Hulu has scored a deal for old and new episodes of “Will & Grace” just one week before NBC is set to bring back the show for its Thursday night comedy lineup.
In what Hulu says is a first, all 194 episodes of “Will & Grace” will be available to stream in the U.S., beginning Thursday, Sept. 21. Hulu is getting an SVOD exclusive deal for the show, while the episodes will also be available through the NBC app through pay-TV subscription authentication.
“There’s no question that ‘Will & Grace’ has resonated with audiences since the series made its broadcast premiere. To be able to bring such an iconic show into the streaming universe for the first time ever is an opportunity we couldn’t pass up,” said Joel Stillerman, chief content officer of Hulu, in a statement. “This landmark deal will allow fans to re-watch their favorite moments ahead of the series premiere, as well as bring ‘Will & Grace’ and its cast of characters to a whole new audience.”
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As Hulu continues to expand its original content aspirations—which recently resulted in an Emmy for best drama series for “The Handmaid’s Tale”—the service has remained active in securing broad distribution rights with studios.
In July, Hulu inked a wide-ranging streaming deal with 20th Century Fox Television Distribution for about 3,000 TV episodes. The deal is for series including “How I Met Your Mother,” “Burn Notice,” “Bones” and “Glee.”
The new season of “Will & Grace” begins Sept. 28 and has already been renewed for a second season. Hulu is a joint venture between Comcast/NBCUniversal, the Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox and Time Warner.