It’s Officially The End Of An Era For YA Fiction

Published Aug 29, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT Arielle Port started as a TV producer, developing content for Netflix (Firefly Lane, Brazen) and Hallmark (The Santa Stakeout, A Christmas Treasure) before transitioning into entertainment journalism. Her love of story went from interest to lifelong passion while at The University of Pennsylvania, where she fell in with a student-run web series, Classless TV, and it was a gateway drug. Arielle Port has been a Writer for Screen Rant since August 2024. She lives in Los Angeles with her boyfriend and more importantly, her cat, Boseman. 2026 is an interesting year for YA television, as many of the genre's biggest recent shows are coming to an end. Airing on the last day of 2025, the Stranger Things series finale was so much of an event that Netflix put it in movie theaters, and major YA streaming hits Outer Banks and Heartstopper also came to an end this year. The best YA TV shows are human stories at their most formative and vulnerable, making them some of the most powerful and relatable stories we have. There are some notable new titles — Prime Video in particular is cornering the market, with new popular YA series Sterling Point, Every Year After, and Off Campus. However, Netflix and Hulu are not investing in the genre to the same degree as the Amazon streamer. Hulu used to have a vibrant, varied YA slate — never the deepest bench, but always a few compelling shows at any given time. Hulu just canceled Not Suitable for Work after one season, despite it being a big premiere for them followed by moderate numbers. The show even came from Mindy Kaling, a proven showrunner in the YA space between Never Have I Ever and The Sex Lives of College Girls. Not Suitable for Work wasn’t the most inspired show but had potential to be a solid Friends knockoff. At least it got a full season, as Hulu has recently passed on three different YA pilots: the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, New Sunnydale, Foster Dade, and Don’t Get High. Hulu clearly has a YA problem, but it won’t matter very shortly. Hulu Used To Have Some Of The Best YA TV Shows Image via Everett Collection Hulu once had a surprisingly curated slate for young adults. That variety was the strength of Hulu’s YA programming: rather than treating YA as a single genre, Hulu showed how many different kinds of stories could fall under the label. Tell Me Lies was a romantic psychological thriller about two people who meet in college, a darker version of Normal People, which also debuted on Hulu in the U.S. in 2020. Reservation Dogs, meanwhile, was unlike almost anything else on television, following Indigenous teenagers in a comedy-drama co-created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi. Hulu’s Former YA Programming TV Series Genre Year(s) Seasons & Episodes East Los High Teen drama 2013-2017 4 seasons, 61 episodes Marvel’s Runaways Marvel superhero drama 2017-2019 3 seasons, 33 episodes Looking for Alaska John Green adaptation 2019 1 season, 8 episodes Love, Victor Romantic dramedy 2020-2022 3 seasons, 28 episodes Reservation Dogs Dark comedy 2021-2023 3 seasons, 28 episodes Tell Me Lies Romantic psychological thriller 2022-2026 3 seasons, 26 episodes Love, Victor was more traditional YA, but its LGBTQ coming-of-age romance made it one of Hulu’s most accessible teen series. Looking for Alaska brought John Green’s hugely popular YA novel to television as an eight-episode limited series, and it’s surprising that more of his books haven’t been adapted for TV. Finally, East Los High was one of Hulu’s earliest original series, offering a YA drama centered on Latinx high school students in East Los Angeles. Taken together, these shows made Hulu’s YA slate feel deliberate rather than interchangeable. But that once-distinctive YA identity has largely disappeared from Hulu’s current 2026 slate. Hulu’s Current YA Programming Is Questionable With the conclusion of Tell Me Lies in February 2026, Hulu’s current YA programming is increasingly underwhelming. Ryan Murphy's The Shards technically follows teenagers, but the lavish adaptation of Brett Easton Ellis’ semi-autobiographical novel is an erotic psychological thriller about privileged prep-school students, drugs, and a serial killer in 1981 Los Angeles, and is geared more towards 60-year-olds than 16-year-olds. Hulu also has Spellbound, which has perhaps the most unmistakably YA premise of the bunch — a ballet student discovers she comes from a family of witches. However, its uncertain future — stuck in limbo, not yet canceled or renewed since 2024 — makes it difficult to point to as a major pillar of Hulu’s YA slate. The Testaments has a teenage protagonist in Chase Infiniti’s Agnes, but its DNA is rooted in The Handmaid’s Tale, making it more of an authoritarian prestige drama than a traditional YA series. Hulu calls it a coming-of-age story, and for a generation still devouring The Hunger Games, that may be a more authentic version of YA than another teen rom-com. The problem isn't that Hulu has no shows involving teenagers; it’s that it’s difficult to identify one that feels like an obvious, defining YA hit. Compared with the eclectic slate Hulu once cultivated, its current offerings make the streamer’s retreat from YA hard to ignore, but there is one clear reason why they aren’t currently developing more. Hulu Will Soon Be Just A Tile On Disney+ Hulu doesn’t need to worry about making more YA content, because Disney already has that market covered. Hulu began in 2007 as NBC and Fox’s attempt to build their own streaming future, with ABC/Disney joining as part-owners two years later, bringing ABC, Disney Channel, ABC Family, and other Disney programming to the service. In 2017, Disney acquired Fox, which gave Disney majority ownership of Hulu when the deal closed in 2019. By 2025, Disney had purchased Comcast/NBCUniversal’s remaining stake, making Hulu fully Disney-owned. Now, the streamer is effectively in limbo as Disney works toward making Hulu a tile within Disney+, where it can serve as the home for more adult-oriented prestige television. That leaves Hulu’s future as an independent programming brand increasingly unclear, but there is one area where Disney certainly doesn’t need Hulu to fill a void: YA and family entertainment. Hulu was once at the forefront of the streaming wars, becoming the first streaming service to win Outstanding Drama Series in 2017, when The Handmaid’s Tale beat Netflix’s The Crown and other established prestige dramas. For decades, Disney has built its empire around children, teenagers, and families. Hulu may have once needed YA programming to broaden its audience, but under Disney’s ownership, YA isn't a hole in the company's streaming strategy. It’s already one of Disney’s biggest strengths. founded October 29, 2007 notable shows How I Met Your Father, Love, Victor, PEN15, 11.22.63, Only Murders in the Building, The Great, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, The Handmaid's Tale, Letterkenny notable movies Prey, Hellraiser, Palm Springs, Boston Strangler, Big Time Adolescence, White Men Can't Jump