Disney Plus has finally created a competitive library of original series that can compete with other services like Netflix and Max. It’s also a treasure trove of Disney nostalgia for anyone who grew up in the ’90s and early 2000s. On top of all that, the streamer has released a few of the most popular TV series to come out in recent years, and those series, on top of the deep catalog, make a Disney+ subscription worthwhile.
The streaming service is, at the end of the day, still a streaming service. As a Disney fan myself, though, it can be hard not to get swept up in the magic that the service contains. Disney is an old-fashioned dream factory, and Disney+ is home to many of those dreams.
Recommended Videos
With content from Star Wars, Marvel, and the Disney channel all available to stream right now, there’s something for everyone, whatever you might be into. If you’re looking for movies, take a look at our must-see list of Disney Plus movies.
Loki (2021)
2 Seasons
Genre
Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Stars
Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino
Created by
Michael Waldron
Watch on Disney+
In yet another Marvel series spinoff from the already expansive film universe, Loki takes the endless possibilities of time from Endgame and runs with them. When the titular trickster god is sent to what is basically time prison for stealing the Tesseract in Endgame, Loki is forced to work with the timekeepers to ‘fix reality’ as they know it. Filled with clever dialogue, some genuinely smart things to say about who Loki is as a character, and a genuinely thrilling climax, Loki is one of the best Marvel shows Disney has made. The second season is set to premiere on October 6, 2023.
America's Funniest Home Videos (1989)
Are you craving a trip down memory lane? Tired of the constant advertisements on YouTube? Longing for the days when you could relax on your grandmother’s rug and watch hilarious videos? No need to worry. Disney+ offers the original America’s Funniest Home Videos for your enjoyment. All you need to do is lean back and enjoy the show that arguably kickstarted meme culture.
WandaVision (2021)
1 Season
Genre
Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Mystery, Drama
Stars
Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn
Created by
Jac Schaeffer
Watch on Disney+
One of the most critically-acclaimed series of 2021, WandaVision has it all. If you’ve seen all of the Avengers movies, then you are likely already familiar with Wanda and Vision — but you have never seen them like this. Set in a series of sitcoms throughout the ages, WandaVision follows the couple as they traverse a televerse where they happen to be the main characters. We don’t want to give away the story any more than that, though, so you’ll just have to watch it.
The Mandalorian (2019)
3 Seasons
Genre
Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Drama
Stars
Pedro Pascal, Katee Sackhoff
Created by
Jon Favreau
Watch on Disney+
One of the biggest draws of Disney Plus is that you can watch all the Star Wars movies online. But The Mandalorian is the first live-action Star Wars series and it has been widely well-received after three seasons. You get to see Pedro Pascal deliver a magnificent performance without ever revealing his face and loads of great Star Wars cameos that fans will truly appreciate. Think of The Mandalorian as a slightly darker, more gritty Star Wars film.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
7 Seasons
Genre
Action & Adventure, Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Stars
Matt Lanter, James Arnold Taylor, Ashley Eckstein
Created by
George Lucas
Watch on Disney+
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is one of the best things to come out of the early 2000s movies. With Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka Tano as a few of the main characters, this series follows the Jedi Knights as they lead the Grand Army of the Republic against the droid army of separatists. It adds some great depth to the Star Wars universe, so if you think of yourself as a fan, it’s worth binging all 133 episodes.
The Simpsons (1989)
36 Seasons
Genre
Family, Animation, Comedy
Stars
Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright
Created by
Matt Groening
Watch on Disney+
What more can really be said about The Simpsons? If you haven’t already watched this amazing adult animated series, then you should. And even if you have already watched it, you should probably watch it again. With over 700 episodes worth of content, you may want to narrow your search to the greatest Simpsons episodes so it doesn’t suck you in and take over your life.
Star Wars: Andor (2022)
1 Season
Genre
Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Drama
Stars
Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgård, Kyle Soller
Created by
Tony Gilroy
Watch on Disney+
The Star Wars TV shows have been up and down in terms of quality ever since The Mandalorian originally debuted, but virtually everyone agrees that Andor is the best of the bunch. Telling the story of Cassian Andor in the days before he became a formal part of the Rebellion, Andor is the kind of thrilling, political TV show that we rarely get on television anymore, whether it’s a Star Wars show or not. Featuring genuinely rousing speeches, some truly sharp direction, and some actual heft behind its performances, Andor is the best Star Wars show by a mile, and maybe the best show on Disney+ period.
The Beatles: Get Back (2021)
1 Season
Genre
Documentary
Stars
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison
Created by
Peter Jackson
Watch on Disney+
A documentary series unlike any other, Get Back uses behind-the-scenes footage of The Beatles preparing for their famous rooftop concert to give us a new understanding of what their relationship was like near the end of the band. The documentary is so well put together and features moments of breathtaking genius from every member of the band. More than that, though, it humanizes these totemic figures, reminding us that these were just four friends who liked making music together, and turned out to be pretty good at it, too.
Behind the Attraction (2021)
It may be a little bit too self-promotional for some, but for the Disney park obsessive in your life (trust me, you have one), there are few shows better than Behind the Attraction. The series takes an in-depth look at the stories behind many of the most popular rides at Disney theme parks around the world and focuses on everything from major rides to the specialty desserts served at the parks. Is it just one extended ad for the global Disney theme park economy? For sure, but it’s also slickly produced and pretty entertaining if you can look past all the promotion.
The Wonder Years (2021)
2 Seasons
Genre
Comedy, Drama, Family
Stars
Elisha Williams, Dulé Hill, Saycon Sengbloh
Created by
Saladin K. Patterson
Watch on Disney+
The original Wonder Years was justifiably one of the most beloved shows of its era. Although it came out in the 1980s, it was about the 1960s, and the massive cultural hangover that decade produced on the generation that had become adults in the years since. Now, The Wonder Years has been rebooted with a more diverse cast and lead, and it’s still finding ways to tell meaningful, relevant stories about how the past informs and shapes the present. For Black America, the past is almost never something to be nostalgic for, and this show captures that reality brilliantly.
X-Men '97 (2024)
1 Season
Genre
Animation, Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Stars
Ray Chase, Jennifer Hale, Alison Sealy-Smith
Watch on Disney+
A show that is explicitly designed to invoke the nostalgia of the 1990s, X-Men ’97 is an explicit continuation of the animated show that was popular more than 20 years ago. Although the X-Men have since had an entire franchise’s worth of live-action movies, for many, the original animated show is still their favorite version of what the heroes can be. Although it’s now in much higher definition, the show has a very similar art style to the original series, and has the same combination of individual episode arcs combined with bigger, more overarching stories.
The Muppet Show (1976)
5 Seasons
Genre
Kids, Comedy, Family
Stars
Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson
Created by
Jim Henson
Watch on Disney+
The Muppets are an institution today, but there was a time when Jim Henson’s puppets were much more unfamiliar to most people. The Muppet Show helped close that gap when it aired in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which ran for a total of five seasons and followed the antics of the titular puppets, was not actually for kids, although it’s easy to see why you might think that. The Muppets has always been an off-kilter but brilliant form of adult entertainment, and The Muppet Show is what every other Muppets property has been chasing ever since it went off the air.
Doctor Who (1963)
26 Seasons
Genre
Drama, Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Stars
Sylvester McCoy
Created by
Verity Lambert, Sydney Newman, Donald Wilson, C. E. Webber
Watch on Disney+
One of the longest-running series in TV history, Doctor Who tells the story of a time-traveling scientist from a distant planet who can adapt his biology to resemble a number of different up-and-coming British actors. Because it’s campy and a silly science-fiction show, Doctor Who has evolved and changed with its various stars and writers. It can be good or bad in a given year, but in its overall sweep, it is justifiably described as one of the most important sci-fi series ever created.
Ms. Marvel (2022)
1 Season
Genre
Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Comedy
Stars
Iman Vellani, Matt Lintz, Zenobia Shroff
Created by
Bisha K. Ali
Watch on Disney+
Look, Marvel TV shows are a mixed bag. Some of them are terrible, some are OK, and there are definitely way too many. Ms. Marvel, though, is fun, precisely because it feels so disconnected from all of the MCU lore. While it’s about a Captain Marvel fangirl, the show is set in Jersey City and follows a rambunctious young girl who’s trying to balance her family life and commitments with her burgeoning powers. She’s Spider-Man, but with some additional Pakistani baggage. Ms. Marvel isn’t perfect, but it’s funnier and more inventive than most Marvel shows, and it goes down easy.
Alias (2001)
5 Seasons
Genre
Action & Adventure, Drama
Stars
Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan, Victor Garber
Created by
J.J. Abrams
Watch on Disney+
The show that made Jennifer Garner a star, Alias tells the story of a young woman who discovers that her family has ties to the CIA, and agrees to join the group as an undercover agent. As her life gets more and more complicated by what she does for work, she begins to suspect that the people she’s working for aren’t who they claim to be. Alias is frothy, fun, and occasionally devastating in the way the best TV shows can be, and it’s also got regular doses of action infused in every episode.
Agatha All Along (2024)
1 Season
Genre
Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Mystery
Stars
Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Sasheer Zamata
Created by
Jac Schaeffer
Watch on Disney+
A spin-off of WandaVision may or may not have left you all that excited when you first heard it was happening, but one of the joys of Agatha All Along is that it’s a pretty great show on its own merits. Starring Kathryn Hahn as Agatha, the witch who turned out to be the villain of WindaVision, the series follows her as she attempts to uncover the secrets of the darkhold and regain her former powers. While the plot of the series has its own delights, part of the show’s joy is in seeing various actors like Hahn, Aubrey Plaza, and Patti Lupone bounce off one another as they play witches and other supernatural beings with their own unique motivations.
Echo (2024)
1 Season
Genre
Drama, Crime, Action & Adventure
Stars
Alaqua Cox, Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal
Watch on Disney+
A recent Disney Plus series that flew almost entirely under the radar, Echo focuses on a deaf crime boss living in New York City who begins searching for her own fulfillment as she returns to her hometown. Featuring an incredible central performance from Alaqua Cox, Echo is a refreshing change of pace for a Marvel series in part because it’s so grounded in a central character who has never heard of an Infinity Stone. Echo lasted just six episodes, but they rank up there with the best stuff that Marvel has ever released.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2023)
2 Seasons
Genre
Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Drama, Family
Stars
Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri
Created by
Rick Riordan, Jonathan E. Steinberg
Watch on Disney+
One of the more beloved young adult fantasy series in recent memory is Percy Jackson, and with Percy Jackson and the Olympians, those novels have finally gotten their ideal adaptation. The series follows a 12-year-old demigod who has just learned and come to terms with his identity when he is accused of stealing Zeus’s lightning bolt. With the help of two friends, he has to find out who is really responsible and restore order to Olympus. Fun, frothy, and filled with mythological import, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is thrilling whether you’ve read the book or not.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019)
4 Seasons
Genre
Family, Comedy, Drama
Stars
Joshua Bassett, Sofia Wylie, Julia Lester
Created by
Tim Federle
Watch on Disney+
One of the more surprisingly successful originals to launch shortly after Disney+ was High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a mockumentary that followed a group of teenagers as they performed High School Musical for their high school play. With echoes of Glee, the series notably starred Olivia Rodrigo before she became way too big for it, but even after she left, the show remained a surprisingly durable vehicle for interesting musical performances, as well as for a talented cast of funny young performers
Marvel's Jessica Jones (2015)
3 Seasons
Genre
Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Drama
Stars
Krysten Ritter, Rachael Taylor, Eka Darville
Created by
Melissa Rosenberg
Watch on Disney+
Long before Marvel was making its own TV shows, it had handed those duties off to the people at Netflix. Jessica Jones was perhaps the best show to come out of that era, especially in its first season. The show followed its titular character as she opens a detective agency after a short-lived career as a superhero. When she realizes that a superpowered man from her past has returned, though, she begins to suffer PTSD as she reckons with her own misdeeds and how responsible she is for what she did under his sway.
