The Strangest Love Triangles In TV Shows

Practically since the dawn of TV, the love triangle has been a popular trope and, when done well, an easy way to keep viewers hooked and wondering if the leading lady will choose the stable, nice guy or the more daring and charismatic one. The best love triangles spark debate and discussion among fans years or even decades after the show ends, whether it's Rory choosing between first love Dean and bad boy Jess on "Gilmore Girls" or Kate from "Lost" harboring feelings for both doctor Jack and snarky Sawyer. Even reality TV gets in on the trope, with messy "Love Is Blind" contestants interfering with one another's marriages or Scandoval from "Vanderpump Rules" making headlines in 2023.

But for every Dylan, Kelly, and Brenda (from "90210"), there's a Rachel, Joey, and Ross (from "Friends") — a love triangle so out of left field and awkward that fans immediately balked. The strangest TV love triangles below involve family members, mismatched lovers, and even ... ghosts? Read on for the weirdest romantic arcs on TV, including the one so reviled that the showrunners scrambled to release an alternate ending.

Amazon Prime's teen-drama series "The Summer I Turned Pretty" became a surprise hit in the summer of 2022, spurring three seasons and a film that is currently in production. Based on the book series by Jenny Han, "The Summer I Turned Pretty" focuses on 16-year-old Isabel "Belly" Conklin (Lola Tung), who spends every summer with the Fisher family, including brothers Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad (Christopher Briney). As the series progresses, Belly experiences feelings toward both Jeremiah and Conrad, complicating the relationship between their families.

While "friends to lovers" is a familiar and popular trope, things get weirder when the two potential lovers competing for the same girl are brothers. A professor of psychology at Northeastern University, Laurie Kramer, even weighed in on the odd relationship dynamic. "Usually with siblings, there's a little bit of a code of ethics," Kramer said (per Northeastern News). "There are some things that are just off limits. If you know your brother is deeply in love with someone, you don't go after them."

Despite the strange dilemma, fans of the series felt very strongly about which brother Belly ended up with — so much so that Tung had to issue a warning. "I think we see with a lot of these love-triangle stories, people want the leading girl to end up with someone," she told Teen Vogue. "When people have an attachment to the characters, they want to see it come together at the end." She revealed that the cast and crew had even received death threats from unhappy viewers. "I promise you, it's not that serious," Tung admonished.

A love triangle featuring two brothers wasn't unheard of before "The Summer I Turned Pretty." "The Vampire Diaries," which aired on The CW from 2009 to 2017, put a supernatural twist on the strange trope. The show starred Nina Dobrev as Elena, a high schooler who meets a new student, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley), and falls for him before discovering he's a vampire. Later, she meets his edgier, unpredictable brother, Damon (Ian Somerhalder), and becomes conflicted over which of the brothers she truly loves.

In a real-life semi-triangle, Dobrev and Somerhalder dated but remain friends, while Wesley and Somerhalder went on to launch a bourbon brand in 2021 called, appropriately, Brother's Bond. But their characters' onscreen relationships were a bit more complicated. While Wesley conceded that Elena's transformation into a vampire "was so fascinating to people," he admitted, "I think the relationship between the brothers was the most important one" in the show (per Today). Dobrev, meanwhile, jokingly suggested even further complicating the triangle. "I'm pretty sure there's another brother somewhere who's a hybrid of the two of them," she said in 2013 when asked who Elena should end up with (per Digital Spy). "I don't know — I think Elena's got it good. She's got the both of them after her. She kind of gets both. She's a smart woman!"

The Netflix sensation "Stranger Things" (2016–2025) focused more on '80s nostalgia and kids fighting demogorgons than romance, but there was still an odd love triangle to be found among its teenage characters. Nancy (Natalia Dyer), the older sister of main character Mike Wheeler, is dating popular jock Steve (Joe Keery), but starts encountering loner Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) during the spooky search for Jonathan's brother, Will, who is Mike's best friend. While combing the woods, Jonathan saves Nancy from a monster that has lured her into another dimension, and the shared experience serves as the basis for their later romantic relationship, to Steve's dismay.

Dyer has described Nancy and Steve as "two people [who] do care about each other, and that hasn't gone away. What that is and what label you want to put on that, I don't know," per Variety. As for "Jancy," she said they are "two people that probably wouldn't have found each other or, you know, didn't quite make sense in a social circle, but something brought them together that was stronger than that," per Onic Entertainment. Heaton added, "They've been bonded ... shared trauma. But they really care about each other, they really do. When it's back against the wall, they show up for each other."

While Nancy and Jonathan remain together throughout most of the show, they break up at the end of the final season after weighing whether or not to get engaged (perhaps mirroring Dyer and Heaton's real-life relationship; rumor has it they've broken up after 10 years together). The co-creator of "Stranger Things" explained this decision. "Nancy needed to end up on her own and be independent and have an opportunity to find herself," Matt Duffer told People, adding that what Jonathan and Nancy shared was a "trauma bond."

Over its 20-year (and counting) run, ABC doctor soap "Grey's Anatomy" has provided no shortage of outlandish storylines. One of the strangest, however, was the love triangle between Dr. Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), and Izzie's one-time patient, Denny (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Izzie and Denny fall in love while he's being treated in the hospital for a heart defect, but he passes away at the end of Season 2. Izzie then rekindles her relationship with former flame Alex, but in the first few episodes of Season 5, she begins having hallucinations of Denny, including the two of them having sex. These hallucinations are revealed to be symptoms of Izzie's cancer diagnosis; she and Alex eventually marry. (And after all that, Izzie never even received a proper send-off from the show.)

Bringing Denny back as a ghost proved too bizarre for some viewers. A writer for Paste even called the triangle "the worst storyline 'Grey's Anatomy' ever told," adding, "This is a show where everyone sleeps with everyone, everywhere, all the time. But this, my friends, was the proverbial bridge too far. 'I'm a dead man who loves you,' Denny said as we all covered our eyes and screamed." Heigl agreed that the storyline didn't make much sense, saying, "Because there was this supernatural aspect of it ... it wasn't necessarily in the realm of 'Grey's Anatomy'" (per Entertainment Weekly).

The CW series "Gossip Girl," which is about a group of wealthy teenagers on the Upper East Side of New York, served plenty of drama during its 2007–2012 run. The show centered around frenemies Serena (Blake Lively) and Blair (Leighton Meester) and their relationships with boys like Nate (Chace Crawford) and Dan (Penn Badgley). While Serena and Nate are childhood friends who share a deep love for each other, Serena eventually moves on to outsider Dan, marrying him in the series finale.

Fans took umbrage with Serena choosing Dan for two big reasons: Dan is revealed to be the titular "Gossip Girl," blogging and digging his way into Serena's life in sometimes cruel ways; additionally, he and Serena share a half-brother, Scott, who is the son of Dan's father and Serena's mother. "[Dan] slowly progressed into a manipulative dirtbag. And, honestly, I doubt Serena really liked him after all of the terrible things he wrote about her ... Nate was actually a less judgy person than Dan. He probably would have been more compatible with Serena," a Reddit user vented. Lively and Badgley likely had conflicting feelings about the pairing, too, given that they dated and then broke up during filming of the show.

As for the weird detail of the newlyweds sharing a half-brother, a writer for Betches said, "I shouldn't even complain about the Belly-Conrad-Jeremiah love triangle feeling incesty because Serena and Dan's situation is at least 100 times worse. Not only are their parents in love ... but they also share a son," adding, "Dan and Serena still end up together at the end of the series because they're not okay. Deeply unwell people."

The love triangle on CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" (2005–2014) was really more of a convoluted love square. The show is narrated by Ted (Josh Radnor), who is telling his kids the story of how he met their late mother, Tracy (Cristin Milioti) — though the final episode reveals Ted's story is really about his love for his ex, Robin (Cobie Smulders), who has married and divorced Ted's best friend Barney (Neil Patrick Harris).

Ted and Robin's on-again, off-again relationship and the buildup to Barney and Robin's wedding — and their rushed divorce — frustrated fans of the show, especially after Tracy was introduced in the final season and her chemistry with Ted was undeniable. A Time review of the series finale expressed disappointment in how the triangle was resolved, saying, "I do not want to dwell on how, as I wrote before, introducing the Mother ... then killing her off to pair Ted and Robin, would be and was a mistake ... It made the entire series an elaborate fake-out, setting up an elaborate story that was not, in the end, what it purported to be about."

The fan reception to Ted and Robin getting back together at the end was, in fact, so poor that the show quickly released an alternate ending in which Ted and Tracy live happily ever after. "There's an alternate ending to the show that I really like," show creator Carter Bays told "Critical Edge." "I guess I'm just happy that there are two endings out there ... I do like that there is a version where there's a happy ending for Ted and Tracy. I don't know. I guess I like them both."

During the 1994–2004 run of "Friends," one question persisted: Will Ross (David Schwimmer) end up with his first love, Rachel (Jennifer Aniston)? The opposites-attract, on-again, off-again couple's antics kept fans hooked for 10 seasons, but toward the end of the show's run, the writers threw up one final roadblock. One of the most controversial plotlines on the show involved Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and Rachel developing a mutual crush on each other, leading them to hook up at the end of Season 9.

More than 20 years later, fans vent about the strange dynamics of a love triangle between three best friends. "Both Joey and Rachel were so out of character. The idea that they would hook up before talking to Ross felt very unrealistic," one Reddit user said, with another adding, "The way they did it made Rachel come out looking shallow, and I hated that the love triangle was played for physical comedy. That's when it lost me."

Even the actors were unenthusiastic about the storyline. "Matt LeBlanc did not want to do that story," "Friends" executive producer Kevin Bright told Digital Spy. "He was very firmly against it, saying that he's Ross' friend, and that the type of friend that Joey is would never go and take someone else's girlfriend." Aniston agreed, telling Elle, "It was Ross and Rachel all the way ... I just don't think Joey and Rachel could have made it. I think it was more physical than emotional with them."

One of TV's most iconic teen dramas, "Dawson's Creek" (1998–2003), drew a love triangle out across almost all of its six seasons. The show stars James Van Der Beek as Dawson, a teenager in a New England town whose two best friends are Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and Joey (Katie Holmes). Toward the end of Season 1, Dawson realizes he has feelings for Joey and kisses her, but they break up during Season 2, setting the stage for Joey and Pacey to fall for each other.

The love triangle was written into the show during a desperate moment in the writers' room. "And that's when it hit me. Of course! A love triangle. Heresy is exactly what the show needed. Not only did we have a story, we had a story engine, a dramatic problem that would create many other stories," "Dawson's Creek" writer Jeffrey Stepakoff said in his book "The Billion-Dollar Kiss" (per Vox). Though the show started with the premise that Joey was meant to be "Dawson's girl," the writers found that pairing Joey with Pacey instead gave her more agency.

While this is one of the more popular love triangles featured on TV, some viewers still thought it odd that two best friends would be okay with dating the same girl, and opinions are torn on whether Dawson or Pacey was in the wrong for how they handled the situation. "No 'real' friend would date their best [friend's] ex at all ... Dawson is very mature for letting Joey go and be with Pacey, because he honestly could've hated both of them," a Reddit commenter said. Another disagreed: "Whenever they date each other, Dawson becomes needy and borderline controlling. Joey becomes restless and disappointed, etc. ... I personally found their 'will-they-won't-they' a bit boring and repetitive."

Another show from "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes, "Scandal" (2012–2018), brought a slightly more grounded story but a widely criticized love triangle. The show centers around Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), a lawyer and government crisis manager who is having an affair with the president, Fitz Grant (Tony Goldwyn). During a break in her relationship with Fitz, Olivia connects with Jake (Scott Foley), who is put on an assignment with her. But in Season 5, Olivia painfully breaks it off with Jake, telling him, "Fitz is who I choose. He's who I will always choose; you are just a lesser version of him."

Foley didn't necessarily agree with Olivia's choice. "I believe that [Jake] has Olivia's best intentions in mind. Not to say Fitz doesn't," he said, per E! News. "Fitz may be able to provide something in post-presidency, some sort of stability that Jake has never had and isn't able to, but I think emotionally, Jake believes he can give her everything she needs." The website Jezebel took it even further in an article called "The 'Scandal' Love Affair Is More Like Emotional Abuse," listing all the reasons why Fitz and Olivia shouldn't be endgame, including "Fitz lies to Liv whenever it suits him in the interest of foreign policy, when he's having her stalked, and when it comes to his wife." The piece wasn't favorable to Jake, either, calling him "barely trust-worthy."

In general, fans didn't take to this love triangle because it was so one-sided. "It wasn't really a love triangle. Liv always loved Fitz, and she would always choose Fitz if given the choice," one Reddit viewer summed up.

While the original run of "Gilmore Girls" featured several charming love interests for main character Rory (Alexis Bledel) — Team Dean? Team Jess? Team Logan? — the 2016 reboot, "A Year in the Life," showed the one-time valedictorian at a loss, with no job or place to live. Her romantic prospects have also stalled; she's in a two-year relationship with Paul (Jack Carpenter), whose existence she continually forgets, and she's also having an affair with her college boyfriend, Logan (Matt Czuchry), who's married. The triangle gets a bit stranger when it's revealed Rory has also had a one-night stand with a man dressed in a "Star Wars" Wookiee costume.

Most fans did not take well to the triangle, criticizing everything from Rory and Logan continuing to hook up 10 years after their breakup to Rory forgetting her current boyfriend even exists. "Rory used Paul as a smoke screen to hide Logan from Lorelai [Rory's mom] and to hold off Logan until she was ready," a Reddit viewer said. Tossing in the Wookiee affair didn't gel with fans either, with one saying, "Not only is this completely out of character, it's really just bizarre and seemingly random. I do find it lazy writing."

Even the actors had differing opinions on the Rory and Logan affair, with Czuchry telling Entertainment Tonight, "​​Rory and Logan have always had a love for each other that has gone back and forth, and they've never really wanted to say goodbye ... It's a mutual relationship that they're carrying on." Bledel, however, didn't see it that way. "I think [Rory's] actually not that emotionally connected to it. I think she's just kind of going through the motions."