Once upon a time, there was pilot season – a yearly ritual where networks would order a wave of test episodes, screen them, and decide what lived or died. Then the streaming boom came along, handed out straight-to-series orders like candy, and declared the whole system obsolete.
Well… not so fast.
The pilot is making a comeback.
Platforms including HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, FX and NBC are once again leaning on pilot orders as the industry recalibrates in a more cost-conscious era.
The logic is familiar: produce a single episode for a few million, evaluate its potential, then decide whether to move forward. During the peak TV boom, that model was largely abandoned in favor of straight-to-series orders, as streamers raced to lock in top talent and IP. Hulu Originals executive Simran Sethi has described that period as a “gold rush.”
Now, with tighter budgets and reduced overall volume, executives are rethinking the equation. At HBO Max, head of originals Sarah Aubrey has pointed to The Pitt, recently renewed for a third season, as the kind of repeatable, high-episode-count series the platform is aiming to replicate. Pilots, she says, are key to finding the next one.
Several projects are already moving through the pipeline. HBO Max has ordered pilots for American Blue and How to Survive Without Me. Hulu is developing multiple pilots, including Foster Dade from Greg Berlanti and Bash Doran, as well as an X-Files reboot from Ryan Coogler. On the broadcast side, NBC has commissioned eight pilots, including a reboot of The Rockford Files starring David Boreanaz.
The model is already proving its value. Projects like Netflix’s A Different World sequel, Hulu’s Prison Break reboot, and FX’s Snowfall spinoff all advanced from pilot to full series. Others didn’t make the cut, including Hulu’s Buffy reboot directed by Chloé Zhao, which is exactly the point. Spending around $12 million on a pilot is far less risky than committing to an entire season that doesn’t land.
That said, the pilot model isn’t universal. Big-budget, VFX-heavy series like House of the Dragon or Fallout still bypass pilots altogether. At that scale, a single episode can cost upwards of $20 million, making the “test run” far less economical.
Still, for mid-budget series targeting longer episode orders, the pilot is once again proving its worth — a pragmatic reset for an industry learning to spend smarter.
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