(Photo by BBC America; HBO; ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection; FX; Andrew Eccles / © CW / Courtesy: Everett Collection)
Updated: September 28, 2023
While the fall 2008 premieres of True Blood on HBO and Twilight in theaters ushered in the vampire craze of the aughts and early 2010s, television immortalized the mythological creatures in series dating back to the early days of the medium.
Off-kilter 1960s sitcom The Munsters included bloodsuckers in its cast of spooky characters, and supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows, which debuted in 1966, introduced several nightwalkers over its six-year run.
Rotten Tomatoes has compiled a list of TV’s best and worst vampire series. While the shows don’t all have to be solely about vampires, each of the series on this list must have significant characters with the urge to suck blood. Shows without Tomatometer scores — either because the seasons don’t have enough reviews to get a score or there are more seasons without scores than with them — are listed at the bottom.
The most recent to join the list, animated sequel series Castlevania: Nocturne, launches on Netflix on Friday, September 29, and currently has a 100% Tomatometer score. We’ll keep watch to see if it rises to Certified Fresh level and takes over the top spot.
True Blood and its sister in the outsider-caught-between-two-vamps camp, The CW’s The Vampire Diaries, of course, feature prominently. But there are other shows that have brooding undead men and the women who love them — the grand dame of teen supernatural soap operas, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for one. Other newcomers, like the 2022 titles Reginald the Vampire, Interview with the Vampire, Let the Right One In, Vampire Academy, First Kill, and animated series Vampire in the Garden, as well as 2021’s Firebite, and 2019’s The Passage and V Wars are all on the list.
The series are ranked by Tomatometer score, then shows without Tomatometer scores are listed by Audience Score (denoted by “A” and its rank; see Audience Scores on the series’ pages), then those without any scores are listed alphabetically.
Sink your teeth into our list of the best vampire TV shows ranked by Tomatometer:
Adjusted Score: 87229%
Critics Consensus: Though its second tale is still a mystery, the first half of Double Feature proves a spine-tingling good time with terrific performances – especially from the spectacular Leslie Grossman.
Adjusted Score: 65480%
Critics Consensus: Favoring garish style over effective storytelling, the fifth American Horror Story strands a talented cast at Ryan Murphy’s Hotel.
Adjusted Score: 61697%
Critics Consensus: Chapelwaite‘s drab proceedings are stretched a bit thin over ten episodes, but those looking for an atmospheric whodunit with a few genuine frights could do worse.
#A6
Adjusted Score: -1%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Adjusted Score: -1%
Critics Consensus:
Adjusted Score: -1%
Critics Consensus:
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