Zendaya’s Sizzling R-Rated Hit Is Leaving Hulu Soon — Watch Before It’s Gone

Zendaya is absolutely everywhere right now, and honestly, you can’t move for her in 2026. Whether you’re into Euphoria or eyeing up the big summer blockbusters, it’s basically become her world and the rest of us are just wandering through it. At this point, she’s starring in everything major — swinging about as MJ in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, journeying across endless deserts for Dune: Part 3, or heading for full Nolan madness as Athena in The Odyssey. Even the slightly moodier The Drama (with Robert Pattinson, no less) is getting attention. But if you want to see Zendaya in her most grown-up, boundary-pushing role so far, Challengers is what you’re after… and you’re running out of time to catch it on streaming.

Challengers: Zendaya Throws Away the Teen Roles

Challengers is not the Zendaya you remember from Spider-Man or even the distinctly knackered Rue in Euphoria. For this, she properly stepped into adult territory, both emotionally and physically — and frankly, if you thought she was going to be stuck playing sixth formers forever, Challengers will prove you wrong faster than a 140mph serve.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino (yes, the bloke from Call Me By Your Name), the film chucked Zendaya into a throuple tennis saga alongside Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist. She plays Tashi, a former tennis prodigy turned hard-nosed coach, orchestrating (and then hopelessly tangled up in) a love triangle lasting thirteen rather bonkers years. There’s as much sweat and heavy breathing here off the court as on it. The plot jumps around the timeline, making the messy connections between Tashi, her husband Art (Faist, who spends half the time either glaring or sweating), and cocky wildcard Patrick (O'Connor).

Instead of recycling the same ‘edgy teen’ tropes, Zendaya gets to show what she can actually do. Critics noticed — she’s hurling rackets, holding grudges, and making bedroom eyes at two blokes for over a decade, which by all accounts is exhausting to watch (in a good way).

Critical Reception & Why It Mattered

Challengers wasn’t just a stylish sports drama with the occasional lingering slow-mo. It was actually a proper hit:

• Rotten Tomatoes: 88% Certified Fresh
• Metascore: 82
• Box office: $96 million worldwide – not too shabby, especially considering the R-rated erotic melodrama genre isn’t exactly churning out billion-dollar blockbusters these days. For context, it made back its $55 million budget plus a decent chunk on top.

The film was particularly praised for doing what so few mainstream movies bother with now: being unashamedly steamy. In a period when most big-screen romance is as dry as month-old toast, Challengers was refreshingly, well, adult.

The tennis-as-metaphor gag is hammered home, but in a way that mostly works: love triangles volleying back and forth, game set and matched egos, plenty of athletic suffering. Probably worth a rewatch just for how everyone keeps one-upping each other, both in sex and sport.

If You Blink, You’ll Miss It: Hulu Removal Date

Here’s the kicker: if you want to watch Challengers (legally, anyway) in the UK or US, you’ve only got until 1 June 2026 before it disappears from Hulu. After that, your only option will be paying for it à la carte: Amazon, Apple TV, Vudu, YouTube, and the rest of the VOD gang. Nothing you can’t handle, but Hulu’s your best bet to avoid forking out extra if you’re quick.

What Happens Next? (Spoilers: No Sequel Coming)

If you’re wondering whether Challengers is about to turn into another endless franchise (the universe does not need Challengers: Deuce), you can rest easy. Guadagnino made it clear he has no plans for a sequel. Seems he’s keen to let Zendaya and co. move on, leaving Challengers as a proper self-contained story. To paraphrase him: 'It works best on its own.'

If Guadagnino changes his mind, don’t hold your breath — he’s already juggling a sequel to Call Me By Your Name (called Find Me), an American Psycho reboot, something called Artificial (which is allegedly a comedy about AI), and a romantic drama, Camere Separate.

Zendaya’s Year of Blockbusters

In case you’ve lost count, here’s what Zendaya’s got on her plate for the rest of 2026 or is already appearing in:

• Spider-Man: Brand New Day
• Dune: Part 3
• The Odyssey (she’s playing Athena, goddess and all-around head-kicker)
• The Drama (with Robert Pattinson)
• Challengers (leaving Hulu 1 June!)