There’s a good reason why love triangles remain a frequently explored trope when it comes to matters of the heart.
From script to screen, love stories built on the foundations of an emotionally charged threesome are at once infuriating and intoxicating. So, what is it about fictional love triangles that keep us coming back for more?
Whether fueled by undeniable emotional entanglement, or an impossible situation that strikes an internal chord, perhaps it’s the delicious indecision of tension times three that we can’t get enough of? Or, maybe it’s the competitive thrill that has us hooked? After all, if one’s company and two’s a crowd, then surely three must be the chemistry-filled charm.
It certainly feels that way in Materialists, the latest film by Past Lives creator, Celine Song. In it, Lucy (played by Dakota Johnson) is faced with the inconceivable predicament of choosing between Harry (played by Pedro Pascal) and John (played by Chris Evans). But if you ask us, the choice was simple – keep both. Each to their own, we guess.
Likewise, as The Summer I Turned Pretty prepares to break our hearts all over again with its third and final season, the flames of fictional allegiances to Team Jeremiah or Team Conrad in the beloved Belly love triangle, have once again been lit.
In celebration of the newest wave of complicated throuple dynamics we’ll be mulling over for years to come, we’re diving into the most iconic love triangles across literature, TV and film.
The Most Iconic Threesomes In Fictional History
The Summer I Turned Pretty
The Triangle: Belly and the Fisher brothers, Conrad and Jeremiah
Why It Works: Few shows have managed to capture the soft ache of teenage longing quite like The Summer I Turned Pretty. Set against a dreamy summer backdrop, this love triangle centres around Isabel “Belly” Conklin who, despite harbouring a secret crush on older, Conrad, for most of her life, finds herself as the object of both Fisher brothers’ affection.
Conrad is the emotionally unavailable dreamboat with serious soulmate energy, whereas Jeremiah is the (equally as gorgeous) golden retriever best friend who might beat out Connie in the communication front.
It’s every YA trope rolled into one, and yet it still somehow feels like a standout when it comes to exploring the realities of love’s first touch. As the series heads into Season 3, Team Conrad and Team Jeremiah battle lines have once again been drawn, and as with all good love triangles, that’s exactly how it should feel. Although, fans of the book series know there’s only real winner IYKYK.
Materialists
The Triangle: Lucy, Harry and John
Why It Works: Yes technically the internal struggle faced by matchmaker Lucy is more of a comment on societal expectations around status, money and ambition, over love, it’s still the love triangle between her, Harry (Pedro) and John (Chris) that we can’t stop thinking about. However Jane Austen-coded her predicament may be, Lucy’s commitment to practicality delivers (albeit fleetingly) the romantic goods, with plenty of chemistry-filled scenes with both of her impossibly handsome potential suitors.
Sex & The City
The Triangle: Carrie, Aidan and Mr. Big
Why It Works: What would a list of our favourite love triangles be without an inclusion from Carrie, Mr. Big and whichever suitor she was dating before Big finally decided to commit? Not a concise one – that’s for sure. For the purpose of this investigation, we’re focusing on Carrie’s longest, and most transformative non-Big relationship with Aidan.
It was Charlotte who posited the theory that everyone was granted “two great loves” in life, and for Carrie in Sex & The City, her’s were definitely Aidan and Mr. Big. However, despite nearly marrying the former, and actually marrying the latter, it was the tension created by the unknown outcome that proved the most tantalising for fans of the complicated plotline. Just don’t talk to us about Aidan’s reappearance in And Just Like That because we’re still not over the lick, and to be honest, we don’t know if we ever will be.
Friday Night Lights
The Triangle: Tim Riggins, Jason Street and Lyla Garrity
Why It Works: Only Friday Night Lights could make love triangles between a high school cheerleader, her paralysed quarterback boyfriend, and his brooding best friend feel quite so devastating. But for anyone who worshipped at the altar of Coach Taylor, or for whom the rallying cry of “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose” helped shape their formative years, it’s a dynamic we know all too well.
The scene where Lyla and Tim Riggins finally give into their grief-stricken urges and kiss in the rain unlocked a core memory in the minds of Millennials around the world. After all, how could a love that felt so wrong be so right? We weren’t meant to ship the trauma-bonded couple as much as we did, given Lyla was Riggins’ best friend Jason’s girlfriend, who’d also just had his hopes and dreams crushed when a football injury left him paralysed.
Betrayal, it seemed, provided the ultimate aphrodisiac for this throuple, who worked through those conflicted, chemistry-filled thoughts until Jason eventually packed up and moved onto the cast of Ginny & Georgia, as the Mayor of Wellsbury.
Challengers
The Triangle: Tashi Duncan, Art Donaldson and Patrick Zweig
Why It Works: Luca Guadagnino knew exactly what he was doing when he cast Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor in Challengers.
A slow-burn heavy tension bubbled under the surface between the competitive would-be throuple, coming to full love triangle fruition with a steamy, yet mildly unsatisfying, moment that melted the internet’s minds.
Though Tashi put a stop to it almost as swiftly as it began, and eventually married Art, the three remained in each others orbits for over a decade afterwards, leading to a deliciously drawn out experience of longing that had viewers gripped.
Twilight
The Triangle: Bella, Edward and Jacob
Why It Works: Any historian of the heart knows that to exclude Twilight‘s trio from this list would be an academic atrocity. After all, it was the love triangle between Bella, Jacob and Edward that launched a thousand fanfics and – it could be argued – began our insatiable thirst for smut of the supernatural kind.
There was Edward Cullen, the sparkly, brooding vampire whose intense connection to the introverted and equally as brooding, Bella Swan, formed our obsession with cold-blooded love. Joining in the fun was Jacob Black, a warm-blooded, usually shirtless and infuriatingly loyal werewolf, who became the third member of the amorous trio – much to the chagrin of Edward.
And, whether you found the love triangle that ensued literary genius, or gimmick, there’s no denying the cultural chokehold it holds to this day.
Bridget Jones’s Diary
The Triangle: Bridget Jones, Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver
Why It Works: An true love triangle for the ages, Bridget Jones forms one third of our favourite dysfunctional throuple, consisting of Daniel Cleaver, her charming, womaniser boss (played by Hugh Grant) and the comparably stiff, initially quite rude, and devastatingly honourable Mark Darcy.
Bridget flips between the two with never-ending confusion, and the result is one of the most iconic romantic dilemmas in British pop culture. Extra points are, of course, awarded for Mark and Daniel’s fight scene, which remains one of the most realistic portrayals of two posh men brawling over a woman in cinematic history.
My Best Friend’s Wedding
The Triangle: Julianne, Michael and Kimberley
Why It Works: This love triangle flipped the romance genre on its head. Julianne (Julia Roberts) realises she’s in love with her best friend (Dermot Mulroney), but the issue is, she comes to the conclusion just days before he’s set to marry someone else.
Cue sabotage attempts, emotional breakdowns, and karaoke-fuelled chaos, all in the name of convincing her long-time friend that she’s the one he should be marrying. Only, her plans are upended when it turns out the bride-to-be (Cameron Diaz) is sweet, charming, and is the subject of Michael’s undying affection.
The beloved film dares to suggest that sometimes, you don’t get the guy but the love triangle still hits all the right notes.
Gossip Girl
The Triangle: Blair Waldorf, Nate Archibald and Chuck Bass
Why It Works: There’s no shortage of love triangles to choose from when it comes to Gossip Girl lore, but (sorry Blair and Dan fans) our loyalties lie with this golden trio.
While Nate Archibald was the preppy golden boy that Manhattan’s most eligible highschooler, Blair Waldorf, was meant to be with, it was Chuck Bass with his manipulative, intense, and emotionally wounded schtick that brought out a side in Blair she never knew she had.
Their enemies-to-lovers dynamic was soap-opera perfection, and while often problematic, it made for a wildly compelling courtship that we couldn’t get enough of. This triangle gave us heartbreak, scheming, and one of the most gut-wrenching one-liners in TV history when Blair threw Chuck a lover’s lifeline with: “Three words. Eight letters. Say it and I’m yours.”
The Hunger Games
The Triangle: Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorne
Why It Works: Sure, there’s a revolution brewing which only adds to the intensity of one’s emotions, along with a dystopian regime to take down, but even in Panem, we can’t escape a good love triangle.
The loyal and softly-spoken Peeta was cast into a romantic plot device that tethered him to Katniss and Gale, the hotheaded rebel hunter, in deeper ways than any of them could ever imagine. While fans rooted for Katniss to give into her feelings for Gale (this writer included), it was her unpredictable pick that made this particular threesome one to remember.
Siding with Peeta was a symbolic choice for Katniss, whose stronger connection with the more peaceful of the pair pointed to her character’s hopes for the future.
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