So much has changed since we first ranked all the Sci-Fi and Fantasy TV shows with lesbian/bisexual/queer and/or trans women and non-binary characters in them. The first time we ranked them, it was January 2020, back when “pandemic” was a word I only associated with these types of shows, back before the newest waves of TV cancellations… but it was also before Batwoman nearly tripled its queer characters, before shows like Haunting of Bly Manor and Willow were out yet, and before Riverdale entirely switched genres on us, thus qualifying it for consideration on this list. Almost 50 new shows qualified for the list, which means we had to make actual cuts! So, please know that this is not even close to a list of ALL sci-fi/fantasy shows, just our Top 100!
This new list had some unsurprising boots, like The Exorcist staying at the bottom of voting — like, fully 150 out of 150. Some that I was surprised didn’t make the cut (I personally would have put Jupiter’s Legacy in the top 100, but it ended up not making the list at all.) Even the Top 5 look different, because we have new contenders, as well as new members of the TV Team that switched up the order of things!
I left my original description below, because I over-explain my over-complicated point system, but I did want to reiterate two things:
+ Since this list is very unique to this website page, the TV Team’s vote heavily influenced the inclusions and rankings. So maybe there’s a gem that belongs on this list that just didn’t make the cut because no one on the TV Team has seen it yet. I encourage you to advocate for your faves (politely) in the comments!
+ This is just for fun, to celebrate our favorite queer shows, and have a list we can all use as a “To Watch” list when we’re out of queer sci-fi to watch. Please don’t fight with each other in the comments.
Also just an extra shout-out to Autostraddle TV Team members Nic, Natalie, and Shelli for helping me out with some of these blurbs this year!
Enjoy!
This post was originally written in 2020 and updated/republished in 2023
From Doctor Who and Star Trek to Buffy and Wynonna Earp, sci-fi has been one of the more consistent places we, as queer people, have been able to find ourselves on TV over the past few decades. I think the reason is a combination of people who write sci-fi and fantasy already connecting with the “outsider” themes and therefore inherently include more minority groups, we Autostraddle outsiders sometimes being the ones writing said stories, and because it’s likely a little easier to pitch “also there are lesbians” when you’ve already been approved for “a woman sees herself jump in front of a train and then realizes she’s a human clone.”
Sci-fi and fantasy have always been my favorite genres, ever since I was a wee child watching Ghostwriter or Power Rangers. I liked the escape and the magic and the limitless possibilities, and I still do. So honestly even though I think this took longer than writing my final paper for grad school, I had a lot of fun doing this research and seeing how far we’ve come (and how far we’ve yet to go) when it comes to representation.
I had an overly complicated ranking system, and a very intense, annotated spreadsheet that was maybe entirely unnecessary, but helped me be sure I was putting as many FACTS into this list as I was heart. So while I used my own judgment for tiebreakers, to get a general idea of order, I awarded points as follows:
Every show got 0-3 points based on the quantity of queer women characters. (0 = throwaway lines/my dad wouldn’t have registered it as queer, 3 = more than one main character or 3+ queer characters over the course of the series.)
Then they got judged on quality, also on a 0-3 scale. (0 = a nameless witness mentions her wife while giving her account to the police and is never seen again, 3 = high-quality storyline, rich character development, no buried gays.)
I awarded one point for each of the following achievements: the show had a character on Carmen and Natalie’s Top 100 Queer and Trans Women of Color Television Characters in TV History (an update this year is coming for that list, too)! I could find an out queer and/or trans actor or writer with a reasonable amount of research, the show being critically acclaimed by mainstream critics, and the show being critically acclaimed by queerstream critics.
And maybe this will be controversial, but despite the fact that sci-fi is the first type of show to claim “everyone dies” in equal amounts, I still removed one whole point for every single dead queer female or non-binary character. Because we’re not at a point yet where it doesn’t count. The only time a dead queer woman did not count against a show is if their death didn’t mean they were no longer on the show. Since it’s sci-fi/fantasy we’re talking about here, often a person would die but their ghost would hang around, or they’d die but be resurrected; that’s fine. As long as the character is still on the show, I didn’t take away a point.
And finally, I had our TV Team here at Autostraddle give their faves a rating of 1-5, with the ability to give out twelve 10s. Because it doesn’t matter how perfect a story is on paper if actual queer people didn’t like or connect to it.
And before you Ctrl + F for She-Ra or Carmilla: I didn’t include cartoons because I think they belong in their own special category, and I only included original series produced by streaming services (aka Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, DCU, YouTube Premium originals) but not webseries, because those also would need a list of their own. Also this isn’t an exhaustive list of all the sci-fi/fantasy shows of all time that have ever had so much as a queer character, it’s just the top 100.
I would like to thank Riese’s exhaustive TV database for giving me a foundation to start on, Carmen and Natalie for giving me an idea for point structure, and sites like LezWatchTV, LGBT Fans Deserve Better, and Wikipedia for being invaluable sources of information, plus any help/input from friends (and my dad) I got along the way. Also shout out to the folks who keep fan wikis up to date, you’re the real MVPs.
I think those are all the caveats.
Oh wait, one more thing: This is for fun! While based on a fuckton of reading and watching and learning, and a lifetime of experience consuming sci-fi, this is a rating system I made up! While I feel like my hours of research and toiling makes for a fairly accurate list of 100, when it comes down to it, the difference between the #15 show and the #10 show could have just been how many people on the TV Team saw it. This is mostly a space to discuss all 100 of these times we’ve been represented in the genre. I do HIGHLY encourage you to make your case for why your favorite show should be higher on the list in the comments; just remember that this doesn’t actually have any bearing on anything besides our hearts, so please be kind to each other about it, okay? Sara Lance doesn’t keep coming back to life just so you can set each other on fire.
Okay, without further ado… the top 100 Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Shows featuring lesbian, bisexual, queer and/or trans characters OF ALL TIME!
100. Shadow and Bone (2021 to Present)
The cold shoulder look is so fetch.
Based on Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy and Six of Crows duology, Shadow and Bone tells the story of Alina Starkhov, a cartographer in a war-torn world who discovers she has powers that have the potential to set her homeland free from darkness known as the fold. The show has been both praised and criticized for its diversity (yay!! BIPOC characters! Less yay…ignoring the book’s description of Jesper’s dark skin tone and Nina’s fatness in their casting choices), but there’s an implied and casual queerness to multiple characters that feels refreshing. Nina (a Squaller) mentions her attraction to Zoya in passing, Jesper’s sexual fluidity is merely a thing that exists, and while Alina’s season 1 love interest is a cis man, Jessie Mei Li (the out queer actress who plays her) doesn’t see why Alina wouldn’t be bisexual; and in fact, is with me in wanting Alina to explore her relationship with Genya! — Nic
99. Fantasy Island (2021 to Present)
This is a literal fantasy of mine, to be honest.
As a reboot/sequel to a show my parents loved in the 70s and 80s, my expectations for this show were pretty low. But it blew them all out of the water. Not only does it have a Very Special Queer Episode that is better than most lesbian romance movies I’ve ever seen, one of the main characters is a woman who was married to a man who was her best friend but now that she got her fantasy of starting life over as a young woman, she is realizing she was hiding the truest part of herself; the part that loves women. So we get to see Rose explore this side of herself for the first time, and it truly is a magical thing to witness.
98. Archive 81 (2022)
The queer content in this show was about as clear-cut as the camcorder video quality.
While significantly less queer than the source material, Archive 81 is a haunting story of a man named Dan who uncovers a mystery while restoring damaged videotapes. Time seems to fold in on itself as new videos and clues are unearthed, and along the way we meet Melody, her queer ex-roommate Anabelle, and an elegant woman, Cassandra, hiding an illicit affair with the woman she pretended was her sister so they could live together, unbothered.
97. Warrior Nun (2020-2022)
Based on a graphic novel, this action-packed adventure about a secret faction of ass-kicking nuns, and the woman who finds herself their reluctant hero has a very passionate fanbase. Lesbian nun Beatrice falls in love with aforementioned hero, the bisexual Ava, and they embark on the slowest of slow burns while trying to save the world from an ancient evil. If you like angst and longing, this is the show for you.
96. Under the Dome (2013 – 2015)
Carolyn Hill and Alice Calvert. “Under the Dome? Is that the sequel to Below Her Mouth?”
Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, this show explores the lives of people in a small town who find themselves trapped under a mysterious, invisible, inescapable dome. Amongst these people are wives Carolyn and Alice. Unfortunately neither of them make it out from under the dome alive, leaving their teen daughter Norrie a likely-very-traumatized orphan.
95. Limetown (2019 – Present)
Lia Haddock and Ashley. Know what else could make a whole town disappear? Not vaccinating your children.
Based on the spooky narrative podcast of the same name, Limetown follows lesbian journalist Lia Haddock as she tries to solve the mystery of an entire town that disappeared, in one of those every-answer-begs-more-questions type of situation. Lia has a girlfriend, and she may or may not have slept with her boss, Gina, played by Sherri Saum. It’s a creepy, disturbing tale (and Jessica Biel is a bit creepy and disturbing herself) so it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is undeniably gay gay gay.
94. Light as a Feather (2018 – 2019)
Perry and Alex. Fort-building is the only safe sleepover game.
A cheesy horror series — think “I Know What You Did Last Summer” meets “Final Destination” but with a PLL-esque cast — Light as a Feather focuses on a girl who lost her twin sister, a mysterious stranger, and a deadly sleepover game. One of the main girl’s best friends is a lesbian named Alex (of course), who may or may not have harbored feelings for the dead twin, but definitely got a girlfriend named Penny in Season 2. Unfortunately, the girlfriend ended up being evil and psychotic and crushed possibly to death (but possibly not??) but you can’t win ’em all.
93. Legion (2017 – 2019)
Lenny Busker. Would I watch a series of Lenny Lennying around? Yes. Would I watch Day in the Life of a Puddle if it had Aubrey Plaza? Also yes.
Legion took a character written for a man and cast Aubrey Plaza in it without changing a single thing, which gifted us with the magical chaos that is Lenny. Technically Lenny died a bunch of times but always came back in one way or another (not as a ghost though…this show is real weird, y’all) so who knows if she would have returned if the show continued on. She also had a relationship with a woman called Salmon, because, as I may have mentioned, this show is real weird. But Aubrey Plaza is truly a sight to behold and takes the weird to a whole new level in the most delicious ways.
92. Timeless (2016 – 2018)
Michelle and Denise Christopher. “You’ll always be du jour, mon amour, you’re timeless to me.”
Remember how Wishbone tried to teach you facts about history but also there was an ADORABLE DOG so you were actually paying attention? That’s sort of how I feel about Timeless. I learned so much (Hedy Lamarr was a legend, Google it) because instead of boring lectures, Abigail Spencer was dressing in period garb and teaching me through ACTION. The boss of this time travel operation was Agent Denise Christopher, who casually revealed at one point she had a wife and kids, and then sometimes those wife and kids would be on screen, and there was never a to-do about it. Except that one time Lucy and Jiya pretended to be lesbians named Cagney and Lacey to try to encourage young Christopher to come out to her mom and not go through with her arranged marriage. That was a to-do and a delight.
91. Y: The Last Man (2021)
“Weird how this world is mostly women and trans men now but somehow it’s still about the one cis man.”
While wading into transphobic territory on source material alone, Y: The Last Man does manage to have a few LGBTQ+ wins along the way. Included amongst its cast are lesbian and queer women like Allison Mann (Diana Bang), Beth DeVille (Juliana Canfield) and bi actor Olivia Thirlby as Hero Brown. Plus! The cast includes a few trans characters and actors, including but not limited to the wonderful Elliot Fletcher.
90. The Walking Dead (2010 – 2022)
Alisha and Tara. Pro tip: Don’t name your queer characters Tara. It doesn’t end well for any of them.
This zombie apocalypse drama is a critical darling that is lower on our list than it would be a mainstream site’s because they have killed three of its five lesbians, including one named Tara, which frankly is just rude. Alisha and Denise also went the way of the Tara, and in the ninth season, the gang met up with girlfriends Magna and Yumiko, a leader and an archer respectively, who somehow managed to survive until the show’s eventual end.
89. The Boys (2019 – Present)
Queen Maeve (and Elena’s reflection.) She’s a real Diana Prince on the streets, Wonder Woman in the sheets kind of gal.
I like to describe this show as “what if superheroes were assholes.” It’s kind of The Magicians of the superhero world in that way; take a typically joyful and empowering genre and make it dark and twisty. The Boys imagines a world where the capitalism of Marvel Studios also involves the superpowered people themselves, and being a hero is a high-profile job, not an honor-bound duty. Queen Maeve is this show’s answer to Wonder Woman, casually stronger than all the boys but getting less respect. She’s jaded and broody and grumpy, and, much to my delight, gay. She has some issues with her on-again, off-again girlfriend though, and maybe a few more things to work out, but can she save her relationship and the world at the same time? :cue dramatic music:
88. Dracula (2013 – 2014)
Lucy Westenra and Lady Jayne. Someone better FIX THIS and cast Katie McGrath as a lesbian vampire for me someday.
This is another way you know I am not just arbitrarily making this order up because Dracula would be MUCH higher if I were. Katie McGrath was the picture of perfection as Lucy Westenra, harboring a soul-crushing love for her best friend Mina, knowing her feelings would probably never be returned. She learned to identify these feelings by way of Lady Jayne, who showed her what kissing girls is like, Cruel-Intentions-style. Lady Jayne was mercy-killed at the end of the WAY-TOO-SHORT run, because she’d rather be dust than a vampire, and technically Dracula killed Lucy, but SHE was totally down to be a vampire, and I will never, ever, ever forgive the TV gods for denying me at least one season of Vengeful Lesbian Vampire K’tay McGrawww Lucy Westenra for as long as I live.
87. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022 – Present)
Gays! In! Space!
It looks like I might have to start lumping all the Star Treks together into one category like I had to do the American Horror Story franchise because though this is the first Star Trek installment on this list, it’s far from the last! Strange New Worlds is the newest addition to the long legacy of space adventures, though set in a time before some of the most famous adventures even began. The show features bisexual Nurse Chapel, non-binary Doctor Aspen, and also features IRL queer Broadway superstar Celia Rose Gooding, who uses they/she pronouns.
86. Manifest (2018 – Present)
Bethany. “I don’t want to say this is Prince Charming’s FAULT, but all my flights went smoothly until he got on one.”
Imagine if, on Lost, instead of landing on a mysterious island with smoke monsters in polar bears, the people on the plane landed back in their real life, but five and half years after their plane took off, despite it feeling like one (1) plane ride. That’s Manifest. There are visions and mysteries and someone killing the passengers off and it’s all rather exciting. One of the flight attendants, Bethany, was illegally transporting her (male)cousin’s boyfriend from Jamaica, where it is illegal to be gay, and also just trying to get home to her wife. In Season 2, we learn that Saanvi is queer and dating a woman. A married woman, but frankly that’s the least of her problems.
85. Now Apocalypse (2019)
Severine Bordeaux and an unnamed lover. I’m not 100% sure this show wasn’t just a nightmare I had, tbh.
Not unlike Legion in its what-the-fuckery, Now Apocalypse is confusing, interesting, and sometimes upsetting. This is also another show that has an everyone-is-queer vibe, with one of the main girls, Carly, saying that their generation has a much less binary view on sexuality and assumes everyone’s at least a little bit gay. There is a somewhat eye-rolly lesbian teacher/predator situation, but also an interesting exploration into an attempt at polyamory. Overall this weird trip has a very can’t-look-away vibe to it that is hard to peg as good or bad. (Which just goes to show how far having main/many queer characters and not killing any of them will get you on a list like this.)
84. American Horror Stories (2021 – Present)
I’ve never seen anything so romantic and disgusting all wrapped up into one episode.
Despite my best attempts to keep Ryan Murphy’s influence on this list down to one (1) entry, cutting off its head just caused a second one to grow. American Horror Stories, the AHS-themed anthology series, is hit or miss episode to episode, starting off with a bang in the form of a lesbian murderess and her ghost girlfriend. The second season features queer milkmaids in what stands out as one of the better episodes of the series.
83. Torchwood (2006 – 2011)
Mary and Toshiko. When you’re on a date and they say they’ve never seen Buffy.
Torchwood, a Doctor Who spinoff about Captain Jack Harkness, takes the “everyone is queer” vibe and put it in ink — creators of the show have confirmed that everyone of any gender on Team Torchwood is queer, and we see at least five women bring that to life on screen. And I know 2008-2011 doesn’t sound like that long ago, but in Queer TV years, it’s practically a lifetime, so this was truly a unique situation. Not all of the queer women survive, but whew did we enjoy the timey wimey, wibbly wobbly ride.
82. Witches of East End (2013 – 2014)
Joanna Beauchamp and Alex. At this point it almost feels redundant to point out when witches are queer but it’s still fun to talk about anyway.
A tale about a family of witches cursed to live and die a thousand lives without remembering the last, this show starred Jenna Dewan and Riverdale’s Mädchen Amick and I’m afraid part of the reason it went highly under appreciated was that it was on Lifetime. The matriarch of this magical family, Joanna Beauchamp, is revealed to have been in a relationship with (yet another) Alex, played by the illustrious Michelle Hurd. We get a glimpse into the domesticated life in the past and one post-baddie goodbye kiss and it sure is magical. (Side note: Bianca Lawson is also on this show. I believe her character drew from Bianca’s real life when she revealed how she stays eternally young.)
81. Firefly (2002 – 2003)
Inara. It’s interesting to me that they’ve rebooted everything under the gorram stars but never gave this a go.
A cult classic, this one-season Joss Whedon space cowboy show made waves long after it was over, leaving us to wonder if Inara, the spaceship’s resident sex worker and confidante, could have explored relationships with women further if the show had continued on. As it stands, she takes on female clients occasionally, seemingly by choice and not out of necessity. She also seems to have a bit of a history with Julie Cooper Nichol, but that might be me projecting.
80. Star Trek: Picard (2020 – Present)
Space mommis!
Oh hey look, another Star Trek! This entry into the franchise follows iconic character Jean-Luc Picard into retirement…and back out again. Picard has Jeri Ryan reprising her Voyager role, Seven of Nine, and introduces Raffi Musiker, played by Michelle Ryan. And in Season 2, the duo is a couple, albeit a bit of a rocky relationship sometimes, but complex and thoughtful overall. Gays in space, you love to see it.
79. Counterpart (2017 – 2019)
Baldwin and Clare. I wonder if my timeline counterpart is having better luck with dating than I am.
This timeline-hopping thriller follows Baldwin, a soft butch assassin, who is having a time of it; she feels her life is not her own, she watches her alternative timeline self die, she struggles to connect to the women she encounters, which makes sense because the risk of betrayal is always just around the corner in a world like hers. This show blurs the line of the Bury Your Gays trope, by killing of a queer character in one dimension but not the other, but overall it is unique representation that should not go uncelebrated.
78. The Librarians (2014 – 2018)
Cassandra and Estrella. “Yes, it is hard to be queer and work with someone who looks like Rebecca Romijn every day, thanks for asking.”
This campy, ridiculous show is like the bookish cousin of Warehouse 13 and Legends of Tomorrow. A spinoff of the movies starring Noah Wiley, the show follows a bunch of “chosen” nerds with special skills who have to save and protect magical objects. One of said nerds is Cassandra, a sweet, bubbly woman with an amazing brain, who once had a fairytale prince spell put on her, and another time had a tempting encounter with a vampire. It’s cheesy and magical fun all around.
77. Roswell, New Mexico (2019 – 2022)
I mean probably all aliens are queer right?
There was a long time where I couldn’t figure out what the heck was going on re: the queerness of this aliens-among-us reboot of the 90s show, but eventually they made it crystal clear that alien hottie Isobel is bisexual as heck, and the show proves that we don’t have to give some shows to the boys and some to the girls, but you can in fact have multiple main queer couples at the same time.
76. Defiance (2012 – 2015)
Kenya Rosewater and Stahma Tarr. Do you think Jaime Murray and Lucy Lawless are in a competition to see who can play queer the most?
Jaime Murray is another actress who shows up in multiple shows on this list, but this is only one of two where she plays canon queer. (Though let’s be honest, Jaime Murray has chemistry with practically everyone like some kind of Katie McGrath.) In Defiance, she plays a quiet, obedient alien wife who has her eyes opened up to the world beyond her husband and starts to rebel in her own ways. One of which is by sleeping with Jenny Schecter the madame at the local brothel, Kenya Rosewater. This show also boasts queer alien Doc Yewll, and while Kenya goes the way of Jenny in this show, overall it’s still a fun supernatural romp.
75. The Sandman (2022 – Present)
Sorry, Beeboverse, this is the only Constantine that matters.
The Sandman lives up to its name, having a dream-like and nightmarish quality depending on the episode. With a combination of throughlines and vignettes, it follows the story of Morpheus, one of seven entities called the Endless. The Endless all seem to live outside humans’ limited concept of gender and sexuality, plus there is a healthy sprinkling of queer human characters throughout. Not all of them survive, but they’re all incredibly interesting, in my humble opinion.
74. Vagrant Queen (2020)
This further proves my “all aliens are queer” theories.
This SYFY space adventure was short-lived but not lacking in queer content. The sweet and bubbly pansexual alien Amae was a foil for grumpy and serious bisexual Elida as they made their way through space with their unlikely group of friends, and luckily the slow burn paid off before the show got sucked into the black hole of cancellations.
73. The Imperfects (2022)
An asexual with supernatural pheromones was such an interesting concept and I’m sad we won’t get to explore it further.
Speaking of the black hole of cancellations, I’ll be forever salty this show only got one season. It has everything I love in a sci-fi romp: people discovering their powers and testing their limits, found family feels, a reluctant adultier adult who pretends to be annoyed by the youths but ends up feeling connected to them anyway. Plus, it gave us two queer characters of color: Abbi, who is asexual, and Hannah, who is cool with it. It would have been cool to get an entire season with those two as a couple, but what we do get is delightful and feels fresh and new. The cast also included non-binary Australian Rhys Nicholson, and Rekha Sharma who I don’t think is gay herself but she has played gay before, as recently as Roswell, New Mexico.
72. Caprica (2009 – 2011)
Clarice Willow. That feeling when you have so many wives that introducing them sounds like you’re taking roll call.
This Battlestar Galactica prequel did not last very long, despite having Buffy alum Jane Espenson at the helm for the first few episodes. And yet, in its one short season, it tackles topics like technology, religion, loss, and more. Clarice Willow — who Heather Hogan once described as “a psychotic bisexual Mommi” — has many husbands and wives, but despite living in a polytheistic community, is secretly a monotheistic terrorist. She even murders one of her own wives on suspicions that proved unfounded. It’s…a lot. But! Those who loved the show LOVED it, and those who love the Battlestar Galactica franchise but didn’t love it still accept it as the weird cousin they don’t really talk about at Thanksgiving.
71. The Shannara Chronicles (2015 – 2017)
Lyria and Eretria. What universe do you think is weirder, a post-apocalyptic land with magic trees and elves, or Riverdale?
Shannara is a rare mix of post-apocalyptic and high fantasy, not too dissimilar from Into the Badlands in that regard, but with more elves and magic. The opening scene in this show features an elven girl named Amberle running a blindfolded race intended only for men and winning it, so I was in from the start. Then they added bisexual rover Eretria, and though they killed her ex-girlfriend, she ended the series with a literal princess (played by Toni Topaz herself, Vanessa Morgan) by her side.
70. The Midnight Club (2022)
Mike Flanagan loves us, this I know, for his TV tells me so.
The Midnight Club is the first Mike Flanagan joint we’ll see on this list, but it sure won’t be the last. Maybe it’s because his wife is bisexual icon Kate Siegel and he just carries that bi wife energy into everything he makes, maybe he’s just a stand-up guy, but so far we have yet to go unrepresented in a show he’s produced with Netflix. The Midnight Club is an amalgamation and reimagination of some classic Christopher Pike tales, centering around a group of teenagers in a facility for end-of-life care, as they all have terminal illnesses. To entertain themselves, they have a club not unlike Are You Afraid of the Dark’s Midnight Society, where they take turns telling each other stories. Some of these stories have queer vibes, and one of the patients is the resident rich kid with a good heart that everyone suspects might be a pathological liar, Cheri, confides to the other gay resident, Spencer, that she’s gay, too, in a rare, earnest moment.
69. For All Mankind (2019 – Present)
Ellen Waverly and Pam Horton. Oh, Princess! If Betty McRae could see you now!
This what-if imagining of a future where the space race was more diverse and neverending, this addition to the queer canon is one of the newest shows on the list. Set in the late 60s/early 70s, Ellen the astronaut (played by Jodi Balfour from Bomb Girls) can’t exactly reveal to NASA that she is a lesbian who used to date Pam the bartender. Instead she finds herself a beard (a gay man himself, because the best beards are mutual beards) and shoots for the stars.
68. American Horror Story (2011 – Present)
Watch on Netflix // Watch on Hulu
Winter Anderson. Ally and Ivy Mayfair Richards. “Help we signed our souls away in a contract with Ryan Murphy and we can’t get out!”
I know that technically each season of American Horror Story is kind of like its own show, but they’re always at least a little bit queer, and I didn’t want 1/10 of this entire list to be filled up by Ryan Murphy, so I smooshed them together. The shows range in quality, both on a large scale and on a queer scale, but every time Lana Winters survives another decade of chaos, a lesbian reporter angel gets her wings. Because despite having upwards of 25 LGBTQ+ characters to date, they also come in at the highest kill rate with a whopping 15 dead queers. And honestly I could have missed some, I just grew weary from counting. Everyone has their favorite season of AHS, but as far as queer people go, Murder House (a classic fave, the first), Hotel (hello, Gaga), and Coven (a Stevie Nicks music video, a lesbian witch’s fever dream, and a haunted walking tour had an orgy in New Orleans, what’s not to love?) tend to trend as favorites. Also a shout-out to Asylum, because even though it was far from kind to our gal Lana, she was the Final Girl in the end.
67. Heroes (2006 – 2010)
Claire and Gretchen. I mean who WASN’T in love with their indestructible cheerleader roommate, amiright?
Save the cheerleader. Save the world. Even if you never watched Heroes, you’ve probably heard this phrase, because this ominous tagline was so pervasive while this show about ordinary people with extraordinary abilities became popular. We find out in later seasons that the cheerleader in question, Claire, is bisexual, which we learn via a kiss from her roommate (during sweeps week, of course) and a hand-holding that implied things could have gone places if the show hadn’t ended.
66. Naomi (2022)
Who amongst us hasn’t danced with our unrequited crush.
Everything’s seemingly idyllic for Naomi McDuffie in Port Oswego until it isn’t. She’s got two loving and supportive, adoptive parents, a true “ride or die” best friend, and friends that are down for whatever. But then Superman appears and does battle with an enemy above the town square and it’s clear: everything Naomi thought she knew was in doubt. Naomi discovers that superheroes and aliens exist, beyond the pages of the comic books she covets, and — to her great dismay — she could be one of them.
An adaptation of the comic book series of the same name, Naomi is brought to the small screen by Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship. The adaptation expands Naomi’s world to include Lourdes, the queer owner of the local comic book shop, who wants to be more than just friends with Naomi. But even the show’s A-list creator and lush visuals couldn’t save Naomi from the CW’s Red Wedding and it was canceled after just one season. — Natalie
65. Utopia Falls (2020)
Humberly González does the goddess’ work, with 4 canon queer characters and counting. (Two on this list!)
Utopia Falls is like if Hunger Games and High School Musical had a strange, futuristic baby. Set in a world where different sectors send teenagers to compete in a high-stakes talent show, the show also uncovers long-kept secrets, including but not limited to a bunker full of archives of long-forgotten music. Hilariously, the AI voice of this archive is Snoop Dogg. Two of the contestants are Brooklyn 2 and Sage 5, despite being each other’s competition, the two girls also start to develop feelings for each other. Which is how I imagine all real competition shows go.
64. Midnight Mass (2021)
Maybe someday I’ll see Annabeth Gish and not think of Pretty Little Liars, but today is not that day.
Mike Flannagan is back! The time with his wife, bisexual actress Kate Siegel, as the leading lady, Erin. This dark and twisty tale is a stunning take-down of Christianity, and a thoughtful inspection of life and death, all with a supernatural twist. It could be equal parts triggering and cathartic for someone raised Catholic, and overall it’s a very compelling story. The canon queer in question here is Sarah Gunning, played by Annabeth Gish, who is the local doctor and Erin’s best friend.
63. Arrow (2012 – 2020)
Nyssa al Ghul. “My name is Nyssa al Ghul, you killed my Sara, prepare to die.”
If we were judging shows only on their most recent seasons, Arrow would be much lower on this list, but we’re looking at the whole sum of these shows, and when it comes down to it, this DC-comics-based vigilante show gave us Sara Lance, so we are forever in its debt. Sara and her assassin girlfriend Nyssa al Ghul came to us by way of Arrow Season 2, and they were dark and tense and a bit star-crossed, and it was beautiful. Sara died a few times but it never stuck, and she ended up being so compelling she got her own spinoff, while Nyssa stayed back and hung out with Sara’s sister Laurel for a while, eventually training the future Green Arrow. (And, most importantly, staying alive.)
62. Lucifer (2015 – 2021)
Eve and Maze. As someone who was raised Catholic, imagining how furious this show makes religious extremists brings me great joy.
For a show that could have very easily crossed the line from “a bisexual demon” to “demonizing bisexuality,” Lucifer earned its spot in the Top 100 by never treading those dangerous waters, and in fact compensating for any qualms about that by pairing up the demon Mazikeen (aka Maze) with Eve. Yes, THAT Eve. Their story was heartfelt and touching and not just a lusty corruption tale; there was real, deep love and a few tender moments that really sunk their cloven hooves into my heart.
61. Vampire Academy (2022 – Present)
All vampires are queer, that I know for sure.
In the latest remake of the popular book series, Vampire Academy follows vampire royalty Lissa Dragomir and her bodyguard-in-training, best friend and (supposedly platonic) soulmate Rose. While, at first glance, it might seem like Lissa and Rose are in love, but it turns out while their is the main love story, they are strictly best friends. This television adaptation does give us some some queer vampires though, including Mia, who also has two vampire dads. Despite her desire for upward mobility in the social ranks, Mia ends up falling for a guard, Meredith, and learning illegal battle magic just to protect her.
60. Peacemaker (2022 – Present)
Danielle Brooks supremacy
On paper, Peacemaker is not the kind of show that one might expect would show up on this list. John Cena as a beefy, dim-witted man who loves to smash in every sense of the word. A Suicidie-Squad-themed show with no Harley Quinn in sight. But as it turns out, there’s a character in the main cast of this show that makes it extremely up our alley. Danielle Brooks’ character Leota Adebayo is a lesbian, and easily the best part of the show. Out of her element, and constantly either making hilarious missteps or saying out loud what the audience is thinking, she’s an amazing addition to this cast, and with important (spoilery) ties to the main plot. She has a wife, Keeya, played by Elizabeth Faith Ludlow and they are downright adorable.
59. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993 – 1999)
Lenara Kahn and Jadzia Dax. Pressing foreheads together has apparently been a gay lady thing for decades.
I don’t have to tell you about Star Trek. You know about Star Trek. But in case you didn’t know THIS about Star Trek, I will tell you that Jadzia Dax and Lenara Kahn have this heartbreaking, forbidden love type of story and really stunning Trill markings. Trills have this whole symbiont/host situation where it’s illegal to associate with their hosts past lovers, or their past hosts lovers, it’s a whole thing. What’s fun about this is that Trills change their bodies’ genders all the time, which maybe makes them all the genders? Or gender-fluid at the very least. It’s not explored all that explicitly as far as gender identity, but these two Trills find themselves drawn to each other despite it being against the law and despite them currently being in two female bodies and it being 1995.
58. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2014 – 2020)
Piper. “Where are Captain Marvel and Valkyrie when you need them?”
I’ll be perfectly honest with you, Agents of Shield had exactly one (1) point for being critically acclaimed, and the rest of its points that got it to the 60th position came from TV Team points. Because it’s a compelling, action-packed show, with some seasons better than others, but they don’t have much to report on re: queer women. Victoria Hand and Isabelle Hartley were queer in the comics, but that was never mentioned in the show, and even if you count them, they both died pretty quickly. And Sk’Daisy and Simmons should have kissed decades ago, it seems. Briana Venskus as Piper and Jolene Anderson’s Olga Pachinko seem to be the closest things we have to alive representation.
57. Legacies (2018 – 2022)
Josie Saltzman and Penelope Park. “Come, let us lead the new generation of queers on TV to greatness.”
The Originals was a gayer spinoff of The Vampire Diaries, and Legacies is an even gayer spinoff of that spinoff. (It’s also, generally, lighter and funnier despite occasionally harking back to its emotional ancestors.) Set in a boarding school for supernatural teens, everyone is queer and nothingeverything hurts. Witches Josie and Penelope were the couple to watch out for in Season 1, then witch-werewolf-vampire tribrid Hope and Josie keep mentioning their past crushes on each other despite them both having current feelings for the same boy, and eventually Josie found a new wolf to
56. American Gods (2017 – 2021)
Bilquis. I feel like there’s a vagina dentata joke in here somewhere.
You know you want to watch a show where a goddess occasionally devours her lovers via her vagina, right? No? Well, that’s what this show has. Bilquis is a goddess who will seduce any gender she pleases to turn them into her worshipers, on this show where New Gods and Old Gods live in America to wreak their havoc (or the opposite of that.) This show also features a guest appearance by queer, Indigenous actress Devery Jacobs plays two-spirited, Indigenous Sam Black Crow.
55. Siren (2018 – 2020)
Ryn and Maddie. When in doubt, throuple it out!
If you, like me, are horny for mermaids, or thirsty for poly triad representation, this is the show for you. In a world where a town’s mermaid folklore proves to be based in reality, and the mermaids in question tend to be murdery, Siren somehow balances a mythical mystery, a PSA on the dangers of overfishing, and an endearing throuple between a man, a woman, and a mermaid who is learning how to live on land.
54. Mr. Robot (2015 – 2019)
Dominique DiPierro and Darlene Alderson.Girls: Exist, Me and Dom: *forget how to person*
If you have a thing for quintessential disaster lesbians, this show is for you. Amidst the hacktivism and corruption and conspiracies of the show at large, there is an FBI Agent named Dominique DiPierro who seems so smooth when she’s on the job but is immediately disarmed by Darlene when she asks her what her type is, and later, when she’s in her apartment and starting to make moves. It’s all very relatable. The show is dark and gritty and there is deception and trust issues but maybe these two crazy kids could make it work. Side note, trans actress Eve Lindley appears in four episodes in season four, and her character’s name is Hot Carla, which honestly is #goals.
53. Santa Clarita Diet (2017 – 2019)
Anne Garcia and Lisa Palmer. “Me? Oh I’m a sheriffsexual. Yes no it doesn’t matter who’s in the role, I’m into them.”
I never thought I liked zombie-themed things, but when things like Anna and the Apocalypse added queerness and humor to the mix, I thought twice about my zombie ban. In the second season of Santa Clarita Diet, out queer actress Natalie Morales plays Deputy Anne, who starts dating her dead police partner’s widow, Lisa. They are funny and important to the plot and, despite how many brains got nibbled on over the course of the series, still alive.
52. Stitchers (2015 – 2017)
Camille and Amanda. “I just had the weirdest dream…there was a warehouse…I smelled apples?”
Stitchers imagined a world where a woman with a unique brain chemistry could be “stitched” into newly dead bodies and relive their last memories to help solve their murders. A fascinating concept, brought to life by the main character’s coworker and roommate Camille, a sarcastic, hilarious computer scientist who later reveals herself to be bisexual. She talks about her queerness in that frank, explicit way we don’t see on TV nearly often enough, and her eventual romance with Amanda, played by real life queer actress Anna Akana, was breathtaking (but not literally, which is something I feel has to be said on a list like this.)
51. Into the Badlands (2015 – 2019)
Odessa and Tilda. Flap flap, motherfuckers.
In this post-apocalyptic world, society is split into factions, and only the strongest survive. With magical abilities as an undercurrent, this show was a combination of stunning visuals and battle scenes that could be mistaken for a ballet. One of the main characters, Tilda, a baby assassin who is ready to grow into her own person, falls for a sex-worker-turned-assassin named Odessa. Just two little Butterflies in love. (The assassins were called Butterflies…hence the caption above.) Eventually the two part ways, Odessa moving on to date a fellow assassin named Mercy, and overall their storyline didn’t feel like it got the closure it deserved, but it was nice while it lasted.
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Person of Interest has one of the most epic queer romances I’ve ever seen on a sci-if show!
Yeah, they do seem to like soaps here, but in a list explicitly about SFF?
It’s just baffling.
What a list! Now I have lots of new shows to check out! Happy to see Wynonna Earp in the top ten. Hopefully that will bring new fans who love it as much as I do. Thanks for putting this together!
Thank you for reading! Always glad to share the Earp love (and the joys of sci-fi in general!)
Did the writers throw darts to determine the order? Xena at 24 but The Good Place at 5 and Dickinson at 4? Just because a show has fantastical elements does not a fantasy make. Seriously, so many of the shows on this list owe a debt to Xena which walked so the rest of them could run (or shamble in the case of The Walking Dead.)
I want to second this, it’s nuts to have Xena this low. If you accept that it is a lesbian show then it is the longest running love story between the two main characters that I can think of. Maybe I’m just old.
Xena did pave the way but the truth is, it wasn’t the best representation we have compared to what we have now. A lot of the canonizing has been done retroactively. At the time it was sold as just gals being pals. And I know, I mentioned in my blurbs that I was aware some of these shows were unusual choices, but when I first made this list back in 2020, there weren’t 100 shows to choose from yet, so I had to widen my net. There are now, but it felt weird to remove them. Maybe in the next update.
They were literal soulmates though. How much more canon does it get? They reincarnate together for eternity. That’s not subtext, and wasn’t mentioned in their section.
What a great list! This must have taken forever. Thank you for doing this!
This was a fascinating and enjoyable read for me. I’ll admit that like some other commenters I found many of the ordering choices surprising or even bewildering. But I loved seeing old favorites, and when the were relatively low wondering what would be in the higher slots. I’ve added some new things to my “to watch” list and moved some others up. I’m still bitter about Willow’s unavailability, but I guess I should be glad there aren’t more things on the list in that position (or, at least, not yet).
And I guess Buffy’s #1 spot tracks with the fact that Willow won the March Madness tournament this year. *shrug*
It really speaks to how groundbreaking Buffy was that it’s still so beloved despite how it all ended for Tara.
Really surprised that Wheel of Time didn’t make the list at all! The main character is a queer women, her paramour is a queer black woman and the most powerful person in the world, no queer characters have been killed off, its gotten rave reviews from critics, the showrunner is gay and it shows. Seems like it hits multiple criteria that would give it bonus points, but it still did even make the top 100?
What’s wild is, it was in the Top 100 last time we did it, but it got bumped this time because of all the new shows! It was so close to the Top 100 though.
I just pulled up the 2022 version on the internet archive and it didn’t make it on then either. Just surprising that something with so much more queer and POC representation didn’t make it over say, Midnight Mass, which had one gay side character.
Oh man you’re right; it was #101 last time; it had originally made the list but then I added a show I had forgotten and it got bumped. I was going to say, I knew I did research on it and I could have sworn I wrote a blurb on it!
Like I said in the intro, some of these shows really just come down to how many people on the TV Team have seen it. Who knows, maybe by the next time this show airs, more people will have seen it and voted higher for it and it will make the cut. Your description is sure to sell some folks!! It does seem to have it all.
No love for Star Trek: Lower Decks? Jennifer and Mariner are so fun, though – as well as Mariner’s hijinks with Jennifer’s friend circle.
This list actually doesn’t include any animated series! I think those are in a category all their own.