The Circle jumping from Netflix to Hulu : what's next ?

The Circle wrapped its seventh season on Netflix in late 2024, and the platform quietly chose not to renew its deal with Studio Lambert. That decision is now sending one of reality TV's most inventive formats straight into Hulu's hands, and the show coming back looks noticeably different from what fans remember.

Why The Circle is leaving Netflix for Hulu

Netflix's split with Studio Lambert wasn't a dramatic breakup. After seven seasons, the streamer simply decided not to extend the licensing agreement, a move that happens more often than viewers realize when platform strategies shift. Hulu, owned by Disney, moved quickly to secure the rights, and the show has since been described as reimagined rather than just renewed.

Disney has been steadily expanding Hulu's reality programming slate. Shows like The Kardashians, Vanderpump Villa, and Secret Lives of Mormon Wives have helped position the platform as a credible home for unscripted content. Bringing over a recognizable format like The Circle fits that direction perfectly, especially when it arrives with significant creative changes attached.

For those of us tracking catalog shifts across platforms, this kind of move illustrates how streaming rights are increasingly fluid. A show doesn't belong to a platform forever, and when a contract expires, a competitor can step in fast. It's worth knowing where your favorite series actually lives before assuming it stays put.

The UK already ran a celebrity charity edition of The Circle, so the concept of mixing famous faces into the format isn't entirely new. What Hulu is building feels more ambitious in scope, blending celebrity contestants with members of the public competing side by side.

What the new Hulu version actually changes

The core mechanics stay familiar. Contestants move into separate apartments within the same building, remain completely isolated from one another, and can only communicate through a dedicated app using text and photos. They can play as themselves or adopt a completely different persona. Identity is the game.

But several new elements set this version apart from the Netflix run :

• Celebrity and public contestants competing together in the same game
• Audience voting in the United States, giving viewers direct influence over outcomes
• Filming in real time, so twists and player ratings unfold live
• A fast-turnaround production format designed to feel immediate and reactive

That audience voting twist is genuinely new for the US version. It means viewer participation can directly alter how the game plays out, turning passive watching into something closer to active engagement. That's a smart play for a platform trying to build habitual viewing rather than passive consumption.

Executive producer Susan House returns as showrunner, joined by Studio Lambert's Tim Harcourt, Jack Burgess, Niall O'Driscoll, and Stephen Lambert. On the production side, Motion Entertainment's Martin Oxley and Chet Fenster are involved, along with Omaha's Peyton Manning, Jamie Horowitz, and Colin Campbell. That's a heavy roster for a reality format, and it signals Hulu is treating this as a flagship unscripted project rather than a filler acquisition.

Where you'll be able to watch it, and what remains unclear

In the United States, The Circle will stream on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. That dual availability matters for subscribers who access content through Disney's bundle, since the show will be reachable without needing a separate Hulu-only plan.

International availability is a different story. All3Media International handles the format rights, and that introduces real uncertainty about whether international Disney+ subscribers will get access. Game shows and format-based productions frequently launch in a single territory due to licensing restrictions, and there's no confirmation yet that a global rollout is planned. We're watching this closely, since it's exactly the kind of distribution detail that matters when you're trying to figure out where a series actually lands.

Disney's broader content strategy has been leaning into exclusive deals and platform-specific programming to differentiate its streaming services. The recent Disney+ partnership with Japan's The Seven on exclusive new content is another example of how the company is shaping its catalog with targeted acquisitions rather than broad licensing sweeps.

Hulu's reality TV output has grown noticeably since Disney took full operational control of the platform in 2023. Adding a reimagined version of a show that ran for seven seasons on a rival streamer is an unusual move, but it makes sense when the format arrives with enough changes to justify a fresh audience rather than just recycling existing fans. The real-time filming structure and live audience voting could genuinely make this feel like a different beast from what Netflix aired, and that gap might be exactly what Hulu needs to make the transition feel earned rather than opportunistic.