10 TV Shows To Watch If You Like Vampire Academy

The first four episodes of Vampire Academy all at once to give audiences a taste of what the show had to offer. Developed for the serial format by Julie Plec and Marguerite MacIntyre, who worked on the sprawling The Vampire Diaries TV universe, the series is set to make a lot of changes from its source material, but it still features a large cast of fascinating characters, its own twist on fantasy tropes, and a friendship for the ages. But there are plenty of other similar shows to satisfy the appetites of Vampire Academy fans wishing Peacock allowed them to binge the whole season at once.

Fate: The Winx Saga (2021- )

Available to stream on Netflix

Also an adaptation of some popular source material, Fate: The Winx Saga adapts a children’s cartoon to a more mature live-action series. Netflix debuted the second season of the series the same week Vampire Academy was made available on Peacock, so fans might have missed the update at first.

Instead of vampires, this series focuses on fairies, but it still features a boarding school, a monarchy, and the fierce bond of female friendship while the central characters unravel a season-long mystery and fight mysterious entities.

Shadow And Bone (2021- )

Available to stream on Netflix

Like Vampire Academy, Shadow and Bone has been adapted from a series of young adult novels. The first season is available to watch, but the second is still in production.

While Vampire Academy exists alongside the modern human world, Shadow and Bone is set in a fictional fantasy world that involves a darkness separating the two halves of the world. One young woman is caught in the middle as she develops a coveted power, leaving her struggling to find her place in the world as a leader.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

Available to stream on Hulu

It’s hard to imagine anyone ever discussing vampire-related media without mentioning Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Despite the dozens of similar shows that have debuted since, Buffy remains one of the best vampire shows.

It focuses more on vampire hunters instead of vampires themselves, but like Vampire Academy, the friendships and found family of Buffy’s “Scooby Gang” are the true center of the story as Buffy comes of age.

The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017)

Available to stream on HBO Max

Given that Julie Plec had such a heavy hand in The Vampire Diaries universe, it seems only fair that Vampire Academy gets a few TVD comparisons. For both series, the bonds of friendship, family, and tradition are important to the stories.

Vampire Academy sees Lissa and Rose challenge societal conventions; Vampire Diaries sees Elena and her friends turn the vampire world on its head in a different way. Without the young woman at the center of the story losing her parents and finding her own strength though, the plots wouldn’t play out at all.

Shadowhunters (2016-2019)

Available to stream on Hulu

Rose and Lissa are born into vampire society, and taught traditions and laws from a young age. They don’t have the fish-out-of-water story that Clary experiences in Shadowhunters as she learns that demons and angels really exist. Both series of novels that inspire their respective shows have an incredibly rich mythology for their stories.

These stories feature societies hidden away from the modern human world that are steeped in strict sets of rules and protocols for their supernatural residents. There is rigorous training, intense fight scenes, and elements of found family in both shows as well.

Legacies (2018-2022)

Available to stream on Netflix

Legacies spins out of The Vampire Diaries, or more accurately, out of The Originals. It has the most in common with Vampire Academy as it takes the Vampire Diaries mythology and puts it in a boarding school setting.

Centered around Hope, a very special daughter of a vampire and a werewolf, the show focuses on her coming into her own while she’s surrounded by friends who also happen to be a variety of supernatural creatures. Hope would be able to find a lot of common ground with both Lissa and Rose, feeling the pressure to uphold her family legacy, but also to be better than it. Her series also brings The Vampire Diaries franchise to its end on TV.

Motherland: Fort Salem (2020-2022)

Available to stream on Hulu

Just like vampires, witches have become a huge part of modern media. Motherland: Fort Salem, however, doesn’t stick to covens in small towns or sister witches battling the source of all evil. Instead, it sees witches as part of an organized militant force.

Witches are trained to fight for their country in a magical war, in much the same way Dhampir are trained to be the first line of defense for the Moroi. The camaraderie of soldiers is explored in both, as well as the bonds of female friendship.

Nancy Drew (2019- )

Available to stream on HBO Max

Nancy Drew might not have vampires in it, but it is one of the most interesting modern takes on a classic series of novels. The titular Nancy is still a teen detective, but in this CW series, the ghost stories are real.

Nancy Drew demonstrates how well a series can move forward when it isn’t afraid to take steps away from the source material. Vampire Academy fans have already noted that certain story elements have been changed for the Peacock series, and that might prove to be a great thing for new audience members.

The Magicians (2015-2020)

Available to stream on Netflix

Vampire Academy largely focuses on teenagers. While The Magicians novels did as well, the TV series focuses on characters pursuing postgraduate studies in magic. As a result, a lot of the action is also set at a school with strict rules and outside-of-the-box training.

Much of Vampire Academy is Lissa and Rose against the world, and just how their world shapes their friendship. The Magicians has those friendships among pairs of characters as well, like Margo and Eliot as the popular rebels in school, or Quentin and Julia as childhood friends who are so sure magic has to exist. The relationships between the different characters are what makes the series so compelling.

Carmilla (2014-2016)

Available to stream on Youtube

Another popular adaptation of a vampire story, Carmilla was originally crafted as a webseries by Youtubers before the creative team made a movie about the characters as well. It’s a modern adaptation of a Gothic novella.

Set in a college dorm, the series follows as one roommate discovers the other is actually a vampire. The two uncover mysteries at school and fall in love and created an internet phenomenon.