Whether you were the popular kid or the weird one, high school is a time that will always stick with you, for better or for worse. Teen drama TV shows have been a mainstay of the medium for the better part of the last 25 years. These shows are about self-discovery, first love, and partying, and they’ve given us some great characters in the process. Some of the best high school stories from the 2000s and later can be like a time capsule for easier times. Some of the best of all time can be found on HBO Max. Here’s a list of the best teen stories you can watch right now on HBO Max, whether you’re in the mood for Upper East Siders who betray each other or superheroes with a lot of angst.
See our list of The Best Drama Movies on HBO Max Right Now and the best movies and TV shows on the app for more suggestions.
Note from the editor: I Love You and It Hurts were added to this piece in September 2023.
Gossip Girl ran from 2007 to 2012.
Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage made it.
Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Chase Crawford, Ed Westwick, and Taylor Momsen are part of the cast.
During the 2000s, there were a lot of glossy teen stories, and The CW’s Gossip Girl was the most beautiful. Blake Lively plays Serena Van Der Woodsen, and Leighton Meester plays her best friend turned enemy, Blair Waldorf. The show is about rich kids on the Upper East Side. As they try to become the most popular person at school, they also have to deal with the lies spread by the unnamed writer Gossip Girl, who is voiced by Kristen Bell. Gossip Girl writes about the deepest, darkest secrets of the high school students and lets the whole world read them.
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I Love You and It Hurts (since 2023)
Cris Morena made it.
Roberto Aguilar, César Diaz, Mara José Vargas, Ana Celeste, and Daniela Martnez are in the cast.
I Love You and It Hurts is a Mexican play that takes place in Veracruz and is about two teenagers from very different social classes. Juan Gris, a promising artist from a working-class background, gives Lola, a girl from high society, a free ride. This starts a relationship that has to deal with the stress of their different social groups. Juan’s city is being taken over by Lola’s upper-class family. Juan and Lola decide to fight back by using music and the locals to stop the takeover. This six-part Spanish-language play is like Romeo and Juliet, but it has a great musical twist.
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The Teenage Psychic ran from 2017 to 2019.
InFocus Asia made this.
Shu-yao Kuo, Akio Chen, and Chun Hong are in it.
It’s hard to be a kid! They have to do school, do jobs, and deal with peer pressure, all while looking for love. Xiao Zhen has all of that, plus the annoying requests of lost, angry, and very helpless souls. The Teenage Psychic is a Taiwanese slice-of-life drama that has won a lot of awards. It has just the right amount of magical elements that always add to the main character’s inner battles. This show has a great sense of fun and a lot of heart at its core. This makes it easy for people of all ages to relate to.
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Gossip Girl (from 2021 to now)
Joshua Safran made it.
Jordan Alexander, Whitney Peak, Tavi Gevinson, Eli Brown, and Thomas Doherty are all in the cast.
The new version of Gossip Girl is wilder and more flashy than ever. A new group of kids runs the top private school on the Upper East Side, and they make the lives of the teachers a living hell. Jordan Alexander plays Queen Bee Julien Calloway, and when her half-sister from the bad side of the tracks, Zoya Lott (Whitney Peak), starts going to the school, everything gets turned upside down. Gossip Girl is brought back by a group of angry teachers, who once again have Kirsten Bell describe it. In their quest for payback, they cross an endless number of lines.
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Betty is coming out in 2020.
Crystal Moselle made it.
Dede Lovelace, Kabrina Adams, Rachelle Vinberg, Nina Moran, and Ajani Russell are all in the cast.
Crystal Moselle’s teen thriller Betty is based on her touching 2018 film Skate Kitchen, which was about the lives of a group of New York City skater girls. Betty has a lot of the same close-knit cast from the first movie, like Dede Lovelace, Kabrina Adams, and Rachelle Vinberg. It still focuses on a group of skater girls from Generation Z. Betty goes deeper into their daily lives as these young women deal with both their own stories and the world of skateboarding, which is mostly controlled by men. Even though Betty is a made-up show, like Skate Kitchen, it used real skaters to play roles that were based on them in some ways. – Yael Tigiel
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Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin (since 2022)
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa made it.
Bailee Madison, Chandler Kinney, Zaria, Malia Pyles, and Maia Reficco are in the cast.
In Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, secrets once again cause trouble in a small town. The HBO Max original is a reboot of the same-named ABC/Freeform series. It takes place in the same universe and is set in the working-class town of Millwood, Pennsylvania, where five high school girls are hunted down by a mysterious blackmailer named “A.” The reboot has won critical praise and is full of dark secrets as “A” hunts the girls to make them pay for sins their mothers committed when they were in high school.
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(2019 and on) Euphoria
Sam Levinson made it.
Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer, Jacob Elordi, and Maude Apatow are in the movie.
In this teen soap story set in southern California, beautiful people do bad things out of love, hate, and revenge. In the movie Euphoria, Zendaya plays Rue Bennett, a 16-year-old drug user who fights to stay clean while her friends deal with their own problems. The HBO show blew up during its first season in 2019, and its loyal fan base has only grown since then, thanks to all the rumors of feuds and drama behind the scenes that rivals what happens on the show. Season 3 is set to start sometime in 2024, and we can only hope that there will be more bottle-breaking fights, meltdowns during performances, and hallway catfights.
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(As of 2019) Nancy Drew
Noga Landau, Josh Schwartz, and Stephanie Savage made this.
Kennedy McMann, Leah Lewis, Maddison Jaizani, Tunji Kasim, and Alex Saxon play the main characters.
In The CW’s Nancy Drew, a dark take on the original books, everyone’s favorite kid detective is now a sneaky 18-year-old server who solves crimes on the side. Nancy, played by Kennedy McMann, dropped out of college after her mother died and moved back home to be with her dad and grieve while she worked at the Claw, a neighborhood diner. Even though Nancy tries to stay away from secrets, she can’t help but be a spy. She and the rest of the Claw staff work to figure out who killed a local celebrity in a terrible way.
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The OC ran from 2003 to 2007.
Josh Schwartz made it.
Mischa Barton, Rachel Bilson, Adam Brody, and Chris Carmack are in the cast.
The OC, a teen soap opera that began on FOX in 2003 and changed pop culture with its muscle tanks, flip phones, and low-rise pants, was the first time that California looked both appealing and scary. Ben McKenzie, Mischa Barton, Rachel Bilson, and Adam Brody play four teens who live in Orange County. They come from both broken homes and privileged homes, and they get involved in dramatic love plots, affairs, and illegal activities. Ryan Atwood, played by McKenzie, is the new kid in town. When the rich Cohen family takes him in, he has to get used to a strange new life with beach parties and good waves.
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One Tree Hill, from 2003 to 2012
Mark Schwan made it.
Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, Hilarie Burton, Bethany Joy Lenz, and Paul Johansson play the main characters.
One Tree Hill is one of the longest-running shows on this list because there are always heartbreaks and crimes happening in the town of One Tree Hill, North Carolina. Teens caught up in love triangles and basketball are played by Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, Hilarie Burton, Bethanie Joy Lenz, and Sofia Bush. This is another reason why The CW ruled teen shows in the 2000s. The show has a total of nine seasons and is about secrets in small towns and broken families. There are too many famous moments to count.
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Dawson’s Creek ran from 1998 to 2003.
Kevin Williamson made it.
James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson, and Mary Margaret Humes are all part of the cast.
Dawson’s Creek might have started the trend of teen dramas on TV in the 2000s. The comedy launched the careers of James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, and Joshua Jackson. It is about different kids who live in the made-up small town of Capside, Massachusetts. Dawson, played by Van Der Beek, is 15 years old. As the story goes on, Dawson grows up as he deals with awkward first loves and hard times. Holmes plays Dawson’s best friend Joey Potter, and he and Dawson try to hide how they feel about each other. Williams, who plays the popular Jen Lindey, makes up the third person in the love triangle. When the show aired on The WB, the teen cast shot to fame and set the standard for high school stories to come.
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The Vampire Diaries ran from 2009 to 2017.
Kevin Williamson and Julie Pec made it.
Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder, Kat Graham, and Candice King play the main characters.
Want something with a little more flavor? Take a bite out of The Vampire Diaries, a long-running show on The CW about beautiful vampires, ripped werewolves, and all-powerful witches. Nina Dobrev plays Elena Gilbert, a high school student who gets caught in a hot love triangle with the Salvatore brothers, who happen to be vampires. Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder play Stefan Salvatore and Damon Salvatore, respectively. They fight other demons in the small southern town of Mystic Falls as they try to get Elena’s attention.
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Pretty Little Liars ran from 2010 to 2017
I. Marlene King made it.
Troian Bellisario, Lucy Hale, Ashley Benson, Shay Mitchell, and Sasha Pieterse play the main roles.
They can’t keep their lies to themselves, and they’ll have to pay for it. Lucy Hale, Ashley Benson, Shay Mitchell, and Troian Bellisario play four high school sophomores who aren’t close to each other and are keeping dark secrets from their past. After their best friend Allison (Sasha Pieterse) goes missing a year earlier, they are forced to get back together and start getting threatening texts from an anonymous blackmailer named “A.” Based on Sara Shepard’s best-selling book series, the girls work together to find out who “A” is, and Pretty Little Liars became a hit right away because of all the twists.
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First in Class (2021)
Rich Eustis and Michael Elias made it.
Isabella Gomez, Dior Goodjohn, Gavin Lewis, Jorge Diaz, Adrian Matthew Escalona, and Gavin Lewis are in the cast.
Reboots, revivals, and remakes are still very popular, but some are sure to get lost in the shuffle. The second season of Head of the Class is based on the hit series with the same name that starred Howard Hesseman in 1986. Isabella Gomez (One Day at a Time) plays Miss. Gomez, Alicia. The series shows how she changes the minds of high school kids in the Meadows Creek High School honors debate club. The HBO Max version fell through the cracks and couldn’t quite make it, so it was canceled after the first season.
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Everwood, from 2002 to 2006
Greg Berlanti made it.
Gregory Smith, Treat Williams, Emily VanCamp, Tom Amandes, and Debra Mooney make up the cast.
Everwood is a slice of the American dream wrapped up in family drama, doctors at odds with each other, and learning to deal with loss. After his wife dies in a car accident, Dr. Andrew Brown (Treat Williams) moves to the small Colorado town of Everwood with his teenage son Ephraim (Gregory Smith) and daughter Delia (Vivien Cardone). He has a hard time getting used to being a single parent and dealing with his loss. Andrew starts his own practice in a town where everyone knows everyone else. Meanwhile, Ephraim deals with his own grief while dealing with bullies, crushes, and a rocky relationship with his dad.
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Naomi, year 2022
Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship made it.
Kaci Walfall, Cranston Johnson, Alexander Wraith, Mary-Charles Jones, and Mouzam Makkar are in the cast.
Naomi, a highly praised show about a teenage superhero, was cancelled by The CW after just one season. The show comes from the thoughts of Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship. Kaci Walfall plays Naomi McDuffie, a top student and computer detective who finds out where superheroes are. Based on the same-named comic book series, Naomi soon finds out that she has skills of her own. She learns to use them while keeping her grades, friendships, and health in check.
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We Are What We Are (2020)
Luca Guadagnino, Paolo Giordano, Francesca Manieri, and Sean Conway are the people who made it.
Jack Dylan Grazer, Jordan Kristine Seamon, Beatrice Barichella, Tom Mercier, and Francesca Scorese are among the actors in the movie.
With the HBO limited series We Are Who We Are, director Luca Guadagnino takes his first steps into the world of high-end television. Jack Dylan Grazer (It) plays Fraser Wilson and Jordan Kristine Seamón plays Caitlin “Harper” Poythress, two lively kids whose parents serve in the U.S. Army and who live on a U.S. army base in Italy. Fraser’s parents are played by Chlo Sevigny and Alice Braga, and Caitlin’s parents are played by Scott Mescudi and Faith Alabi. Guadagnino’s limited series was praised by critics for its character-driven coming-of-age story set in Italy’s beautiful countryside. As Caitlin starts to question her gender identity, she and her best friend burn in the fire of growing up.
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His Dark Materials (beginning in 2019)
Jack Thorne wrote it.
Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy, Amir Wilson, and Lin-Manuel Miranda are the actors in the show.
His Dark Materials is based on Phillip Pullman’s best-selling series of fiction books with the same name. Season 1 is based on the first book, The Golden Compass, and Dafne Keen (Logan) plays the main character, Lyra Silvertongue, who is 12 years old. She is a child who goes to Oxford to study at Jordan College. She stays there while her uncle, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy), goes off to find new lands. Marisa Coulter (Ruth Wilson), who is a bad person, keeps a close eye on her. When she runs away to find her lost friend, she runs into magical beings that lead to new discoveries and parallel worlds.
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The Next Generation (Degrassi) ran from 2001 to 2015.
Yan Moore and Linda Schuyler made it.
Drake, Emma Nelson, Cassie Steele, Stacey Farber, and Jake Epstein are all in the cast.
What can you say about the show Degrassi: The Next Generation? Drake is in it, and there’s a lot of drama and awkward teen romance. Emma Nelson plays Miriam McDonald, Cassie Steele plays Manny Santos, Stacey Farber plays Ellie Nash, Jake Epstein plays Craig Manning, and Shane Kippel plays Gavin “Spinner” Mason, to name a few. The iconic series follows students at Degrassi Community school as they deal with issues that all teenagers face. The series became known for tackling controversial topics like teen pregnancy, abortion, sex, drugs, and everything else under the sun.
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Titans (since 2018)
Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns, and Greg Berlanti made it.
Brenton Thwaites, Teagan Croft, Anna Diop, Curran Walters, and Ryan Potter play the main characters.
In Titans, powerful superheroes come back to life and get back together to fight monsters. In this dark and stylish reimagining of DC Comics characters, the superheroes get used to their new skills and their new jobs. Rachel Roth/Raven, played by Teagen Croft, is an odd girl whose home life is like a Carrie horror movie. She runs away to join the other Titans while bad guys chase after her. In the show, Brenton Thwaites plays Dick Grayson, Anna Diop plays Starfire, Ryan Potter plays Beast Boy, Minka Kelly plays Dawn Granger, and Alan Ritchson plays Hank Hall. All of them are outsiders in their own way.
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