For years, Canadian viewers heard about buzzy originals and deep back catalogues that lived on a U.S.-only streaming service. North of the border, much of that programming arrived piecemeal under a different label within Disney+, so you had access, but not the brand or the same release cadence.
That gap finally shrank on October 8, 2025, when Disney+ replaced the Star hub with Hulu in Canada and other international markets. The change is more than a new tile. It signals a single, clearer home for general entertainment inside Disney+, along with better surfacing and curation of shows and films Canadians were already sampling, and some they were missing.
Why Hulu never launched here, and how residential proxy use fits into the streaming picture:
The simple reason the U.S. service never officially opened shop in Canada was rights. Long before global apps centralized catalogues, many shows and films were committed to country-by-country licensing. Canadian broadcasters and streamers often held exclusives, so a U.S. app entering the market would have duplicated and conflicted with existing deals. Instead, Canadians received much of the same studio output inside Disney+, under a different hub, which kept distribution tidy while avoiding clashes with local rights holders.
Because the U.S. app was geofenced, some viewers tried to recreate a U.S. footprint from Canada. This is where a residential proxy entered the chat. In streaming, a residential proxy routes traffic through everyday household IP addresses, not data-centre ranges. Since streaming platforms use a mix of IP reputation, DNS rules, account data, and device signals to infer location, traffic that looks like it is coming from a regular home can appear more “normal” than traffic that clearly originates from a commercial server block. That helps explain why people talked about residential proxies in the context of accessing U.S. catalogues.
With the Hulu tile on Disney+ in Canada, you can find far more of those general entertainment titles in one familiar place, with fewer workarounds. The catalogue still reflects regional rights, but the discovery journey is finally consistent.
What the Disney+ and Hulu Convergence Means in Canada
The rebrand is not only cosmetic. It folds more general entertainment into one app, tightens recommendations, and clarifies where to look for new releases. It also lands at a moment when Canadians are streamlining their subscriptions, yet still spending more time with connected TVs. A quick snapshot:
It is worth noting that the new Hulu tile does not instantly dissolve every country-by-country licence. You will still see occasional gaps where a title lives on another Canadian service. The benefit is that hunting gets simpler, and over time, more of the brand’s signature originals should show up in the same place you already watch Disney+.
Three U.S. Hulu Movies Worth Seeking Out:
“Hulu will replace the Star hub in international Disney Plus markets,” wrote The Verge this month, adding clarity to what exactly changed on October 8. The global brand is here, but some films still move through U.S.-specific pipelines or third-party deals, which is why these three standouts are not widely available through the new Hulu tile outside the United States as of October 23, 2025.
Stay (2025)
A supernatural relationship thriller that starts as a domestic breakup and pivots into something darker, Stay leads the annual Huluween slate with tight, 90-minute pacing and grounded performances.
The Surfer (2024)
The film is lean, mean, and strangely funny, the kind of mid-budget thriller that rewards a late-night watch.
The Unholy Trinity (2025)
This one is headed to Hulu in the U.S. during its post-theatrical window thanks to a multiyear output deal with Roadside Attractions.
Short version: the Hulu brand is now global inside Disney+, but distribution still travels on existing rails. These three are prime examples of why you may not see a U.S. tile-mirrored one-to-one in Canada on day one, and why it is still worth keeping an eye on the new Hulu hub as more titles roll in.
