These magic TV shows have got us thinking we can personally conjure spells. And the great thing about magic is that there are so many unique directions it can take.
While many of these shows are centered around witches, there are also other forms of magic.
Magic TV Shows With Serious Hex Appeal
1. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Netflix (2018-2020)
This adaptation of Sabrina the Teenage Witch is a dark coming-of-age story that weaves in horror and the occult.
In the reimagined origin story, Sabrina Spellman wrestles to reconcile her dual nature — half-witch, half-mortal — while standing against the evil forces that threaten her, her family — including aunts Hilda and Zelda — and the daylight world humans inhabit.
2. The Witcher, Netflix (2019-present)
The witcher Geralt, a mutated monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world in which people often prove more wicked than beasts.
While Henry Cavill plays Geralt for the first three seasons, he is being replaced by Liam Hemsworth after leaving over creative differences. We don’t expect it to live long without Cavill but it’s still an exceptional show.
3. His Dark Materials, HBO Max (2019-present)
During her search for a kidnapped friend, a seemingly ordinary but brave young woman from another world uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children and a mysterious phenomenon called Dust.
4. Charmed, The CW (1998-2006)
A group of sisters discover they are witches. Banding together in their ancestral home in San Francisco, they work together to fight evil, with each having a specific special power.
Although outwardly they are average women, with jobs, relationships, and friends, they are also powerful witches, but when they work together, their powers are enhanced.
As The Charmed Ones, their destiny is to protect innocents from evil.
5. WandaVision, Disney+ (2021)
Living idealized suburban lives, Wanda (also known as The Scarlet Witch) and Vision begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.
6. Shadowhunters, Freeform (2016-2019)
On her birthday, Clary Fray discovers a surprise concerning her life. The teenager is not who she thinks she is — she comes from a long line of human-angel hybrids, called Shadowhunters, who hunt demons.
Clary relies on mysterious Jace and fellow hunters Isabelle and Alec to help her navigate the dark world. While living in this new world among creatures like vampires and werewolves.
The fantasy show is based on a series of young adult books by Cassandra Clare.
7. The Magicians, SyFy (2015-2020)
Quentin Coldwater, a grad student at Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, has been fascinated by the magical fantasy world since he was young.
But as he has gotten older, Quentin and his friends have discovered that the magical world they read about as children is not only real, but it poses dangers to humanity.
The fantasy series is based on a series of novels by Lev Grossman.
8. Locke & Key, Netflix (2020-present)
Following their father’s murder, three siblings move into a house filled with reality-bending keys; from the comics by Joe Hill (Stephen King‘s son) and Gabriel Rodriguez.
9. The Shannara Chronicles, MTV/Spike (2016-2017)
Based on the best-selling fantasy book series by Terry Brooks, The Shannara Chronicles follows heroes in the Four Lands as they embark on a quest to stop an evil Demon army from destroying the universe.
Thousands of years after the fall of humankind, the world’s fate rests on the shoulders of an unlikely trio: Elvin Princess Amberle, who dreams of a life outside of the palace walls; beautiful, wild, and wily Human Rover Eretria, and half-elf Wil, who knows nothing of the great destiny that runs through his veins.
This is one show that absolutely should have been renewed.
10. Once Upon A Time, ABC (2011-2018)
Once Upon a Time tells the story of a new world, one in which fairy-tale legends and modern life collide.
Emma Swan is comfortable in her life as a bail bonds collector when Henry — the child she gave up a decade earlier — suddenly shows up. He is convinced that she is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, who sent her away before the Evil Queen could cast a spell, freezing the fairytale world in time and bringing them to present-day Storybrooke, Maine.
After taking Henry home, Emma decides to stay in the town to keep an eye on him, and she discovers he may not be wrong after all.
11. The Order, Netflix (2019-2020)
When Belgrave University student Jack Morton joins a fabled secret society, the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose, he is thrust into a world of magic, monsters, and intrigue.
Out to avenge his mother’s death, he uncovers dark family secrets and lands in an underground battle being waged between werewolves and practitioners of dark magic.
Assisting Jack in the fight is Alyssa, a tour guide at Belgrave and a fellow member of the Order, which is led by Jack’s estranged father.
12. The Sandman, Netflix (2022-present)
When the Sandman, aka Dream, the cosmic being who controls all dreams, is captured and held prisoner for more than a century, he must journey across different worlds and timelines to fix the chaos his absence has caused.
13. Warrior Nun, Netflix (2020-present)
A young woman wakes up in a morgue with inexplicable powers and gets caught up in a battle between good and evil.
14. Fate: The Winx Saga, Netflix (2021-present)
Fairies attend a magical boarding school in the Otherworld, where they must learn to master their magical powers while navigating love, rivalries, and the monsters that threaten their very existence.
15. Shadow and Bone, Netflix (2021-2023)
Based on the book series by Leigh Bardugo, Shadow and Bone follows sinister forces that plot against a young soldier after she reveals a magical power.
16. Legacies, The CW (2018-2022)
The town of Mystic Falls has a new generation of protectors in this spin-off of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals.
The Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted is home to Klaus Mikaelson’s daughter Hope, Alaric Saltzman’s twins Lizzie and Josie, and other young adults who are coming of age as witches, vampires, and werewolves, nurtured to be their best selves and overcome their villainous impulses.
Together, they rely on ancient folklore and tales to learn how to battle their far-reaching enemies and attempt to keep balance in the world.
17. Lucifer, Netflix (2016-2021)
Based on characters created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg, this series follows Lucifer, the original fallen angel, who has become dissatisfied with his life in hell.
After abandoning his throne and retiring to Los Angeles, Lucifer indulges in his favorite things (women, wine, and music) — until a murder takes place outside of his upscale nightclub.
For the first time in billions of years, the murder awakens something unfamiliar in Lucifer’s soul that is eerily similar to compassion and sympathy. Lucifer is faced with another surprise when he meets an intriguing homicide detective named Chloe, who appears to possess an inherent goodness — unlike the worst of humanity, to which he is accustomed. Suddenly, Lucifer starts to wonder if there is hope for his soul.
18. Motherland: Fort Salem, Freeform (2020-2022)
Motherland: Fort Salem follows Raelle Collar, Abigail Bellweather, and Tally Craven, three witches who are conscripted into the U.S. Army.
They train in combat magic and use their vocal cords to enact “seeds” or “seed sounds,” layering vocal sounds to create powerful spells.
The series takes place in a women-dominated world in which the U.S. ended the persecution of witches 300 years ago during the Salem witch trials after an agreement known as the Salem Accord.
19. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The WB (1997-2003)
Sarah Michelle Gellar takes on the role of Buffy Summers in this TV version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Buffy is a Slayer, one in a long line of young women chosen for a specific mission: to seek out and destroy vampires, demons, and other forces of darkness.
Unlike her predecessors, Buffy establishes a group of supportive friends who aid her in her battles with evil, including Willow, Xander, and Cordelia. Her battles with evil are frequent, since Sunnydale, where Buffy and her friends live, sits atop a gateway to the realm of the demons.
20. The Wheel of Time, Amazon Prime (2021-present)
Moiraine, a member of a magical organization, takes five young people on a journey, believing that one of them might be the reincarnation of the Dragon, a powerful individual prophesied to save the world or destroy it.
21. A Discovery of Witches, Sky One (2018-2022)
A Discovery of Witches is a fantasy series based on the similarly-named novel of the All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness.
Diana Bishop is a historian who discovers a bewitched manuscript in the Bodleian Library. As she attempts to unravel the secrets this book holds about magical creatures, she is forced back into the world of magic, full of vampires, daemons, witches, and forbidden love.
Forming an unlikely alliance, geneticist and vampire Matthew Clairmont, helps Diana to attempt to protect the book and solve the riddles within, while at the same time dodging threats from the magical creature world.
22. Merlin, BBC One (2008-2012)
This action-packed fantasy-drama revisits the saga of King Arthur and his wizard, Merlin, by focusing on the two characters when they were ambitious young men struggling to understand their destinies.
In this telling, Prince Arthur is known to be the heir to the throne (no sword from the stone here). And he is acquainted with all those who will one day form the legend of Camelot, including Lancelot, Guinevere, and Morgana. Merlin is also forced to deal with King Uther’s Great Purge, which bans all use of magic.
23. Supernatural, The CW (2005-2020)
This haunting series follows the thrilling yet terrifying journeys of Sam and Dean Winchester, two brothers who face an increasingly sinister landscape as they hunt monsters.
After losing their mother to a supernatural force, the brothers were raised by their father as soldiers who track mysterious and demonic creatures. Violent memories and relationship-threatening secrets add burdens on Sam and Dean as they investigate all things that go bump in the night.
As old tricks and tools are rendered useless and friends betray them, the brothers must rely on each other as they encounter new enemies.
24. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Amazon Prime (2022-present)
This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and takes viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin and unlikely heroes were tested.
Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared reemergence of evil to Middle-earth.
25. The Vampire Diaries, The CW (2009-2017)
The Vampire Diaries is a supernatural teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith.
The series is set in the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, a town charged with supernatural history. It follows the life of Elena Gilbert, a teenage girl who has just lost both parents in a car accident, as she falls in love with a 162-year-old vampire named Stefan Salvatore.
26. Witches of East End, Lifetime (2013-2014)
The mysterious Beauchamp family lives in the secluded seaside town of East Haven. Free-spirited artist Joanna Beauchamp is the mother of wild-child bartender Freya and shy librarian Ingrid, who are both gifted – and cursed – with a magic birthright, of which they are unaware.
Freya notices bizarre occurrences in her life when she inexplicably finds herself drawn to the troubled brother of her wealthy fiance. But it isn’t until Joanna’s estranged sister appears with a warning that could change the family’s fate that the matriarch must reveal to her daughters that they are immortal witches with untapped powers, a revelation that turns their small-town life upside down.
27. American Horror Story: Coven, FX (2013-2014)
American Horror Story: Coven is the third season of the FX horror anthology television series American Horror Story.
The season takes place in 2013 in New Orleans and follows a coven of witches descended from Salem as they fight for survival.
28. Supernatural Academy, Peacock (2022-present)
Separated at birth and growing up in diametrically opposite environments, twin werewolves are reunited at the Supernatural Academy and learn that they are dragon-marked.
Cursed to serve the evil Dragon King, these adversarial sisters must learn to get over their differences and trust each other to save themselves and the world.
