The 20 most memorable shows about paranormal romance

Gargoyles remains one of the best animated series from Disney, even if it was cut short before its full vision could be realized. As its title suggests, it focuses on a group of gargoyles who emerge from centuries of stone slumber to begin fighting crime in New York City. Their leader, Goliath, finds himself particularly drawn to the human Elisa, and they eventually start a romance. Dark and brooding, the series was deservedly acclaimed for being willing to take some risks with the storytelling, and it remains a testament to what animation can achieve even within the limits of television. 

Based on a series of novels by Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters focuses primarily on Katherine McNamara’s Clary Fairchild, a young woman who, like many other heroines, finds out there’s much more to her past than she ever expected. Rather than a normal human, she is, in fact, one of a group of human-angel hybrids who hunt demons. There are quite a few lovely romances in this series, and, to the series’ credit, it even includes a gay romance in the bond between Alec Lightwood and Magnus Bane. It thus emerges as a fitting adaptation of Clare’s beloved novels. 

The works of Anne Rice have long been recognized and celebrated for combining the supernatural with the erotic, and the AMC adaptation of Interview with the Vampire stays true to the spirit of Rice’s classic novel while making changes to make it palatable to a 21st-century audience. The chemistry between Sam Reid’s Lestat and Jacob Anderson’s Louis is quite simply off-the-charts, and the series doesn’t shy away from explicitly showing the homoeroticism that is such a key part of Rice’s novel. Brimming with erotic power and richly-told tragedy, this evocative story of a pair of vampire lovers and their ill-begotten progeny, Claudia, more than deserves all of the praise that it has received. 

Like its British counterpart, Ghosts focuses on a married couple. Samantha can actually see and hear the ghosts that inhabit the home they inherit. While Ghosts is very much a traditional sitcom, it has its fair share of love stories. One of the most touching and popular is the relationship that takes shape between Isaac (a Revolutionary War soldier) and a British soldier he actually killed in life. Even though much of the series is played for laughs, this particular paranormal romance has a lot of heart, and much of that can be ascribed to the performance from Brandon Scott Jones. 

For kids growing up in the 1990s, the Friday night programming block known as TGIF was an important part of the week, and one of the most popular shows was Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  Melissa Joan Hart plays the titular character, and, like many other supernatural teenagers, she has to find a balance between her powers and typical adolescent struggles. Sabrina has a long-running — but also sometimes inconsistent — relationship with Harvey Kinkle. While they have their fair share of troubles, they ultimately end up together at the very end of the series, a fitting end to their long-running supernatural romance.

The 1980s was certainly an interesting decade for TV, and Beauty and the Beast  was one of the more fascinating offerings. Starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman as a police detective and the strange creature who becomes her guardian, it features more than a bit of romance between the two leads. Hamilton and Perlman are evenly matched in their roles, and as a whole, the series adds an interesting and sophisticated gloss to the tried-and-true fairytale template. Though somewhat overshadowed by some of the more canonical series from the decade, it is ripe for a reappraisal and renewed attention from a new generation of viewers. 

Not every paranormal romance TV series could handle a bisexual main character, but Lost Girl more than manages to do so. Much of the show’s success can be ascribed to Anna Silk’s portrayal of the character Bo, a Succubus who learns of her true identity and proceeds to have a number of supernatural adventures and, of course, a number of romantic entanglements. Including sex as a key part of Bo’s powers allows the series to explore more complex and compelling thematic material than is sometimes the case with paranormal romances. 

When Once Upon a Time began, it was a fascinating little mystery series that happened to make liberal use of the established characters of the Disney canon. As it went on, however, it became something darker and more epic, particularly as it focused more and more on Emma Swan, the series’ formidable heroine. Of particular note for romance fans is her relationship with the rakish and devilishly handsome Captain Hook, who becomes her husband. Though some seasons lag a bit as the series tries to figure out just what story it wants to tell, it never loses its magical appeal. 

American Horror Story is one of Ryan Murphy’s most successful creations, managing to reinvent itself season after season. Though horror is obviously a throughline, several seasons have also focused greatly on romance, particularly the third season, Coven. As its title suggests, it focuses on several witches in New Orleans. This season has all of the campy and bloody aesthetics of the other seasons of the series dialed up to an almost extraordinary degree. This season features a bit more romance than is usual for the series, even though, this being Murphy and AHS, most of these end tragically.

The Good Place, like so many of the other series to have emerged from the imagination of Michael Schur, is the very definition of a feel-good show. It begins as a sort of quasi-farce about a group of people who come to think they have been mistakenly sent to the Good Place (a sort of heaven-like afterlife), only to realize they are in the Bad Place all along. During four seasons, the series was funny and philosophical, but it featured some surprisingly poignant romances. Main character Eleanor’s relationship with Chidi is particularly notable, thanks in part to the potent chemistry between Kristen Bell and William Jackson Harper. 

Superman is one of the most beloved superheroes, and he has been brought to life several times on the screen. For many millennials, Smallville  is one of the most popular. Like many other iterations of the Superman story, one of the major selling points of this show is the romance between Tom Welling’s Clark Kent and Kristin Kreuk’s Lana Lang, which begins as a slow burn and soon matures into something more. However, there’s also much tragedy intertwined with their love, which ultimately leads Lois to leave Clark behind so he can pursue his destiny as Superman. 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a bit of a game changer when it premiered in the late 1990s, and it features all of the hallmarks of creator Joss Whedon, with its snappy dialogue and expert plotting. The highlight of the series, of course, is Sarah Michelle Gellar as the title character. While many episodes focus on her efforts to destroy evils of various sorts, there’s also the romantic triangle that emerges between her, Angel, and Spike. What’s more, the series also made some great strides in representation of LGBTQ+ characters, and Willow has become something of a queer icon. 

A vampire and a witch might not seem like a good match, but they certainly strike sparks in A Discovery of Witches. This fun paranormal romance series is based on the novels by Deborah Harkness. Teresa Palmer and Matthew Goode are perfectly cast as Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont. While some series might rest content with just letting the romance do the bulk of the lifting, A Discovery of Witches engages with a number of weighty issues, including destiny and the price of power, and, what’s more, it manages to have all of the lavish production values one associates with a grand British period piece.

The werewolf remains one of the most popular figures in popular culture. In the mid-to-late 2010s, it experienced one of its moments of dominance thanks to the popularity of the Teen Wolf series. Though the series begins by focusing on Tyler Posey’s Scott McCall, who becomes a werewolf, it soon broadens and shows more of the supernatural world. Of course, given that this is a series set in a high school, it makes sense that romance would also occupy a significant amount of time, and it even goes so far as to include a number of LGBTQ+ storylines. 

The CW has long been the home of various supernatural romance series, one of the more notable of which is Beauty and the Beast. A loose remake of the 1980s series of the same name, it primarily focuses on a woman named Catherine Chandler and the strange relationship she develops with Vincent, a former soldier who develops strange powers due to a military medical experiment. While it might not get any points for true originality, it nevertheless hits all of the beats one would expect of a drama of this type, and Kristin Kreuk gives a remarkable performance as Cat Chandler.

Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling series about a World War II nurse who finds herself thrown back to 18th-century Scotland is the basis for the Starz series named after the first book in the saga. Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan are perfectly cast as Claire, the nurse, and Jamie Fraser, the Scotsman with whom she fell in love in the past. Though romance is obviously a key ingredient to the series’ ongoing success, it is also a remarkably thought-provoking show, particularly in the way it explores such weighty topics as human agency and the ability (or lack thereof) to change the course of history.

Charmed is one of those series that is very much of its moment, having aired on the WB throughout the late 1990s and into the mid-2000s. Much of the series focuses on the Halliwell sisters (and, later on, their half-sister) as they contend with their magical powers and regular lives. Of course, like every other WB show, romance is often the center of the story, particularly when the characters’ love lives conflict with their magical duties. While the romantic plots are obviously a key part of its appeal, the relationships between and among the sisters give the series its staying power. 

The Vampire Diaries is, like many of the other series on the CW, an expert blend of teen romance, the supernatural, and soap opera. At the center of the story is the love triangle that forms between human Elena and vampire brothers Stefan and Damon Salvatore. Like the Twilight series and other similar offerings, the series’ appeal lies in the electric chemistry between the leads and the various twists and turns that the plot takes over its several seasons, to say nothing of the werewolves and vampires and their conflicts. With a sprawling cast of characters and some top-notch writing — particularly in its later seasons — it deserves its reputation as one of the best series produced by the network. 

Even though The Originals is a spinoff of The Vampire Diaries, it does a very good job establishing its own identity. Focusing on the Mikaelson siblings and their various relationships and adventures. Like its parent series, it makes abundant use of its supernatural and soap opera trappings to draw the viewer into this strange world of vampires, werewolves, and their various alliances and politics. While much of the series’ focus is on political machinations of one sort or another, there are also more than a few romances, and these help to add a necessary spice element to the other aspects of the series. 

At the center of HBO’s True Blood  is Anna Paquin’s Sookie Stackhouse, a young woman who can read minds. In the first season, she begins a romance with Bill Compton, a vampire, and with each subsequent season, their love is tested in various ways. Sookie ends up pursuing romances with several other characters, including the brooding Eric Northman. Through it all, the bond between Sookie and Bill remains one of the show’s central anchors, even when some of its other storytelling choices leave a great deal to be desired.