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The Originals poster

Shows that feel likeThe Originals (2013–2018)

The Vampire Diaries spin-off that follows the Mikaelsons, a family of millennia-old, power-hungry vampires who want to reclaim the city they built, New Orleans, and dominate all those who have wronged them.

If you loved The Originals, the closest series we have are Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018), Penny Dreadful (2014) and The Strain (2014). All three share The Originals' cerebral and dreamlike feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Agatha All Along (2024).

12 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

If The Originals hit the spot, these will too

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina poster
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
2018–2020 · 2 seasons · Netflix
★ 7.4mystery · sci-fi & fantasy · dramaNetflix

Gothic witchcraft as a family business, with loyalty pulling both ways

The difference: Teen-facing camp and horror pastiche, lighter on dynastic bloodletting

Magic and mischief collide as half-human, half-witch Sabrina navigates between two worlds: mortal teen life and her family's legacy, the Church of Night.

Penny Dreadful poster
Penny Dreadful
2014–2016 · 3 seasons · Showtime
★ 8.2sci-fi & fantasy · drama · mysteryParamount+

Immortals with long memories and older grudges

The difference: Victorian gothic, beautiful and much bleaker

Some of literature's most terrifying characters, including Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, and iconic figures from the novel Dracula are lurking in the darkest corners of Victorian London. Penny Dreadful is a frightening psychological thriller that weaves together these classic horror origin stories into a new adult drama.

The Strain poster
The Strain
2014–2017 · 4 seasons · FX
★ 7.3sci-fi & fantasy · drama · mysteryHulu

Vampires as an ancient power moving on a city, ugly and territorial

The difference: Outbreak procedural horror, no family melodrama, no seductive villains

A high concept thriller that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Eph, his team, and an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, wage war for the fate of humanity itself.

True Blood poster
True Blood
2008–2014 · 7 seasons · HBO
★ 7.9sci-fi & fantasy · drama · mysteryMaxHulu

Vampires openly running a southern city's politics

The difference: Sexier and sillier, with real camp

Thanks to a Japanese scientist's invention of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed overnight from legendary monsters to fellow citizens. And while humans have been safely removed from the menu, many remain apprehensive about these creatures "coming out of the coffin." Religious leaders, government officials, and vampire fundamentalists around the world have chosen their sides. But in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, the jury is still out.

Legacies poster
Legacies
2018–2022 · 4 seasons · The CW
★ 7.2sci-fi & fantasy · dramaNetflix

The same family mythology, carried into the next generation

The difference: A school and monster-of-the-week, much lighter

In a place where young witches, vampires, and werewolves are nurtured to be their best selves in spite of their worst impulses, Klaus Mikaelson’s daughter, 17-year-old Hope Mikaelson, Alaric Saltzman’s twins, Lizzie and Josie Saltzman, among others, come of age into heroes and villains at The Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted.

Agatha All Along poster
Agatha All Along
2024 · 1 season · Disney+
★ 7.2sci-fi & fantasy · mysteryDisney+

The same two preoccupations: witch, and spin off

The difference: Trades the stillness of The Originals for an angle of its own

Agatha Harkness gathers a coven of witches and sets off down, down, down The Witches' Road.

The Order poster
The Order
2019–2020 · 2 seasons · Netflix
★ 6.7drama · mystery · sci-fi & fantasyNetflix

Secret orders, werewolf packs and magic used as a weapon in a turf war

The difference: Campus-scale and jokier across two short seasons, far less grandeur

Out to avenge his mother's death, a college student pledges a secret order and lands in a war between werewolves and practitioners of dark magic.

The OA poster
The OA
2016–2019 · 2 seasons · Netflix
★ 7.8sci-fi & fantasy · mystery · dramaNetflix

Impossible abilities and inherited destiny, played with total sincerity

The difference: Slow, hushed and strange, with no power struggles or bared teeth

Seven years after vanishing from her home, a young woman returns with mysterious new abilities and recruits five strangers for a secret mission.

Sleepy Hollow poster
Sleepy Hollow
2013–2017 · 4 seasons · FOX
★ 7.3drama · mystery · sci-fi & fantasyHulu

Old-world evil surfacing in an American town with a long cursed history

The difference: A buddy-cop monster hunt with jokes, less operatic, less bloodline drama

Ichabod Crane is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to unravel a mystery that dates all the way back to the founding fathers.

Fringe poster
Fringe
2008–2013 · 5 seasons · FOX
★ 8.4sci-fi & fantasy · drama · mysteryPrime VideoHulu

A damaged family at the centre of forces older and stranger than they are

The difference: Case-of-the-week science mysteries, cool and clinical, no gothic pull

FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham, brilliant but formerly institutionalized scientist Walter Bishop and his scheming, reluctant son Peter uncover a deadly mystery involving a series of unbelievable events and realize they may be a part of a larger, more disturbing pattern that blurs the line between science fiction and technology.

Preacher poster
Preacher
2016–2019 · 4 seasons · AMC
★ 7.9sci-fi & fantasy · mystery · dramaPrime Video

Supernatural power wielded by people with terrible family histories

The difference: Wilder and much funnier, and openly blasphemous

A preacher sets out on a mission to make the almighty himself confess his sin of abandoning the world. With his best friend Cassidy, an alcoholic Irish vampire, his love Tulip, a red blooded gun towing Texan, and the power of genesis, an unholy child born from an angel and a devil, Jesse gives up everything to set the world straight with its creator.

The Terror poster
The Terror
2018–2019 · 2 seasons · AMC
★ 7.8mystery · drama · sci-fi & fantasy

History and dread braided together, with something inhuman circling

The difference: Anthology built on real events, grim and restrained, no ongoing family

A chilling anthology series featuring stories of people in terrifying situations inspired by true historical events.

In the mood for more cerebral?

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The best-reviewed series that share The Originals’ defining feeling.