Not every witch lives in Salem. Some of the greatest and most memorable witches took up homes right on our televisions!
Witches have a long history on the small screen, and they have a tendency to cast quite a spell on viewers who remember them long after they’ve poofed away.
From the witches who were ever so sweet to the witches who were totally sinister, these are some of the most wickedly awesome television witches!
Willow Rosenberg, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
We always knew that Willow was a bad-ass witch. We had no idea how bad-ass she could become until she went completely dark. Whether she’s unlocking the slayer potential for girls around the world, or flaying Warren Mears to avenge her longtime love’s death, Willow always creates magic moments on-screen.
Fiji Cavanaugh, Midnight Texas
Fiji is a powerful witch whose struggles have been unexpectedly explosive. (She literally incinerated her first love in the heat of passion!) From baking cursed cookies to running the Wiccan shop called The Inquiring Mind, Fiji is a witch you’d rather have as a friend than an enemy.
Diana Bishop, A Discovery of Witches
Diana Bishop is a born witch with extraordinary powers. They’re so extraordinary that her parents bound her magic until such a time that she would be able to deal with it. That time was inexplicably intertwined with vampire Matthew Clairmont. When the two met, her magic unspooled to incredible heights matched only by the love she and Matthew share. The magic that she once stifled brings her great joy. By the end of A Discovery of Witches Season 1, she’s sought after by creatures of all kinds because of her power, but they don’t even know the half of it.
Fiona Goode, American Horror Story: Coven
Glamorous Fiona was the Supreme Witch of the Salem coven and on a quest for immortality. She had the ability to drain victims of the life, but still aged, and despised every second of it. She made sure that the girls at Miss Robichaux’s Acedemy for Exception Young Ladies knew how to unlock their full potential.
Davina, The Originals
Davina is an incredibly powerful teen witch who got caught in a great struggle for power between the vampires and the werewolves. After learning to control her powers, she rose to power as the Regent witch of the nine covens of New Orleans, and even had a romance with Mickelson brother Kol, until his tragic death, which she has vowed to avenge.
Cassie Blake, The Secret Circle
When Cassie moved to Chance Harbor after her mother’s death, discovered that she had magic powers, and that her new friends have been waiting for her to complete the Secret Circle, she’s completely surprised. As her story unfolds, and she realizes that darker magical forces may have been at play in her mother’s death. She grew into her potential, and ultimately became the strongest witch in the Circle.
Freya Beauchamp, Witches of East End
Freya has lived many lives, always dies young, and is always re-born again as a witch. Though she’s quite powerful in making potions and premonitions, she was quite unlucky in love, caught between her love of Dash and Killian, and ending up with neither.
Regina, Once Upon a Time
The Evil Queen of Storybrooke is slowly winning us over as she slowly becomes a good witch. Regina’s story is loaded with tragic events that caused her to take up a life of dark magical ways, but with Snow and company in her corner now, Regina is showing us how incredibly useful it is to be a reformed evil witch. She even seems to have found her own Prince Charming in Robin Hood. How magical!
The Halliwell Sisters, Charmed
The Halliwell sisters unlocked the Power of Three, using their powers to protect humanity from demons and dark forces. When Pru died in the third season finale, newly discovered sister Paige stepped in to complete the triumvirate of the most powerful good witches the world has ever seen.
Sabrina Spellman, Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Who wouldn’t have wanted to be a teenager with awesome powers? Sabrina enjoyed learning how to use her powers, but things always went wrong as she tried desperately to keep her magic a secret and live a normal teenage life. Eventually, she let a few friends in on the secret, and with her talking cat Salem at her side, Sabrina cast a charming spell on us!
Samantha Stephens, Bewitched
With just a wiggle of her nose, Samantha made interesting things happen in her neighborhood while keeping her bewitching at bay for her husband, Darren. She’s always under the watchful eye of her nosy neighbor, Mrs. Kravitz, who is determined to catch her in the act of using magic. Ever the pro, Samantha could never be caught.
Adalinde Schade, Grimm
This poised and graceful Hexenbiest isn’t as sweet as she seems. She’s been known to use her seductive magic to manipulate those around her, especially when tricking Nick into sleeping with her in order to strip him of his Grimm powers.You can’t always trust a witch with a pretty face!
Melisandre, Game of Thrones
This prophetic priestess gave birth to a shadow monster, and made us all believers of the Lord of Light as she rose to power assisting Stannis Baratheon. She’s proved time and again that one does not want to get on her bad side. Now if only she would perform a spell to bring back Jon Snow and Robb Stark, she’d be our hero!
Angelique Bouchard Collins, Dark Shadows
Angelique went by several names and had quite a few lovers on the gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows, but was most driven by her complicated relationship with Barnabas Collins. She used magic to hex and manipulate a number of romances for herself and others who got in the way of her own ambitions. Hell hath no fury like a (witchy) woman scorned!
Bonnie Bennett, The Vampire Diaries
Things were much simpler for Bonnie when all she needed to do with her magic was float feathers! As the resident witch in Mystic Falls, and the last Bennett descendant, Bonnie has cheated death numerous times and used her powers to save her friends even more often.
Josie and Lizzy Saltzman, Legacies
Josie and Lizzie are twin sisters who are next in line to complete the Merge, a fight to the death where the stronger of two witches absorbs the power of the other and leads the coven while the weaker twin dies. Is there any way both of these powerful and unique witches will survive?
Mary Sibley, Salem
Mary Sibley made a deal with the devil when she lost her love. Whether she understood the full commitment of her action or not, she’s become the mistress of Salem, all powerful and through whom all witches hope to usher in their reign over humanity. It’s a lofty position to be in, for sure, but Mary still struggles with love, and that’s not an emotion a powerful witch should ever let herself experience.
Rowena, Supernatural
Who knew that Crowley’s mother would turn out to be such an incredibly powerful and villainous witch? Her quest for power is creating quite a problem for the Winchesters. What will she do now that she has the tablets in her possession? One can only guess!
Sabrina Spellman, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Forget Sabrina the Teenage Witch that you may have grown up with. Although based on the same comic book character, this Sabrina is much darker leaning more towards horror. The newly minted witch, Sabrina must navigate mortal teen life, the Church of Night, and the Weird Sisters, who look down on her for being a “half-breed.”
Tara McClay, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Tara wasn’t the strongest witch on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, not with her girlfriend Willow around. But she had us all under her spell with her sweet fireworks, her ability to make demons invisible, and the way she helped Willow become a powerful goddess witch.
Marnie Stonebrook, True Blood
Leader of a wiccan coven, Marnie became possessed by the spirit of an anicent witch who wants to use the wiccans to go after the vampires, making her a major villain for Sookie Stackhouse and friends. When it was revealed that Marnie wass going after the vamps on her own, and not because of a possession, things got very sticky for the oddball witch.
Cassie Nightingale, The Good Witch
Cassie Nightingale moved into town, opened the Bell, Book and Candle, and things have never been the same. She has a way with herbs, and when she offers up a special gift from her shop, somehow it’s always exactly what you need to accomplish your goals. If you’re hoping for the confidence to enter your banana bread in the bake shop or you want to catch the eye of the guy at work, she has a way to make it happen. Yet, despite the title, she never cops to anything other than intuition. Is she a witch or is she just that good at guessing what people really need and coaxing them to do what they desire? Watch The Good Wife on Hallmark and find out for yourself!
Tabitha Lenox, Passions
300-year-old witch Tabitha spent years torturing all of the citizens of Harmony with misery and bad luck. With her living doll sidekick Timmy, she spent hours drinking and plotting revenge on those who burned her at the stake hundreds of years prior.
Alex Russo, Wizards of Waverly Place
Alex is a rogue teen witch, still learning how to use her powers, and often uses magic without permission. Her laziness often leads to spells backfiring and causing all sorts of havoc in the Russo household, and she usually needs help cleaning up her messes. But Alex is so adorable and sincere in her apologies that everyone always forgives her and they all live happily ever after.
Joanna, Roxie, and Cat, Eastwick
In what could have been considered Sex in the City, but with magic, Joanna, Roxie, and Cat were best friends who shared everything over martinis. Everything except the fact that they all had magic powers. While Eastwick didn’t last very long on our televisions, these three sexy witches left big impressions on the hearts of many.
Macy, Mel, and Maggie, Charmed (2018)
Like the Halliwell sisters on the original Charmed, Macy, Mel, and Maggie discover they have the Power of Three after their mother’s death. They also have a handsome (made more so by the British accent) white lighter to help them along, but they have even more to overcome as Macy is part demon as well as being a witch. Does that make them even more powerful, more frightening, or both?
Vanessa Ives, Penny Dreadful
Although Vanessa’s gifts as an expert medium can be helpful to her and those she cares about, they also threaten her sanity and her life. This beautiful witch is full of secrets that are dark, dangerous, and threaten her life.
