Before HBO and Netflix, you didn't have many options if you wanted to watch a no-holds-barred, graphic, sexy sex scene. But the age of streaming changed all that, and now not only can you watch literally any kind of sex scene you want, whenever you want, you can also catch some down-and-dirty sex on your favorite TV shows (Friends would never!). Sex is a normal, healthy, essential part of being a human in this world, and it's only right that some of the best TV shows out there reflect that.
On that note, here are the most hot, graphic, and in some cases groundbreaking sex scenes we've seen on the small screen. (If you're looking for scenes that venture more towards "romantic and passionate" territory, check out our roundup of those kind of sex scenes. Oh, and if you're looking for just Game of Thrones sex scenes, you bet we've got those too.)
'Carnival Row'
Carnival Row arrived on Amazon Prime in 2019 to fill the Game of Thrones-shaped hole in our collective fantasy sex-loving souls, and it did not disappoint—at very least in the fantasy sex department. In Season 1, episode 3, viewers were treated to a particularly hot love scene between faerie Vignette (Cara Delevingne) and half-blood Philo (Orlando Bloom).
Showrunner Marc Guggenheim talked fairy sex specifics with The Wrap, saying: "It’s interesting that you establish that when a fairy climaxes, their wings glow. And the second time, later in the episode when she and Philo sleep together, her wings don’t glow. And it’s a way into this very critical scene where Philo is basically asking Vignette, essentially, why weren’t you mentally present? And it’s a great example for me of how the mythology that has been built into the show allows us to get to certain character moments and certain character-revealing instances. And that’s what keeps it from being crass."
'Pose'
In Season 2, Pose gave viewers a look into Pray Tell's love life, including a very steamy love scene between him and Ricky. Billy Porter, who plays Pray Tell in the amazing series, discussed the scene's larger culture importance during the 2019 TCA Summer Press Tour.
"I have spent my entire career never having been the object of anyone's affection or anything. Until now," he said. "Having a very loving, connected sex scene is sort of blowing my mind. My nerves are frayed, I'm going to take a Valium and watch it tonight."
'Orange Is the New Black'
Piper (Taylor Schilling) and Alex (Laura Prepon) have a lot of sex scenes that are red-hot but also kind of fun—you know, like sex actually is—but this scene in the library, where their fight devolves into sex, is easily the best of the series.
"When the show really took off and was becoming mainstream, there wasn’t another relationship like Alex and Piper anywhere," Prepon said. "That’s one of the amazing things about Orange, is that we take on these storylines that are not normally represented. I was just so happy to be portraying a relationship that women could relate to when there wasn’t anything out there for them."
'Grey's Anatomy'
Long before Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) were endgame, they were on opposite ends of a love triangle: When they met, Shepherd was separated from his wife, who he later reunited with. In this scene, the two lock eyes at a work event before going up to an operating room and ripping one another's clothes off. It's...almost definitely the only time an operating room has been sexy.
'Empire'
Empire knows how to do sex scenes. One of the show's best and most memorable—and, let's be honest, just plain sexiest—steamy scenes was the rooftop moment shared by Becky (Gabourney Sidibe) and MC J Poppa (Mo McRae). Even though the scene didn't escalate to full-on sex, it's proof that foreplay is amazing all on its own.
And, in response to some of the fat shaming hate the scene garnered (because parts of the the internet are, as we all know, a cesspool), Sidibe told EW: "I had the most fun ever filming that scene even though I was nervous. I felt sexy and beautiful and I felt like I was doing a good job. I keep hearing that people are 'hating' on it...I'm not sure how anyone could hate on love but that's okay. You may have your memes. Honestly, I'm at work too busy to check Twitter anyway."
'You'
I'd give Penn Badgley's sex scenes with Elizabeth Lail in the first season of You a solid A, but his chemistry with season two's lead, Victoria Pedretti (you'll remember her from the distinctly un-sexy Haunting of Hill House), is next-level. It's a totally different dynamic, and if you actively ignore the fact that he's murdering people, it's very hot.
'Suits'
In this super-hot scene, Rachel and Mike finally give into their feelings for each other and have sex at work. Which is cool and sexy, but also, Meghan Markle is in it!
'Riverdale'
Yes, this technically takes place when the couple are in high school, which feels weird, but Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) are 23 and 27 in real life, so consider this coupling in their mid-twenties instead. Reinhart and Sprouse are a couple both on-screen and off, so you know the chemistry is real. The hottest sex scene between the two has to be when Betty, the show's resident good girl, role-plays in a black corset and glossy black wig.
'Carnival Row'
Even though most of the season's sexy action revolved around the romance between Vignette (Cara Delevingne) and Philo (Orlando Bloom), another love story also grabbed every viewer's attention: The one between human Imogen Spurnrose (Tamzin Merchant) and faun Agreus (David Gyasi). When the two finally consummated, we couldn't look away, and admit it, neither could you.
'Black Mirror'
Black Mirror tackled the intersection of sexuality and technology in its Season 5 premiere, "Striking Vipers." In the episode, best friends Danny (Anthony Mackie) and Karl (Yayha Abdul-Mateen II) hang out in an immersive VR game and soon find that they really enjoy having sex in the game as their avatars (played by Ludi Lin and Pom Klementieff), which leads to some serious IRL conversations.
'13 Reasons Why'
Again, this takes place during high school, but please remember that both actors are in their mid-twenties. Justin and Jessica have gotten together and broken up over and over again in 13 Reasons Why, but this sex scene, in which Jessica takes control of her sex life, is super spicy.
'Jessica Jones'
The sex scenes that Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) shares with Luke Cage (Mike Colter) range from empowering (hurrah for women having agency!) to jaw-to-the-floor epic. And honestly it's impossible to pick just one, so we selected a clip with a bunch of ~moments~ above. That said, filming these scenes is not sexy: "It's so choreographed, there’s really nothing sexy about it," Ritter has said. "If you’re going to have to do a scene like that, it’s not terrible to do it with Mike. He’s alright looking. But he is also just a nice guy and always has your back. I always felt really safe and protected."
'True Blood'
If there was a Golden Globe for "Best Sex Scene That Also Involves Blood Sucking"—which there should be—True Blood would almost certainly win. Every intimate scene in the show is notable, but you can't beat the one where Sookie (Anna Paquin) and Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) have sex in a snowy wonderland while covered in fur.
And FYI, Paquin filmed it while in a relationship with her other True Blood co-star Stephen Moyer, and nah—it wasn't that awkward. "We feel completely comfortable together," she said of the process. "Steve and Alex are buddies. It's nothing like, 'Oh, hi, nice to meet you. Now take off your clothes and go into the fog.' Everyone is respectful of each other's boundaries....They're all very gentlemanly about it."
'American Horror Story'
In this bloodthirsty, but still very sex, sex scene, Lady Gaga herself plays The Countess, who owns the hotel in American Horror Story: Hotel. She and actor Matt Bomer, who plays Donovan, have a foursome with two others—which is steamy enough, but things are taken to a whole new level when Gaga and Bomer slit the throats of their partners as part of their orgy.
Bomer said of finding out about the nature of the scene: "You freak out a little bit for sure."
'Gossip Girl'
In one of the hottest coming-of-age scenes ever filmed, a young Chuck and Blair get it on in the back of a limo. It's just one of many steamy Gossip Girl scenes for this couple, who were on and off for, oh, pretty much the entire series, but find a way to make it work in the end (but not before having makeup sex, like, a million times).
'Game of Thrones'
We've spent a lot of time thinking about Game of Thrones' sex scenes since the show decided incest is something we should all casually be fine with (which, still no), but this scene between Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Ygritte (Rose Leslie) is definitely the most gorgeous of the series. And weirdly, despite being a couple in real life, Harington says the scene was heavily staged: "It's also a very clinical procedure, you know? It's very strange," he explained. "I've never done a love scene before, and especially a nude scene, so it's very strange being naked in front of a hundred or so people. So we obviously rehearsed it a few times—fully clothed, mind you!"
'Carnival Row'
In its first episode, Carnival Row set the stage for the absolutely, mind-blowingly weird interspecies fantasy sex that will be its legacy with an aerial scene between Tourmaline, a faerie prostitute (played by Karla Crome) and Jonah, a human (played by Arty Froushan).
"There has to be an element to it where we’re recognizing these are fairies," creator Travis Beacham told The Wrap. "So we have to think about the wings and that sort of thing. In the first episode, you get the whole scene with Jonah and Tourmaline on top of him and lifting him up with her wings."
'Sense8'
If you haven't seen Sense8's orgy, you haven't lived. It's truly iconic in the world of TV sex, and a must-watch for people into orgies (anyone?). Enjoy this video, and this quote from Jamie Clayton, who plays Nomi Marks: "It was mainly just Lana [Wachowski, a co-creator] off-set telling us, 'Okay, Jamie go in. Okay, now Jamie go out.' There she was just on the side shouting out directions at all of us—like, where our hands should go and who we should kiss."
'Gossip Girl'
YA show Gossip Girl featured a threesome—or as close as they could get to one on a network like the CW. While the sex was only implied, this was a bold move for a series made for teenagers, and helped normalize sexual experimentation.
"The show is edgy, but we have a great relationship with the network's standards-and-practices people," Stephanie Savage, a co-creator, said at the time. "Whenever we do anything where we feel like we might be controversial, we have a lot of conversations. When we did our threesome episode in season three, we definitely caught some flack."
'Queer As Folk'
Brian (Gale Harold) and Justin's first hookup in Queer as Folk's pilot episode was one of the first gay sex scenes between two men on television—and that's a huge deal. "I had done graphic sex on stage already, and I just thought, It's exciting that it's going to exist," said Randy Harrison, who plays Justin. "I mean, I got frustrated with shooting sex later on in the series but, at the beginning, I just remember I was desperate for those images when I was a gay kid growing up. There were some foreign movies at the indie movie rental places that were about gay stories and sexuality that weren't pornography. When you're that desperate—they're so powerful. Especially to me as an adolescent it was—oh my god, life-changing. So I was really excited that I was going to be a part of that for other people and telling a gay story that was going to be on television." (Note: The original clip was deleted so please enjoy this epic fan-made super-cut.)
'The L Word'
The L Word was groundbreaking for lesbian representation on television, and this scene between Bette (Jennifer Beals) and Tina (Laurel Holloman) is one of the best. Mostly because it takes place in a kitchen, and there is no greater combination than food and sex. "We had to watch a sex video because we had to do all these sex scenes," Beals said. "So we could watch the video and see what worked and didn't work and analyze why it didn't work. It didn't work if people weren't fully committed to it."
'The Tudors'
Hello, did you know Henry Cavill (a.k.a. Superman) was in The Tudors? And that he had a ton of sex in it? And that said sex was so intense he got an actual erection? Yeah. That happened.
"A girl had to be on top of me, she had spectacular breasts, and I hadn't rearranged my...stuff into a harmless position. She's basically rubbing herself all over me and, um, it got a bit hard," he explained. "I had to apologize profusely afterward. It's not great when you're in a professional acting environment and somebody gets a boner, is it? No, not acceptable."
'Outlander'
Almost every episode of Outlander comes with a handy sex scene for you to sweat over (YAY!), but nothing beats Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie's (Sam Heugen) wedding night—an epic display of intimacy that took almost half the season to get to. "Caitriona and I had already filmed a scene from episode 10," Heugen said of the scene. "When we were filming, we shot two episodes ahead so we did a scene after [the wedding]—a big breakup. It was very physical and lustful. To do this somehow felt easier, but more intimate because this was more about discovering each other. Yeah, we were both slightly nervous, which I think helps. In the scene, it's part of them finding each other. We worked it out in rehearsals what we wanted the viewer to see and not see and how we wanted it to be portrayed. Again, we don't want [the sex] to be gratuitous but it's very important for the characters and what happens to their relationship."
'Sons of Anarchy'
During its seven seasons, Sons of Anarchy pushed just about every boundary imaginable. In one particularly memorable sex scene from Season 1, Jax (Charlie Hunnam) and Tara (Maggie Siff) celebrate their murder of her abusive boyfriend with a bout of passionate love making. With the corpse still in the room. As you do.
In 2017, Hunnam talked about striking balance in sex scenes. "It’s a delicate balance to strike—to be emotionally open enough to have an experience that feels honest between two people but also maintain that it’s just for the film. It’s not my favorite thing to do," he told Elle.
'Sex and the City'
Who can forget the episode of Sex and the City where Samantha (Kim Cattrall) finds a young farm hand and has sex with him in the barn? No one, that's who. Because it's been etched in our eyeballs for all eternity.
'The Americans'
While Phillip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth's (Keri Russell) 69-ing scene is probably the most "OMG WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" scene on The Americans, the sexiest sex scene happened way back in episode one—when after a solid hour of resentment and sexual tension, the couple had car sex. And it was so epic.
FYI, the pair are together in real life—and no, filming sex scenes isn't that weird, though Rhys does get protective: "I'm like, 'Can someone get her a f*ckin' robe, please?!' She's standing there naked, we've cut for five seconds, Jesus Christ. And they're like, 'Dude, this is the fourth season.'"
'Masters of Sex'
Masters of Sex has plenty of hot and steamy scenes to choose from, but one of the most graphic and, well, scientific of the series came when Lizzy Caplan's Virginia Johnson and Michael Sheen's William Masters have sex for science while hooked up to monitors.
“There’s a fair amount of sex and nudity in our show, obviously, but it never, never feels gratuitous,” Caplan said of the show's take on sex. “Without fail, when I’m watching television, I struggle to find one example of it not feeling a bit gratuitous. Our show is about sex and intimacy. Most shows are about other things. Maybe dragons? No disrespect at all, but it does feel at times that it’s like time out dragons, let’s watch these people get it on.”
'Game of Thrones'
Yes, we already have Jon and Ygritte on this list, but honestly, there's another GOT love scene that absolutely deserves inclusion on the ground of gorgeousness alone: The tender sex scene between Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson).
These characters have had one of the greatest emotional arcs on the series and when they finally made their relationship physical, it was perfection.
'American Gods'
In its third episode, American Gods wowed audiences with a sex scene that was at once touching, empowering, and tender. The scene, between a young Middle Eastern man named Salim (Omid Abtahi) and a god called the Jinn (Mousa Kraish), was sexy, sensual, and everything else you could want it to be.
"To portray Salim and the Jinn in a way that's sex positive for a gay man who comes from a country where homosexuality is punishable by death and you can be thrown off of a rooftop, it was very important to us...," executive producer and co-showrunner Bryan Fuller explained to The Hollywood Reporter. "In the book, Salim blows the Jinn in the hotel and then he's gone. It was important for us in this depiction to have Salim drop to his knees and prepare to achieve sex the way he'd been accustomed to, and the Jinn lifts him off of his knees and kisses him and treats him much more soulfully and spiritually to change his perception of who he is and what his sexual identity has become. That felt like it was empowering in a different way, showing a protagonist as the one who is being penetrated. That comes with all sorts of preconceptions of gender roles and what it is to be a gay man at the same time."
'Girls'
Talk about breaking taboos. While Marnie (Allison Williams) and Desi's "anilingus" scene isn't exactly the definition of "graphic and gorgeous" we've included it here because it was SUCH a huge moment in on-screen sex. Sure, there are no rules on HBO, but Girls took things to the next level with this honest depiction of intimacy. And no, the actor who played Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) was nowhere close to doing the real thing.
"I grabbed the makeup girl and said, 'I want to smell like a cake,' so we put vanilla cream everywhere so everything smells good," Williams told Vulture. "And then I'm like, 'Grace [in wardrobe], we're going to rig something invisible from the side but that feels like a pillow when he puts his face into it.' And, that's what we did! You wouldn't know; it's total TV magic."
'The Handmaid's Tale'
The sexual tension between Offred (Elisabeth Moss) and Nick was through-the-roof during The Handmaid's Tale, and it was all the more potent thanks to the themes of female sexual repression in the show. When the two characters finally gave into their physical desire, it was completely glorious—not to mention beautifully filmed.
"That scene, to me, is really about release for June," explained Max Minghella, who plays Nick. "I felt like I was the least important factor. This society is so terrified of female pleasure specifically, so these moments of reprieve are important. That scene was simple to shoot [because] it was more primal than anything else I worked on. Mike [Barker, the director] is uniquely gifted to shoot such scenes—he's a man with no filter. And Lizzie [Moss] and I are very close and trust and respect each other. It's was a very effective combination of people to tackle a scene like that."
'Westworld'
During its first season, Westworld went all in on a glamorous, gold-painted orgy scene. The scene was one of the most talked about during the show's explosive debut season and drew comparisons to Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.
When asked if there was ever concern that the scene went too far, co-executive producer and supervising director Richard J. Lewis told The Hollywood Reporter, "I think all of us have a modicum of taste that keeps us from taking it too far into the pornographic world and keeps it in the sensual world. I think that's important."
'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'
Buffy and Spike's relationship is one of the most controversial on the series (and in mainstream television history, for that matter). It was doomed from the start and culminated in a hard-to-watch scene of sexual assault that, for many, tainted the entire coupling. And yet...Buffy and Spike's first "love" scene deserves inclusion on this list for its graphic depiction of sex that served a purpose other than romance for the show's female lead, which was actually pretty subversive in the early aughts. In the scene, described by some as sadomasochistic, Buffy and Spike literally destroy an abandoned building while doing the deed.
Not everyone was a fan, of course, including Sarah Michelle Gellar. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she admitted that she didn't like the season that featured the Buffy/Spike relationship at all. "I’ve always said that season 6 was not my favorite," she said. "I felt it betrayed who she was. "
'Shameless'
Shameless has given the world a lot (like, a lot) of amazing sex scenes over the years, but Season 1's kitchen sex scene between Fiona and Jimmy will always be iconic. Emmy Rossum, who played Fiona Gallagher for the show's first nine seasons, also happens to think the scene is important for showing a side of sex not often presented on screen.
"I feel like we get so used to seeing the pretty version of sex that doesn’t actually really look like any sex I’ve had," she told Collider in 2011. "You get the Hollywood girl with the blow-out who looks really pretty on the satin sheets. That doesn’t really happen. So, I think that when you’re going to show real people and real feelings, in a gritty situation, to glamorize it or be concerned about how you look during those situations would be foolish. And also, I feel like, as an adult, a lot of how you feel about yourself and what your inner workings are can be revealed in a sexual situation. As an actor, that’s fun to play."
'You're the Worst'
When it comes to sex on TV, maybe no show has embraced the very real and often not romantic realities of the act more than FX's You're the Worst, which kicked things off in its pilot with a sex scene that set up the entire series.
“Sex is always a tricky balance on television because on one side you have titillation and on the other the narrative rigors of storytelling," creator Stephen Falk explained. "So you go about it as you do with any scene: Is it revealing about character? Does it help the story? Or is it just goddamn entertaining? We clearly started off season one with a strong sex scene between two strangers who became the leads on our show. And since then, we’ve used them very sparingly to help put them in a different context in which to show what’s going on in their relationship."
'Luke Cage'
The sex scene between Luke Cage and Misty Knight is pure fire in all of the best ways. Seriously, there could be no wrong with a sex scene starring these two.
"So often when we watch typical shows, a woman meets a man, they have sex, and now her entire being and existence is dependent on his opinion, how he looks at her, how he treats her. [Showrunner] Cheo [Hodari Coker] and our writers did a really good job putting Misty in a position of power," Simone Missick, who plays Misty, said of the relationship. "Where she’s like, 'I’ll call you. I know where you work. We’ll see each other later. We can keep this casual.'"
'Game of Thrones'
Game of Thrones has had its share of sexy, sexy love scenes over the years, and its final season has been no exception. Fans were shocked (but also pretty into it) when fully-grown Arya Stark took charge and let her longtime crush and fellow sexy adult human Gendry know that she wanted to get it on.
"I kept myself pretty private. I don’t think it’s important for Arya to flash. This beat isn’t really about that. And everybody else has already done it on the show, so…" Maisie Williams, who plays Arya, said of the scene during an EW interview. "No one wants to make you feel uncomfortable which kind of makes you feel more uncomfortable, because no one wants to look at anything that they shouldn’t look at, which in turn makes you feel like you look awful because everyone is kind of like—[she averted her eyes]. You want people to act more normal."
'Dexter'
In one very memorable sex scene from Showtime's serial killer drama Dexter, the titular angel of death seemed like he was about to get his kill on with Hannah—but then got something else entirely on, instead.
"It was a mixture of vulnerability, being on that table naked about to be killed, but then it turns into this intimate thing," actress Yvonne Strahovski, who played Hannah, told Esquire of the scene. "It was my first time shooting an intimate scene so I was especially nervous on the day, but Michael being the pro that he is and coming off a show like Six Feet Under — he had to do a lot of those scenes. It was kind of like riding a bike for him."
'UnREAL'
Lifetime's UnREAL was the fake Bachelor drama we all needed in our lives—and it included all of the sexiness that we can only imagine is too hot for TV on the real Bachelor. In one scene from Season 3, the show gave us a taste of what (might) go on in the Fantasy Suites (and in the crew's rooms).
'Shameless'
Shameless has had plenty of sex scenes over the years, but one of the standouts came in season 3, when Lip ended up hooking up with a woman named Blake, who gave him a memorable pep talk about delayed gratification.
'Jane the Virgin'
Jane might have stayed a virgin longer than we ever could have imagined on Jane the Virgin, but she did eventually experiment with casual sex, resulting in a very sexy (or, as sexy as The CW will allow, at least) romp with a gorgeous specimen named Fabian.
'Altered Carbon'
If you want to emphasize the "chill" next time you decide to Netflix and Chill for date night, might we suggest Altered Carbon, Season 1, episode 5, which features a particularly steamy hookup between Kovacs and Ortega.
'Euphoria'
Euphoria has made headlines with every episode, often for its depictions of sex. Episode 3, "Made You Look," made that list with a graphic, NC-17 animated (and, obviously, fictional) sex scene between One Direction's Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. The scene left many fans of the boy band outraged and, while its tastefulness is up for debate, there's no denying its impactful depiction of the intersection between fan fiction and sexual fantasy.
'Riverdale'
While the steaminess of a network television teen drama can only get so hot, Riverdale's sensual moment between Betty and Jughead, in which she declares that she wants "all of him" tonight, is about as hot as the circumstances (and censors) allow.
'The Affair'
With a title like The Affair, this Showtime drama was guaranteed to be a big pile of sexy right from the start. Season 1, episode 6's shower scene is particularly steamy—both literally and figuratively.
By the show's fifth season, star Dominic West confessed that he was over the constant sex scenes.
“I’m really hoping I don’t have to do it too much now, we’re doing the fifth season,” he told Us Weekly. “We used to get so blasé about the sex. I remember once we were having to get into the scene and I just shouted out, ‘OK, what position should we do now?’ And we took suggestions from the crew and someone shouted, ‘Reverse cowgirl!’ I still don’t know what that is.”
'Gypsy'
Gypsy may have only lasted one season on Netflix, but the Naomi Watts-led drama will live on forever in the hearts of Jean and Sidney shippers everywhere. The red hot relationship was burned into fans' brains thanks to their hookup in the show's seventh episode.
'Dear White People'
Thanks to Gabe's paranoid brain, we're all treated to a smoking hot fantasy scene between Sam and Reggie that could make anyone thirsty.
