20 best Hulu original series ranked, from worst to first

The Looming Tower / Image by Hulu

13. The Looming Tower

Released as a miniseries in 2018, The Looming Tower was a Hulu original series based on the novel by Lawrence Wright.

The book was a non-fiction account of the manner in which the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization formed and came into being. That means this was a background look at what ended up leading to the September 11 attacks.

It also showed how the refusal of the FBI and CIA to work together prevented the United States from uncovering the September 11 plot in time to save lives.

The Hulu original series starred Jeff Daniels as John O’Neill, the chief of the New York FBI Counterterrorism Center. Taking place in the ’90s, he believes that the United States is targeted for an attack by the Al-Qaeda organization but no one takes him seriously.

The 10 episodes in The Looming Tower shows O’Neill’s organization and the CIA both racing through the world trying to get information while fighting behind-the-scenes with each other. Despite this, both groups have the same goal of preventing a possible attack on U.S. soil.

As everyone knows, they failed. By the final episode, the 9/11 Commission hearings are underway and those responsible for delaying the investigation are lying under oath about the fact that they were to blame for not acting quicker.

The Looming Tower picked up three Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, including Outstanding Actor for Jeff Daniels, Outstanding Supporting Actor for Michael Stuhlbarg and an award for Outstanding Directing for that finale.