t previously available, unless you purchased the episodes, but that changed when Hulu added it to the roster. 

Castle ran for a total of 173 episodes, beginning in 2009 and airing through 2016. The series follows a successful mystery novelist who starts working alongside the NYPD after a serial killer begins mimicking the murders in his books. Fillion stars as the writer, Richard “Rick” Castle, while Katic plays his NYPD partner, Kate Beckett. While Kate hates the thought of working with Castle at the beginning of the series, the two ultimately develop feelings for each other and their love story evolves over the course of the eight season run.

It makes sense for Castle to end up streaming on Hulu, considering the streaming service is owned by the same company as the show’s original network. Castle aired all 173 episodes on ABC, which is owned by Disney. While FOX used to have the controlling stake in Hulu, that power moved to Disney when the company purchased 21st Century Fox a couple of years ago. Hulu provides Disney with a place for all of its movies and TV shows that don’t necessarily fit on the Disney+ service, while also maintaining its long-standing position as a go-to home for all television.

Castle has been off the air for five years now, but this movie finally makes it available to rewatch for fans around the world. Will you be checking it out on Hulu? Let us know in the comments!