The 15 Best Werewolf Shows Of All Time, Ranked

Werewolf shows are a part of the ever-popular fantasy genre of TV shows, and over the years, there have been plenty of series focused on the violence, humor, action, and romance that comes with a lupine transformation once a month on the full moon. Fantasy TV shows have always been wildly popular and while vampire TV shows have generally been the clubhouse leader in terms of fandom and success, werewolves deserve a shoutout too. They may not be as sexy as vampires, smart as witches, or titillating as ghosts, but werewolves have plenty to offer.

Werewolf shows are not simple endeavors. Typically, in lore, people turn into werewolves once a month, and typically they lose all control of their faculties, not exactly caveats that make for easy, character-driven storytelling. The werewolf in the Universal Monsters movies is not a hero after all. So a good TV show based around werewolves either has to play some games with legend to make the characters more heroic, or it has to devote time to understanding the curse. The best werewolf shows do a bit of both and never lose sight of the snarling monster at the center.

15 Teen Wolf (1986-1987)

An Animated Entry In The Popular Franchise

The first Teen Wolf TV series, Teen Wolf, sometimes known as The Cartoon Adventures of Teen Wolf, is an animated coming-of-age series that follows the titular teen wolf, Scott Howard (Townsend Coleman). Scott has all the problems of a normal high school kid on top of the fact that he's secretly a werewolf. The tone of the franchise works well for an animated show, but there wasn't enough to differentiate the series from other Hanna-Barbera productions of the time for it to stick around longer than three years.

14 Monster Squad (1987)

The Wolf Man Teams Up With Universal Monsters To Fight Crime

A 1970s TV series with no relation to the 1987 movie of the same name, Monster Squad stars Fred Grandy as Walt, a criminology student whose meddling at the Wax Museum he works at causes the statues of famous universal monsters to come alive. The Wolfman, or Bruce W. Wolf (Buck Kartalian); Dracula (Henry Polic II); and the Frankenstein Monster (Michael Lane) come to life and, regretting their past evil actions, decide to team up as crime fighters. Like the original Batman series but with horror characters, Monster Squad is schlocky, thrilling fun.

13 She-Wolf Of London (1990-1991)

A Romance Is Interrupted By The Woman's Lycanthropy

She-Wolf of London is a romantic comedy with some scares thrown in, more in the vein of Bewitched than Hemlock Grove. The show stars American student, Randi Wallace (Kate Hodge), who comes to England for her studies, where she meets mythology professor, Ian Matheson (Neil Dickson). After a chance meeting with a werewolf on the moors, Randi learns she's been transformed and she and Ian have to fight off all manner of supernatural phenomena while nurturing their budding romance. It's silly, sweet, and a little bit old-fashioned, but there are plenty of sparks to keep it lively.

12 Wolf Pack (2023)

A Werewolf Mystery In California

Wolf Pack is a teen drama werewolf show based on the 2004 book of the same name written by Edo van Belkom. The show follows Everett Lang (Armani Jackson) and Blake Navarro (Bella Shepard), two high school students in California who are bitten by a werewolf when a forest fire frightens a pack of creatures out of the woods and into the town. Similar in style to Teen Wolf but with fewer laughs, Wolf Pack does include an intriguing mystery baked into the eight episodes that makes watching all the way through a worthwhile endeavor.

11 Wolfblood (2012-2017)

Wolf Creatures Work To Stay Hidden From Humanity

The wolf monsters in Wolfblood may not be true werewolves, but they're close enough. The series follows the members of a clan of "wolfbloods", creatures with enhanced senses who pose as humans, but can turn into wolves at will. While a full moon forces their transformation, they can decide when to change at any other time. The series primarily focuses on the wolfbloods' efforts to stay concealed from the rest of humanity. The creatures in Wolfblood act like true animals, making their curse feel far more feral and personal than in other shows.

10 Werewolf (1987-1988)

A College Student Desperately Tries To Rid Himself Of His Curse

Werewolf is an '80s horror series made for Fox that follows Eric Cord (John J. York), a college student who is transformed into a werewolf, flipping his life upside down. In order to rid himself of the curse, Eric must travel across the United States to find and kill the originator of his werewolf bloodline. Along the way, he and his friends encounter villains and monsters who Eric fights against. The werewolf transformation effects are fantastic for the time and this is one of the few werewolf TV shows to actually explore how troublesome the werewolf curse is.

9 Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

A Classic Representation Of A Werewolf

Buffy the Vampire Slayer may be more concerned with vampires than any other fantastical creature, but werewolves end up playing a sizeable role in the show thanks to the season 2 introduction of Oz (Seth Green). Oz is a guitarist and eventual boyfriend to Willow (Alyson Hannigan), and unbeknownst even to him, he's a werewolf. Unlike many other werewolves on TV, Oz has little control over himself when he's the monster. It's a character that feels very closely aligned with the Universal Monsters idea of the creature, fitting in with the darker and down-to-earth tone of Buffy.

8 Being Human (2008-2013)

A Werewolf And His Friends Try To Get By In England

The original British Being Human is a supernatural comedy-drama that follows the fantastical occupants of a house in Bristol, England. Andrea Riseborough as Annie Sawyer (a ghost), Russell Tovey as George Sands (a werewolf), and Guy Flanagan as John Mitchell (a vampire), are three housemates who are trying to live normal, human lives despite the obvious difficulties their heritages present. Like an early version of What We Do In the Shadows, Being Human is charming, funny, and filled with relatable post-college angst told through the struggles of famous monsters and creatures.

7 Big Wolf On Campus (1999-2002)

A Football Captain Is Turned Into A Town's Protector

Tommy Dawkins (Brandon Quinn) smiling as he turns into a werewolf in Big Wolf on Campus.

The Canadian TV series, Big Wolf on Campus follows Thomas "Tommy" P. Dawkins (Brandon Quinn), a high school senior in the town of Pleasantville who is bitten by a werewolf and turned one evening. He, along with his friend, Merton J. Dingle (Danny Smith), uses Tommy's new-found powers to protect the town, despite the people who live there thinking he's a monster. Big Wolf on Campus does an excellent job at poking at the ridiculousness of its premise, always having fun without resorting to over-seriousness for drama's sake.

6 Bitten (2014-2016)

Laura Vandervoort Plays A Fantastic Lead Werewolf

Bitten

TV-MA

Drama

Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Horror

Romance

Release Date: 2014 - 2016-00-00
Network: SyFy, Space
Directors: Brad Turner, Andy Mikita, Grant Harvey, James Dunnison, John Fawcett
Writers: Denis McGrath, Michael MacLennan, Larry Bambrick

Cast

See All

Daniel Kash
Roman Navikev
John Ralston
Sasha Antonov
Salvatore Antonio
Rodrigo
Greyston Holt
Clayton Danvers

Bitten follows Elena Michaels, a photographer who must confront her past when her pack leader calls her back to Stonehaven. As she navigates her role in a world of werewolves and pack dynamics, Elena struggles with her unique position as the sole living female werewolf.

Seasons: 3

The Canadian fantasy TV show, Bitten, based on the first book in the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong, follows Elena Michaels (Laura Vandervoort), a werewolf who has to balance her "normal" human life with her boyfriend in Toronto, with her "family" obligations in upstate New York. Part family drama, part romantic-comedy, and part fantasy creature action show, Bitten has it all, including a delightful lead performance from Vandervoort. The twisting turns of the series kept it feeling fresh, even when more fantasy creatures began to bloat it.

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