Nadav Kander

Hulu has sealed a deal to become the only non-Showtime source for streaming "Homeland," the premium cable network's tense terrorist-espionage series.

Starting immediately, people who subscribe to either of Hulu's plans ($7.99 a month with commercials or $11.99 a month without ads) can watch the first four seasons of the show, Hulu said Monday. The Emmy-winning series concluded its fifth season at the end of last year.

Online streamers like Hulu, Netflix and Amazon have grown more selective in shows they license, as they all build out broader original series of their own. "Homeland" is the picture-perfect example of the kind of show they prize: award-winning, tense plot-driven fare that breaks down your resistance to binge episode after episode.

Hulu and Showtime already had a chummy relationship. Soon after Showtime launched its own subscription-streaming service, it joined forces with Hulu to offer a discounted bundle. Hulu members can access a full Showtime streaming catalog (and watch the latest fifth season of "Homeland") with a Showtime add-on that costs $8.99 a month, a $2 price cut off the cost of subscribing to Showtime's streaming service separately.