Top 3 TV Shows To Stream On Hulu & Disney+ This Weekend (September 5-7, 2025)
These are Screen Rant’s top picks for the greatest TV shows and limited series to watch only on Hulu and Disney+ this weekend, September 5-7, 2025.
From a political conspiracy thriller to an ass-kicking revenge story and an Emmy-winning medical miniseries, Screen Rant has got you covered with some of the most celebrated and underrated series across all genres on Hulu and Disney+ right now, helping you make the most out of the streaming services.
Paradise emerged earlier this year as not just one of the best new series on Hulu but one of 2025’s greatest series across all streaming platforms. It earned four Emmy nominations at the upcoming 2025 Emmy Awards that will take place a week from Sunday, including Outstanding Drama Series, making this weekend the perfect time to dive into Paradise.
Despite its alluring title, Paradise is a dystopian sci-fi political thriller that takes place in a utopian version of America. 3-time Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown, known for American Crime Story, This is Us, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and American Fiction, stars as Xavier Collins, a Secret Service agent who investigates, and is investigated for, the apparent murder of the U.S. President.
Paradise has a gripping premise that will pull viewers in from the start, especially for fans of dystopian sci-fi shows like Silo and political thrillers like The Diplomat. The series also stars Emmy nominee James Marsden (Westworld, Jury Duty) and Emmy winner Julianne Nicholson (Mare of Easttown), who has had an outstanding year and is nominated for two different shows at the 2025 Emmys (for Paradise and Hacks).
Paradise is one of those shows that enters major spoiler territory in episode 1, so it’s best to dive straight into the series to avoid having anything big given away. The series earned a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 86% and an equally impressive audience score of 84% and was created by Dan Fogelman of This Is Us acclaim.
Collider wrote in their 8/10 review of Paradise season 1, “As both a sociopolitical thriller and an exhumation of the human condition, and among all the other series vying for audiences’ attention in the new year, Paradise is well worth your time.” Additionally, Screen Rant called Brown’s performance “undeniable” and noted his “electric chemistry” with co-star Marsden.
If you’re looking for a Hulu original or a promising sci-fi thriller series to root for at the Emmys next week, Paradise is a great option, with a second season already set for release on January 28, 2026. There are only eight episodes, each between 47 and 59 minutes apiece, making a weekend binge totally doable.
The Punisher
The Punisher is still widely considered one of the best original Disney+ series ever made and is up there for all-time great shows in the modern Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not to be confused with the two films with the same title released in 1989 and 2004, Marvel’s The Punisher was released in 2017 and is arguably the most definitive adaptation of the character.
The Punisher, whose actual name is Frank Castle, is an antihero within the MCU that was first introduced in a Spider-Man comic book back in 1974. He was played by Dolph Lundgren and Thomas Jane before Jon Bernthal (The Bear, The Wolf of Wall Street) took the reins and ran with them for two seasons.
Fans of Prime Video’s hit series The Terminal List should find a lot of similarities between the revenge-fueled journeys of two broken but highly trained and dangerous military veterans. Frank Castle faces a nearly identical and unfathomably tragic situation to Chris Pratt’s James Reece in The Terminal List, which sparks a fire that explodes into an unstoppable force.
There are also elements of Dexter in The Punisher, considering that Frank Castle is technically a vigilante who breaks the law to fight crime, not unlike Michael C. Hall’s iconic serial killer character. Like The Terminal List and Dexter, this show is not for the faint of heart, as violence is used not only frequently but also brutally, as the title would suggest.
Critics were rather harsh on The Punisher throughout its first two seasons on Netflix, resulting in a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 64%. Compare this, however, to The Punisher’s 8.4 IMDb rating and its 79% audience score, and you have a completely different picture.
At 26 episodes total, ranging from 47 to 58 minutes apiece, The Punisher could be binge-watched in just one weekend, which is arguably the best way to enjoy it. The Punisher was a streaming hit for Netflix and mainly ended after two seasons because of the launch of Disney+ in 2019. However, Bernthal recently reprised the role in the 2025 Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again, suggesting that there could be a reboot of the standalone series coming to Disney+ sometime soon.
Dopesick
If you’re looking for one of the best series on Hulu and Disney+ outside the superhero realm, then Dopesick starring Michael Keaton may be your answer. The series won two Emmys in 2021, including an Outstanding Lead Actor win for Keaton (Spotlight, Batman).
Dopesick was adapted for television by Danny Strong, known for Empire, Billions, and Game Change, based on the 2018 book “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America” by Beth Macy. The series takes a broad look at America’s battle with opioid addiction, from the corporate offices of a big pharmaceutical company to a disadvantaged small town and the headquarters of the DEA.
The ensemble cast around Keaton’s lead performance as Dr. Samuel Finnix in Dopesick is truly remarkable. It includes Peter Sarsgaard (Presumed Innocent), Kaitlyn Dever (The Last of Us), Will Poulter (The Bear), Rosario Dawson (Ashoka), Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me by Your Name), and more.
Dopesick earned a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 89% and an even better audience score of 94%. NPR noted in its positive review, “Dopesick distills a complicated story into a compelling, heartbreaking series – tallying the human cost of a crisis that started in company boardrooms, earned billions and turned the country upside down in the process.”
On the same level as HBO Max’s hit series The Pitt, which is celebrated for its incredible accuracy and attention to detail, Dopesick encapsulates the American opioid addiction epidemic in a nutshell, from the very top to the very bottom. It can be an emotional watch depending on the viewer, but it is deeply fascinating and increasingly relevant to the American social and consumerist landscape.
That said, Dopesick is still highly entertaining. With a phenomenal cast like that, how could it not be? Fans of The Resident, which took opportunities to critique modern medical practices and add social commentary, will likely appreciate the eye-opening tone of Dopesick.
Dopesick also falls into a similar category as Netflix’s Painkiller series starring Matthew Broderick, although Dopesick does a much better job in just about all respects. If you’re looking for a hard-hitting yet immersive series to get lost in that pertains to real-world issues from the comfort of your home, then the 8-episode Dopesick could be the perfect watch for you this weekend on Hulu and Disney+.
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