The 7 Best Witches on TV

Whether they marry a mortal man and aim to live a normal, human life or attempt to unravel the fabric of reality, witches have long been featured on TV shows in a variety of ways. The formula isn’t always a success (see the recently canceled Salem TV series), but many shows have introduced audiences to a number of compelling supernatural sorcerers and created cultural icons.

Recent years have seen a rise in supernatural and fantasy series, introducing audiences to a wide range of witches on shows like The Vampire Diaries, True Blood and Supernatural. If these shows weren’t proof enough, there is currently a new incarnation of Sabrina headed to Netflix while The CW has ordered a pilot of a Charmed reboot series, giving these witches more time in the spotlight that they deserve.

As witches continue to fascinate TV audiences around the world, we look back at the best witches featured on television!

Samantha – ‘Bewitched’

Arguably the most iconic witch ever featured on a TV show, Samantha hopes to integrate into the world of mortals by marrying a human man, to varying results. Samantha’s many magical powers often helped solve her husband’s situations, while, other times, those powers ended up causing even more trouble.

A far cry from the evil hag image of a witch that regularly permeated the world of pop culture, Elizabeth Montgomery’s character showed there were many more sides to a witch character, as she captivated the hearts of many audiences. The show also created the iconic gesture that so many of us have attempted to recreate, wiggling our noses in hopes of any number of our wishes come true.

‘Charmed’

It’s hard to pinpoint just one witch from Charmed, a series which featured four witches as main characters throughout its run, who easily could have been four entries on the entire list.

The series followed three sisters who discovered that, not only were they witches, but were also descendants of The Charmed Ones, the most powerful good witches of all time. Audiences know that witches are more powerful when they band together to form a coven, yet with Charmed, the sisters relied on their “Power of Three” to take down witches and warlocks, forcing them to work together to heighten one another’s abilities.

When Prue Halliwell (Shannen Doherty) departed the series after the third season, she was replaced by Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Phoebe’s (Alyssa Milano) half-sister Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan), who completed the Power of Three through the end of the show’s eighth and final season.

Sabrina – ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’

Following in the tradition of Bewitched‘s Samantha, Sabrina was a much more light-hearted interpretation of witchcraft, focusing more on the mundane lives of witches instead of their bouts with evil.

When Sabrina Spellman (Melissa Joan Hart) turns 16, her aunts inform her that they come from a family of witches, with Sabrina’s powers finally kicking in for her birthday. Her spells often don’t go the way she expects, with hilarity then ensuing, but as she was just a high school student, the fate of the universe often wasn’t at stake.

The series lasted for seven seasons, with Hart having recently admitted she won’t at all be involved in the upcoming reboot. For Sabrina fans hoping to see more wacky witchcraft, you’ll have to get your fix somewhere else, as this new series is reported to explore much darker and demonic territory.

Mildred Hubble – ‘The Worst Witch’

Before audiences saw the difficulties Sabrina faced as a teenage witch, viewers may have seen the 1986 made-for-TV movie The Worst Witch based on the 1974 book of the same name.

A little bit Sabrina and a little bit Harry Potter, Mildred Hubble (Fairuza Balk) attended a school of witches and was, arguably, the worst witch in the entire academy. Her heart was in the right place, she just never managed to pull off the spells in ways her classmates could. This led to bullying and teasing, with her spells never really improving.

Luckily, Mildred does find redemption, creating a story that encourages viewers to be persistent at what they’re passionate about and eventually they’ll master any ability, even if their peers pick up on things more quickly.

Willow – ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’

To say that the ’90s were a good time for witches would be an understatement, as fans had an embarrassment of riches when it came to TV’s obsession with witchcraft.

When Buffy the Vampire Slayer began, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) was the titular character’s best friend, regularly using her vast knowledge and studying skills to find weaknesses in foes that the Slayer went up against. By the end of Season 2, that research paid off as Willow began studying witchcraft and found herself becoming an incredibly useful ally to Buffy, regularly stepping in with supernatural powers to help Buffy win the day.

Willow may not have taken center stage in the series as often as fans would have liked, but given that she was often relegated to being a supporting character, it always allowed her to step in, show off her smarts and some spells, then get back to her own business. Despite the limited screen time, some fans grew to love the character far more than Buffy herself.

‘American Horror Story: Coven’

In another example of not being able to determine one exceptional witch from a cast of many, the third season of American Horror Story offered audiences multiple different types of witches, each with their own exciting powers and attitudes.

Much like other seasons of American Horror Story, this season took the preconceived notion of a familiar horror genre and turned it on its head. Focusing on an academy in New Orleans, audiences saw all different types of powers, from a witch who could invoke brain hemorrhages to one with telekinetic powers to one who could project any injury she inflicted on herself onto her victim.

The popularity of this season and its witches was so strong that an upcoming season of the series is set to revive many of the season’s characters to crossover with characters from the show’s first season.

Melisandre – ‘Game of Thrones’

Audiences were alerted to supernatural elements on Game of Thrones very early on, thanks to the presence of the zombie-like White Walkers, yet the series often focused on slightly more grounded concepts that would often make you forget the series had fantasy elements.

Melisandre (Carice van Houten) debuted in the show’s second season and helped show the potential of the more fantastical and magical elements of the series, even if she had nefarious motivations early on. Like all characters in the series, Melisandre’s devotions wavered and changed throughout her appearances, making fans question whether or not they could trust her from one moment to the next.

Season 6 of the series gave audiences one of its most shocking moments, with Melisandre removing a necklace that immediately transformed her from a beautiful woman into her true form, an elderly woman, made the more shocking by both women appearing in the nude.