Who doesn’t love a love story? Some of the biggest movies and TV shows through the years focus on just that: girl falls in love with boy, then falls in love with his best friend too, for example.
That story line is a frequent one in the entertainment industry — and has been for years. One of the most famous love triangles of all time took place on Dawson’s Creek. When the series launched in 1998, Joey (Katie Holmes) was in love with her best friend, Dawson (James Van Der Beek). By the end of season 1, the pair were kissing in his bedroom. They had an on-off relationship in season 2, and in season 3, he moved on. In turn, he asked his best friend, Pacey (Joshua Jackson), to look after her. That led to the start of the triangle.
The on-off relationship between Joey and Dawson and Joey and Pacey, as well as the messy friendship between Dawson and Pacey, carried through the show for the remaining seasons and, ultimately, became the biggest question ahead of the 2003 finale.
Many TV series and movies have tried to replicate the fan buzz and character conflict that love triangles drive. Netflix explored the potential that comes with adding a love triangle into the narrative during season 2 of Bridgerton.
In March 2022, the sophomore season explored Anthony Bridgerton’s (Jonathan Bailey) love story with Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) — and her sister Edwina Sharma. Although the eldest Bridgerton sibling was interested in Kate, he complicated the situation by initially courting Edwina.
“The reality is, the TV show is so nuanced,” Charithra Chandran, who plays Edwina, told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “It’s so complicated and you don’t see a catfight between the sisters. You see Edwina being hostile with Kate because she loves Kate more.”
The Netflix star also addressed the shocking wedding ceremony between Edwina and Anthony — which ended when the younger sister realized that Kate was in love with her fiancé. “By the end of episode 6, she’s like, ‘Anthony, you’re trash and I can do better, just go away.’ Right? That’s my reaction,” she shared. “It’s like, ‘I don’t care about you anymore. Just go away.’ Whereas with Kate, it’s a more painful situation because they are closer. It’s a product of love, not a product of hate.”
Bailey, for his part, clarified Anthony’s perspective when it came to his short-lived connection with Edwina.
“They are both, at the beginning of the series, they’re both committed to finding each other, and what they represent. On a surface level, and on paper, they deliver what they’re looking for,” the U.K. native told The Wrap in March 2022. “She’s looking for a man of honor and duty and he presents to her a version of himself that isn’t real. And Kate can see through that, so that’s why they end up with authentic love.”
Even though Anthony bonded with Edwina, according to Bailey his character was never fully involved in the love triangle. “His behavior is only because he’s completely fallen for the older sister in it, and he’s in danger of feeling something because he wants to take love out of the equation, as we understand why,” he added. “Anthony does have chemistry with sort of everyone but chemistry is different in different ways, isn’t it? I think he made it very complicated because he presented a version of himself that wasn’t so true and I think that’s where that chemistry lay. So it wasn’t really deep-founded chemistry. It was surface level.”
In films, the ingredients for a successful love triangle are a little different, since there is much less time to create two separate stories. That said, sometimes it’s spread over multiple films, i.e. Twilight.
Over the course of five movies, Bella (Kristen Stewart) was torn between the guy that wasn’t good for her, Edward (Robert Pattinson), or her close friend who had been crazy about her since they were kids, Jacob (Taylor Lautner).
Scroll through the gallery below to relive some of the most memorable love triangles in TV and movie history:
