Every Original Show Disney+ Removed in 2023

In 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery started an unfortunate industry trend when it removed a bunch of its original streaming content from HBO Max, including Infinity Train, Aquaman: King of Atlantis, and The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo. The next company pulling original content is Disney, which removed dozens of titles from its two biggest streaming platforms, Disney+ and Hulu, on May 26, 2023.

Since Disney fully owns these titles and doesn’t have to pay to license them from other studios, this move might be confusing for a lot of viewers—especially since they have been advertised as streaming exclusives, or perks for being a subscriber. But by removing the content from its services, Disney can avoid paying residuals to the people who created and worked on them, thus saving some money.

HBO Max’s 2022 policy changes did a lot to impact customer loyalty—the service did really well in our 2022 Customer Satisfaction Survey before the mass cancellations, but it started to slip in our 2023 survey. We hypothesize this decline of faith in the HBO Max brand name might have been a factor in the decision to drop “HBO” from the title—a real case of throwing the brand recognition baby out with the bathwater. Both Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have been plagued by layoffs in recent months.

We’ve still yet to see whether this mass dumping of original content turns out well for Disney+ or whether we’ll see the service change its name to “Plus” in a crisis down the road. But we’re here to help you prepare for whatever changes may come, so let’s discuss what titles are gone and what it means for you.

Shows and movies leaving Disney+

While Disney originally seemed to be targeting its non-Star Wars, non-Marvel titles, when the big removal finally happened, Marvel’s Runaways disappeared as well. No IP is safe from the 2023 Disney Purge. Surprisingly, though, The Santa Clauses and National Treasure: Edge of History are sticking around, despite the former receiving poor reviews and the latter being outright canceled.

A lot of the pulled titles are adaptations, like Stargirl, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and R.L. Stine’s Just Beyond, while others are remakes and sequels like Turner and Hooch, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, and Willow. Regardless of how these titles performed, this move is disappointing for the cast and crew who are losing out on potential residuals or royalties and who signed agreements under the assumption that Disney+ Originals would live as long as the service. It’s also a huge bummer for viewers—both existing fans who can no longer rewatch their favorite shows and for potential fans who hadn’t gotten around to watching these titles yet. Willow only just came out this winter!

Maybe all isn’t completely lost. Disney has already started walking back some of its choices, and Deadline reported that Howard, A Spark Story, Marvel’s MPower, and Marvel’s Voices Rising: The Music of Wakanda Forever are remaining on the platform for the time being.

Maybe the company realized that removing a documentary about the late lyricist Howard Ashman on the same day as the new Little Mermaid release in theaters was not, in fact, the move.

However, the rest of the titles on this list were unfortunately removed from Disney+ on May 26:

Shows and movies leaving Hulu

Disney, owning a majority stake in Hulu, also removed a lot of original content from Hulu on May 26. This includes titles produced with FX and Nat Geo.

It is not clear how any of these titles were chosen for removal.

Disney+ original content FAQ