THE PRUDENTIAL SERIES FUND PROSPECTUS • APRIL 26, 2021 The Prudential Series Fund (the Trust) is an PSF PGIM 50/50 Balanced Portfolio (Class I & Class III Shares) investment vehicle for life insurance PSF PGIM Total Return Bond Portfolio (Class I & Class III Shares) PSF PGIM Jennison Blend Portfolio (Class I, Class II, & Class III Shares) companies (the Participating Insurance PSF PGIM Flexible Managed Portfolio (Class I & Class III Shares) Companies) writing variable annuity contracts PSF Global Portfolio (Class I & Class III Shares) and variable life insurance policies (each, a PSF PGIM Government Income Portfolio (Class I & Class III Shares) PSF PGIM Government Money Market Portfolio (Class I & Class III Shares) Contract and together, the Contracts). Each PSF PGIM High Yield Bond Portfolio (Class I & Class III Shares) contract involves fees and expenses not PSF PGIM Jennison Growth Portfolio (Class I, Class II & Class III Shares) described in this prospectus (the Prospectus). PSF PGIM Jennison Focused Blend Portfolio (Class I, Class II & Class III Shares) PSF Natural Resources Portfolio (Class I, Class II & Class III Shares) Please read the prospectus of your Contract for PSF Small-Cap Stock Index Portfolio (Class I & Class III Shares) information regarding the Contract, including PSF Stock Index Portfolio (Class I & Class III Shares) its fees and expenses. The portfolios offered in PSF PGIM Jennison Value Portfolio (Class I, Class II & Class III Shares) this Prospectus are set forth on this cover PSF International Growth Portfolio (Class I & Class II Shares) PSF Mid-Cap Growth Portfolio (Class I, Class II & Class III Shares) (each, a Portfolio and together, the Portfolios). PSF Small-Cap Value Portfolio (Class I Shares) Prudential, the Prudential logo, and the Rock symbol are service marks of Prudential Financial, Inc. and its related entities, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Table of Contents 1 SUMMARY: PSF PGIM 50/50 BALANCED PORTFOLIO 7 SUMMARY: PSF PGIM TOTAL RETURN BOND PORTFOLIO 12 SUMMARY: PSF PGIM JENNISON BLEND PORTFOLIO 16 SUMMARY: PSF PGIM FLEXIBLE MANAGED PORTFOLIO 22 SUMMARY: PSF GLOBAL PORTFOLIO 27 SUMMARY: PSF PGIM GOVERNMENT INCOME PORTFOLIO 31 SUMMARY: PSF PGIM GOVERNMENT MONEY MARKET PORTFOLIO 36 SUMMARY: PSF PGIM HIGH YIELD BOND PORTFOLIO 41 SUMMARY: PSF PGIM JENNISON GROWTH PORTFOLIO 45 SUMMARY: PSF PGIM JENNISON FOCUSED BLEND PORTFOLIO 49 SUMMARY: PSF NATURAL RESOURCES PORTFOLIO 54 SUMMARY: PSF SMALL-CAP STOCK INDEX PORTFOLIO 58 SUMMARY: PSF STOCK INDEX PORTFOLIO 62 SUMMARY: PSF PGIM JENNISON VALUE PORTFOLIO 66 SUMMARY: PSF INTERNATIONAL GROWTH PORTFOLIO 72 SUMMARY: PSF MID-CAP GROWTH PORTFOLIO 76 SUMMARY: PSF SMALL-CAP VALUE PORTFOLIO 80 ABOUT THE TRUST 81 MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON HOW THE PORTFOLIOS INVEST 104 MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT OTHER INVESTMENTS & STRATEGIES USED BY THE PORTFOLIOS 112 PRINCIPAL RISKS 124 HOW THE TRUST IS MANAGED 144 HOW TO BUY AND SELL SHARES OF THE PORTFOLIOS 149 OTHER INFORMATION 150 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS 168 GLOSSARY: PORTFOLIO INDEXES SUMMARY: PSF PGIM 50/50 BALANCED PORTFOLIO Note: Prior to the effective date of this prospectus, the PSF PGIM 50/50 Balanced Portfolio was named the “Conservative Balanced Portfolio.” INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE The investment objective of the Portfolio is to seek total investment return consistent with a conservatively managed diversified portfolio. PORTFOLIO FEES AND EXPENSES The table below shows the fees and expenses that you may pay if you invest in shares of the Portfolio. The table does not include Contract charges. Because Contract charges are not included, the total fees and expenses that you will incur will be higher than the fees and expenses set forth in the table. See your Contract prospectus for more information about Contract charges. Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) Class I Shares Class III Shares Management Fees 0.55% 0.55% + Distribution and/or Service Fees (12b-1 Fees) None 0.25% + Other Expenses 0.03% 0.03% = Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses 0.58% 0.83% Example. The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The table does not include Contract charges. Because Contract charges are not included, the total fees and expenses that you will incur will be higher than the fees and expenses set forth in the example. See your Contract prospectus for more information about Contract charges. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be: 1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years PSF PGIM 50/50 Balanced (formerly, Conservative Balanced) Class I Shares $59 $186 $324 $726 PSF PGIM 50/50 Balanced (formerly, Conservative Balanced) Class III Shares $85 $265 $460 $1,025 Portfolio Turnover. The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual portfolio operating expenses or in the example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the Portfolio’s most recent fiscal year ended December 31, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 75% of the average value of its portfolio. INVESTMENTS, RISKS AND PERFORMANCE Principal Investment Strategies. The Portfolio invests in a mix of equity and equity-related securities, debt obligations and money market instruments. Under normal market conditions, the Portfolio typically invests approximately 50% of its assets in equity and equity-related securities (with a range of 15% to 75%) and approximately 50% of its assets in debt obligations and money market instruments (with a range of 25% to 85%). The percentage of Portfolio assets in each category is adjusted depending on the Portfolio’s expectation regarding the different markets. The Portfolio may invest in foreign securities. The equity portion of the Portfolio is generally managed as an index portfolio, designed to perform similarly to the holdings of the S&P 500 Index. 1 Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the fixed income portion of the Portfolio may be invested in intermediate and long-term debt obligations that are rated investment grade by the major ratings services, or, if unrated, considered to be of comparable quality, and high-quality money market instruments. Likewise, 20% of the fixed income portion of the Portfolio may be invested in high-yield/high-risk debt securities rated as low as BB, Ba or lower by a major rating service at the time they are purchased (commonly known as “junk bonds”). The Portfolio may also invest in instruments that are not rated, but which are deemed to be of comparable quality to the instruments described above. The Portfolio may also invest up to 30% of its total assets in foreign equity and debt securities that are not denominated in the US dollar. Up to 20% of the Portfolio’s total assets may be invested in debt securities that are issued outside the US by foreign or US issuers, provided the securities are denominated in US dollars. For these purposes, the Portfolio does not consider American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) as foreign securities. In managing the Portfolio’s assets, the portfolio managers uses a combination of top-down economic analysis and bottom-up research in conjunction with proprietary quantitative models and risk management systems. In the top-down economic analysis, the portfolio managers develop views on economic, policy and market trends by continually evaluating economic data that affects the movement of markets and securities prices. In their bottom-up research, the portfolio managers develop an internal rating and outlook on issuers. The rating and outlook is determined based on a thorough review of the financial health and trends of the issuer, which includes a review of the issuer’s composition of revenue, profitability, cash flow margin, and leverage. The portfolio managers may also consider investment factors such as expected total return, yield, spread and potential for price appreciation as well as credit quality, maturity and risk. The Portfolio may invest in a security based upon the expected total return rather than the yield of such security. Principal Risks of Investing in the Portfolio. The risks summarized below are the principal risks of investing in the Portfolio. All investments have risks to some degree and it is possible that you could lose money by investing in the Portfolio. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit with a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. While the Portfolio makes every effort to achieve its objective, the Portfolio cannot guarantee success. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. Asset-Backed and/or Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. Asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities are fixed income securities that represent an interest in an underlying pool of assets, such as credit card receivables or, in the case of mortgage-backed securities, mortgage loans. Like fixed income securities, asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities are subject to interest rate risk, liquidity risk, and credit risk, which may be heightened in connection with investments in loans to “subprime” borrowers. Certain asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities are subject to the risk that those obligations will be repaid sooner than expected or later than expected, either of which may result in lower than expected returns.