15 Best TV Shows Like Supernatural

When we first met Sam and Dean Winchester (played by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, respectively) on “Supernatural,” they were just a pair of estranged brothers with a whole host of daddy issues attempting to track down their missing father (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). They — and we — never could have imagined the journey that the Winchesters would go on over the course of the show’s astonishing 15 seasons. From their humble origins as hunters to becoming pawns in a larger battle between God and the Devil, the best “Supernatural” episodes saw these two boys put through the gamut. 

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With such a long series run, “Supernatural” was able to embrace every facet of the genre, including goofier and increasingly meta storylines right around the show’s 10th season. “Supernatural” was beloved by its fans, as evinced by thousands of pages of fan fiction produced and the enthusiastic response to its stars’ appearances at conventions. If you’re still mourning its loss, here are some other similar shows that might fill the Winchester-shaped hole in your heart.

If you’ve never heard of “Dead Last,” you’re hardly alone there: It was cancelled after just a single season back in the early 2000s, and only six of its 12 filmed episodes actually made it to air. But similar to how the Winchester brothers, especially in the first few seasons of “Supernatural,” spent a lot of time trying to reduce the Midwest’s ghost population, “Dead Last” was all about three friends trying to help the dead resolve whatever unfinished business that was preventing them from moving on to the afterlife.

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Their story begins when the three bandmates stumble upon an amulet that gives them the ability to see ghosts. And once they see them, it’s kind of hard to unsee them. Or, for that matter, to ignore their pleas for help, even though the trio would really rather focus on the future of their band, The Problem. “Dead Last” had a lot of potential, but its initial series run was cut short in the aftermath of September 11th. (The fact that its third episode, “Death Is in the Air,” came out two weeks before 9/11 and involved our heroes on a plane that was about to crash, didn’t help.) Its fifth episode was preempted by coverage of the terrorist attacks, and from there, WB seemed to cut their losses — it only lasted one more episode.

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Physically, Edwin (George Rexstrew) and Charles (Jayden Revri) don’t have much in common with the Winchester brothers. After all, they’re — as the show’s name suggests — dead boys, while Sam and Dean are tall manly men whose voices suspiciously get deeper and deeper as the seasons go by. But at the same time, they serve a similar function as private investigators who specialize in the supernatural. Also, they’ve all died at least once, and some of them have spent a not insignificant period of time in Hell, through no fault of their own.

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Unlike many ghosts, these two are not trapped on Earth because of unfinished business — they’re actively trying to avoid the afterlife, instead focusing on sticking around as spectral detectives, solving supernatural crimes and helping other wayward souls. “Dead Boy Detectives” only lasted for one season, but even so, it made its mark on Netflix.

Sure, “The X-Files” is fairly light on the ground when it comes to ghosties and ghoulies. But within its formative monster-of-the-week template accompanied by a larger seasonal arc, what they lack in the supernatural they make up for in the extraterrestrial. This beloved sci-fi program featured Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully, the skeptic who always believes there’s a rational explanation for everything, and David Duchovny as Fox Mulder, a true believer who suspects little green men at the drop of the hat. Together, they investigate various mysterious goings-on for the government and, as they say, the truth is out there. 

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“The X-Files,” just like “Supernatural,” was surprisingly long running for a genre show, and during its heyday in the late ’90s, it was everywhere. It ran for nine seasons from 1993 to 2002, received two standalone feature films, and was given a revival series that ran from 2016 to 2018 and saw its stars — whose chemistry launched an epic will-they-won’t-they romantic campaign — famously reunited.

“Hex” feels a bit like the U.K.’s answer to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” although its intrepid teen heroine (Cassie, played by Christina Cole) is a witch rather than a vampire slayer. Cassie is a student at an English boarding school trying to fit in among her classmates when she begins having visions that, with the help of her friend Thelma (Jemima Rooper), open the door to her supernatural heritage. She’s the latest in a long line of witches, and has the burgeoning telekinetic powers to prove it. 

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But if that wasn’t enough to be dealing with, Cassie also begins seeing a strange man around campus — Azazeal, a fallen angel who has been in a multi-generational relationship with each of her family’s witches, and now professes to be in love with her. Azazeal was played by Michael Fassbender, and for most people, “Hex” is remembered today as offering up one of his earliest leading roles. Although we only get them in season 1 — the second season focused on a different leading duo — their unconventional chemistry goes a long way in making “Hex” an underrated treasure.

Just like Sam and Dean in “Supernatural,” Nick (David Giuntoli) in “Grimm” has a supernatural birthright: The ability to see all the various monsters and ghouls that populated “Grimm’s Fairy Tales,” and, for that matter, to maintain the fragile coexistence between them and ordinary humans. Luckily, he’s a cop, so in addition to his paranormal gifts, he also has considerable police resources at his disposal. 

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Each week, Nick does battle with the monsters that live in the gap between fairy tales and the real world. “Grimm” was one of those fantasy series that developed its mythology more thoughtfully over the seasons (an argument to be made against genre shows being cancelled early, before they’ve had a chance to come into their own), and by the time it ended after its sixth season, it could go toe to toe with some of the best fantasy shows of all time — including its much more beloved big brother, “Supernatural.”

When George (Ellen Muth) dies in the pilot episode of “Dead Like Me,” it’s really just the beginning of her story. After being crushed to death by a falling space station toilet (talk about embarrassing), she learns that she’s been selected to join the ranks of the grim reapers, who are tasked with removing the souls of people just before they die to ease their way into the afterlife. And although she’s initially frustrated by the direction her odd little life has gone in, together with her local team of reapers (including Mandy Patinkin as Rube, Jasmine Guy as Roxy, and Callum Blue as Mason), she eventually finds a place for herself that eluded her during her actual life on Earth. It’s a classic coming-of-age story — just one that takes place after its protagonist has, you know, already died.

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“Dead Like Me” ran for two seasons on Showtime, amassing a cult following before its (ironically) untimely death. Although efforts to renew the show for a third season ultimately failed, it did get a standalone film, “Dead Like Me: Life After Death.” Like many of Bryan Fuller’s productions, “Dead Like Me” shone with a quirky aesthetic and grimly humorous relationship with death.

Liv (Rose McIver), the star of “iZombie,” does not have what you might consider great luck. First, her promising career as a medical resident is interrupted when she is turned into a zombie, forcing her to shift gears professionally. She takes up a job as a medical examiner, which gives her fresh access to all the brains she could ever want (if she doesn’t get brains, she turns into one of those classic, glassy-eyed zombies). But these brains come with an unexpected side effect: Consuming them gives Liv access to the memories and even the personality of the deceased, offering her prime insight into how they died.

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“iZombie” was a fixture on The CW for five seasons, and although many have criticized its underwhelming finale, for the most part the series was met with praise. It offered a different take on the well-worn zombie genre, injecting it with fresh blood and a youthfulness that prevented its version from feeling stale. Here are some horror shows to binge if you loved “iZombie.”

No matter how thoroughly Joss Whedon has determined to tear down his own legacy, brick by brick, there’s no denying the fact that when it comes to genre television, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is a formative text. The teen drama (first airing on The WB, then its successor network The CW) stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, a typical high school girl in every way — except for the fact that she alone among her generation possesses the strength to battle all the forces of darkness that seem to pop up in the sleepy Southern Californian town of Sunnydale. 

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Over the course of the seven seasons the show was on the air, Buffy and her friends spent each week fighting — well, and occasionally dating — vampires, demons, and humanoid praying mantises, as well as averting the apocalypse every now and then. With a trademark sense of humor, beloved characters, plenty of heartbreaking moments, and a glib approach to the elements of horror that populated the show, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was unlike anything that had been on the air until then, and its influence on shows like “Supernatural” is palpable.

Although “Supernatural” started off focusing on your bog standard ghosts, demons, and gruesome bug infestations, over the course of the show it grew more epic in scope, dealing with archangels, God, and the Devil. “The Almighty Johnsons” centers on a different mythology, revolving around the Norse pantheon of gods, who over the centuries have emigrated to sunny New Zealand (who could blame them?) and their diminished forms live within human vessels. These chosen few have their god revealed to them on their 21st birthday, and are given the strengths (and weaknesses) of their deity. 

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Each brother in the Johnson family serves as a vessel for the gods — and when their youngest brother Axl (Emmett Skilton) comes of age, he shocks them all becoming the human incarnation of the most powerful of them all, Odin. Now, Odin, coming back is a big deal — as in, his presence offers the gods the chance to reclaim their full powers if Axl can track down the human incarnation of Odin’s wife, Frigga. And as if that wasn’t enough, each of the brothers is at the end of their rope coping with the burden of their powers. There are supernatural hijinks afoot, of course, but at the heart of “The Almighty Johnsons” is the often contentious but nonetheless powerful bond between the brothers — just like in “Supernatural.”

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“The Haunting of Hill House” is pretty much all about unresolved trauma, and the same can be said for “Supernatural,” whose heroes basically fight demons to avoid going to therapy. The Crane family is forever changed when they take up residence at Hill House, a foreboding manor whose sinister energy impacts each member of the family differently. Now adults, they’re each grappling with the lingering effects of their experience in the house, when youngest sister Nell (Victoria Pedretti) returns to Hill House, only to die there. 

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As they reunite for her funeral, old wounds resurface, and they’re forced to confront the dark legacy of Hill House. Based on the popular novel by Shirley Jackson, “The Haunting of Hill House” is a masterclass in atmosphere — a slow sense of dread develops over the course of the entire series, punctuated by a few moments of genuine terror, including the horrifying jump scare of the Bent-Neck Lady.

The writers of “Supernatural” made up plenty of spooky storylines over the show’s 15 seasons, but they also often found inspiration in real-life ghost stories and urban legends. These stories are at the heart of “Lore,” which was based on a supernatural podcast exploring the origins of many of our most enduring horror myths. With each episode focusing on a different classic horror origin story, blending a documentary-style approach with vivid reenactments.

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“Lore” ran for two seasons on Prime Video, giving fans of the genre a new take on the stories they knew and loved, before being cancelled by the streamer. Although there are only 12 episodes of the series available to watch, audiences can take solace in the fact that the award-winning podcast from Aaron Mahnke has an impressive 250 episodes for fans to sink their teeth into, making it a veritable vault of knowledge on all things dark and spooky.

For years, fans of the collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman hoped for an on-screen adaptation of “Good Omens.” Finally, they got what they asked for when Prime Video launched a series based on the novel which would see an angel (Michael Sheen) and a demon (David Tennant) team up to avert the coming apocalypse. Having lived among the humans for millennia, the two had gotten comfortable functioning as earthly representations of good and evil, halfheartedly sticking to the company line. But when the Antichrist is born, their chill Earthly existence is threatened, and neither particularly relishes the thought of returning to heaven or hell full-time. And thus, an alliance is formed.

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“Good Omens” keeps much of the quirky sense of humor of the book intact, relishing the eccentricities of the angel and demon and their undeniable chemistry with one another. Although the first season wrapped up the story of the book, the showrunners were able to successfully expand upon it, creating a second season that did justice to all the characters audiences fell in love with.

When you’ve got a show as universally beloved as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the only reasonable thing to do is create a spinoff with one of its most popular characters. In “Angel,” the reformed vampire Angel (David Boreanaz) recovers from his recent breakup with Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) by moving to Los Angeles (it’s the city of angels — get it?) and starting up a supernatural detective agency. Just another example of powerful geriatrics who refuse to retire.

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He initially teams up with part-demon Doyle (Glenn Quinn) and Sunnydale alum Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), although the disgraced ex-Watcher Wesley Wyndham-Pryce (Alexis Denisof) replaces Doyle in the second season. Together, they take on the sporadic case, and deal with the supernaturally-tinged drama within their own lives — like Angel’s son, who is born to his ex-flame Darla (Julie Benz), kidnapped as an infant, and then unceremoniously returns as an angsty demon-hunting teen (Vincent Kartheiser). “Angel” ran for five seasons, and although it rarely reached the heights of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” it grew into a worthy genre series in its own right.

You know how Sam and Dean work together for the good of all humanity, but still spend a lot of every episode of “Supernatural” sniping at one another, a lifetime of sibling grievances pouring out on-screen? “Charmed” has a very similar vibe, only it revolves around three sisters who are also witches. Piper (Holly Lauren Combs), Prue (Shannen Doherty), and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) — and later Paige (Rose McGowan), their youngest half-sister who joined the show after Doherty left — are the most recent generation of the powerful Halliwell family, which has produced witches for ages. And together, they are thrust into plenty of magical mischief.

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“Charmed” was a supernatural hit, running for eight seasons on The WB. It was rebooted in 2018 with a new trio of witches — the second “Charmed” was a modest success, airing on The CW for four seasons before being cancelled. Ultimately, it was a victim of the network’s restructuring and intentional step away from the genre programming that had initially made it competitive.

Although “Supernatural” began with two brothers who, as hunters, were adjacent to the paranormal community, over the course of the show, angels, demons, and other non-human entities emerged as an essential part of its supporting cast. By contrast, “Being Human” is largely uninterested in depicting the human perspective at all. It features a vampire (Aidan Turner), a werewolf (Russell Tovey), and a ghost (Lenora Crichlow) who all live (well, in a manner of speaking) in the same flat. 

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But they don’t exactly have your typical roommate issues — their trials and tribulations take on an appropriately paranormal leaning, as some of them (and we’re not naming any names) can’t seem to stop inadvertently killing people. The show ran for five seasons, although the main cast was entirely replaced over the years to make room for a new trio of supernatural beings. It was resurrected, for lack of a better word, on American television, where the new version stayed on the air for an additional three years.