21 Greatest ‘Will They/Won’t They’ Couples: How Long Did It Take for Them to Get Together?

The life of a shipper isn’t easy. The love stories we fall in love with are often long and arduous journeys.

It’s a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. We experience angst, pain, tears and moments of pure, unadulterated joy. All we want is our favorite couple together and blissfully happy. All the writers and networks want is to keep the couple apart as long as possible because, according to them, that’s where the drama comes from.

Well, that and they live in eternal fear of the Moonlighting Curse (which isn’t a real thing, but whatever). So, it creates this push/pull dynamic between the audience and creators. Eventually, there comes a point when the “will they/won’t they?” dynamic stops and the writers give us what we want — our beloved couple, happy and together.

But how long did we have to wait?

Let’s examine 21 of television’s best couples and how long it took before these fan favorites finally got together and stayed together. Spoilers ahead!

21 Greatest ‘Will They/Won’t They’ Couples on TV:

1. Buffy and Angel, Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Buffy was a vampire slayer. Angel was the brooding vampire cursed with a soul. Each was a selfless hero in their own right. Buffy fought anything and everything the Hellmouth threw her way. Angel desperately atoned for his sins as Angelus.

Their love was beautifully epic, but ultimately tragic.  They sleep together, Angel loses his soul, Buffy sends him to hell and Angel leaves town for his spin-off.

Then, Angel turns human and shares one perfect day with Buffy. Until he gives it all up to save her life and the lives of innocent people. Ugh, they were just a stake to the heart. That’s a Whedon romance for you.

Wait Time: Ummm…? On the Buffy The Vampire Slayer series finale, Angel returns to give Buffy the key to saving the world and they talk about the future. Buffy explains to Angel she’s cookie dough. She’s not finished baking (i.e. she has a lot of growing up to do), but when she looks into the future… she sees him. Angel has eternity, so he doesn’t mind waiting forever.

We may never know when they find their way back to one another, but Whedon gives us shippers every hope they will someday. (Sorry — the comics don’t count, only television canon allowed.)

Buffy: Angel! I do… sometimes think that far ahead.

Angel: Sometimes is something.

Buffy: It’ll be a long time coming. Years if ever.

Angel: I ain’t getting any older.

2. Mulder and Scully, The X-Files

The skeptic and the believer. Mulder and Scully investigated unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena and launched one of the greatest “will they/won’t they” romances in the history of television.

Wait Time: 25 years… and counting? In the eighth season, Mulder and Scully officially coupled up, and they even had a baby together. However, when The X-Files returned for a tenth season in 2016 the fans were shocked to discover they had broken up sometime after the second movie. Seriously, haven’t fans waited long enough?

Scully: Then we believe the same thing.

Mulder: Maybe there’s hope.

3. Luke and Lorelai, Gilmore Girls

The real love story of Gilmore Girls is Lorelai and Rory, but Luke and Lorelai are a fantastic second place. He owned a diner and she had a coffee addiction. Match made in heaven. It took many years, and the invention of a streaming service, for fans to finally get their happy ending.

Wait Time: 16 years. The series concluded in Season 7 with Luke and Lorelai getting back together, albeit ambiguously. Luckily, Netflix swooped in several years later to make it official with a wedding.

Luke: Before this thing goes on, you gotta realize: The only way out is in a body bag.

Lorelai: And now we don’t have to write our vows.

4. Logan and Veronica, Veronica Mars

Veronica was the teenage private investigator with a brilliant mind and snappy banter. Her frequent sparing partner was Logan Echolls, the popular bad boy. Logan and Veronica faced murder, rape, bar fights and bus crashes together. No matter the circumstances, and no matter how bad things got, sparks always flew.

Wait Time: 10 years. Veronica Mars was canceled after three seasons. Logan and Veronica ended in a very ambiguous and very not together place. That simply could not stand, so when creator Rob Thomas began a Kickstarter campaign to fund a movie, fans ponied up the cash.

Thomas rewarded long time Logan and Veronica shippers by reuniting them. Logan returned to active duty in the Navy, but promised to return to Veronica.

Logan: It’s 180 days Veronica. What’s 18o days to us? Our story is epic, spanning years, continents…

Veronica: Lives ruined, bloodshed.

Logan: Yeah.

Veronica: Come back to me.

Logan: Always.

5. Donna and David, Beverly Hills, 90210

While many Beverly Hills, 90210 fans argued over Kelly, Dylan and Brenda or Brandon, Kelly and Dylan love triangles, there was one couple most could agree on: Donna and David. So, it was no surprise they were the ones who ended up going the distance.

Wait Time: 10 years. The series that defined the nineties concluded with Donna and David’s wedding. Even Tori Spelling and Brian Austen Green were shippers — they wrote Donna and David’s vows.

David:  When was it that we fell in love, when we were 18 or 16, maybe 10? I don’t know ’cause the truth is I can’t picture a time that I wasn’t in love with you.

Donna: I look at you and I see my best friend, your energy and your passion inspire me in ways I never thought possible. Your inner beauty, so strong, that I know longer fear being myself. I know longer fear at all.

6. Ross and Rachel, Friends 

When Rachel walked into The Central Perk wearing a wedding dress in the Friends pilot we knew she and Ross were meant to be. “She’s his lobster!” Sadly, this was one cash cow NBC was determined to milk. Thank God for Monica and Chandler.

Wait Time: 10 years. Yup, we had to wait until the final episode for Ross and Rachel to finally stop being stupid.

Rachel: I got off the plane.

Ross: You got off the plane.

7. Caroline and Stefan, The Vampire Diaries

When the handsome Stefan Salvatore enrolled in Mystic Falls High School, busy body Caroline Forbes got all the details on him, telling her friend Bonnie, “We’re planning a June wedding.” But Stefan only had eyes for Elena.

He told Caroline, “You and me? It’s not gonna happen.” Well, Stefan… never say never. In probably the greatest fortuitous foreshadowing in television history, it looks like that June wedding is going to happen.

Wait Time: Six years. Caroline and Stefan became best friends. He helped her through her transition as a vampire and her hyper-control kept Stefan’s ripper tendencies in check. It took years, however, for their devoted friendship to grow into something more. Caroline realized her feelings for Stefan around the fifth season, but he was still struggling with losing Elena.

When Caroline’s mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Stefan helped her cope and he finally began to see her in a new light. Still, this is The Vampire Diaries and the road to love is never easy. It took two more seasons complete with shutting off their humanity, mystical pregnancies, a three-year separation with Stefan running from a vampire hunter and Caroline almost marrying Alaric. (Yeah, don’t ask.)

The Vampire Diaries is headed into their final two episodes and it looks like the writers are finally ready to follow through on that June wedding. One more episode! Hang in there Steroline shippers!

Caroline: I don’t want to let go of you, but you’re human now. Do you know what that means?

Stefan: It means I get to grow old with my best friend. It means I get to help my wife raise her two beautiful children and their children after that. It means I get to fight to be the man you deserve until the day that I die. I love you. Will you marry me?

Caroline: Yes. Yes, of course.

8. Booth and Brennan, Bones

Booth is the gambler and Brennan is the scientist. Watching their love story evolve, and Brennan open her heart to Booth, is one of television’s great stories. Unfortunately, fans didn’t get to enjoy the dating phase because Bones went straight to baby.

Wait Time: Six years. Booth confessed his love for Brennan in the 100th episode of the fifth season, but Brennan just wasn’t ready. It was heart wrenching. A season later though, Brennan is ready to make the gamble. After losing a colleague to a sniper’s attack, Brennan gets into bed with Booth on Bones Season 6 Episode 22, “The Hole in the Heart.”

Fans don’t find out until the next episode, the finale, that Booth and Brennan did sleep together and… she’s pregnant! From then on, they are a team both professionally and personally, marrying in the ninth season. The series may ending, but I believe Booth and Brennan will be together forever.

Booth: ….Chasing you has been the smartest thing I’ve ever done in my life and being chased by you has been my greatest joy. But now, we don’t have to chase each other because we caught each other.

Brennan: When Hodgins and I were buried alive, we each wrote a message to someone we loved incase our bodies were ever found. Hodgins wrote to Angela and I wrote to you. Dear Agent Booth, you are a confusing man. You are irrational and impulsive, superstitious and exasperating. You believe in ghosts and maybe even Santa Claus and because of you I’ve started to see the universe differently. How is it possible that simply looking into your fine face gives me such joy? Why does it make me so happy that every time I try to sneak a peek at you, you’re already looking at me.  Like you it makes no sense, and like you, it feels right. If I ever get out of here, I will find a time and place to tell you that you make my life messy and confusing and unfocused and irrational and wonderful. This is that time, this is that place.

9. Doug and Carol, ER

Doug Ross was the handsome, rule breaking, committment phobic pediatrician and Carol Hathaway was the kick butt head nurse. Doug and Carol were off to a rocky start right from the pilot.

After they broke up, Carol tried to commit suicide. It took a long time to put those broken pieces back together, but Doug and Carol eventually found their way to one another.

Wait Time: Six years. George Clooney left the series in the fifth season and not even Carol Hathaway’s pregnancy storyline (twins!!!) brought him back. It seemed like all hope was lost… until Julianna Margulies decided to leave ER in the sixth season.

In probably one of the greatest surprises in television history, Clooney reprised his role as Doug Ross for Julianna’s last episode… and is the reason I will love him forever.

Carol leaves for Seattle and reunites with Doug. I think my neighbors heard my shrieks of joy. Clooney and Margulies weren’t done though. They came back in ER’s final season, so fans could see them happily together, raising their girls and saving lives.

Carol Hathaway: I have to go find out.

Dr. Luca Kovac: Find out what?

Carol Hathaway: If he’s still in love with me… because… I’m still in love with him. I am. I’ve been in love with him since I was 23 years old. He’s everything to me. He’s my life. I feel complete when I’m with him and I feel empty when we’re apart. He’s the father of my children… and he’s my soulmate.

10. Joey and Pacey, Dawson’s Creek

She was the tomboy from across the creek. He was the wise-cracking underachiever with a heart of gold. Dawson Leery may have been Joey’s soul mate, but Pacey Witter was her true love.

Dawson’s Creek created one of the greatest love triangles of all time in Season 3, culminating in Joey choosing Pacey and running away with him on his boat True Love. However, it took many more years (and Jen Lindley’s dying wish) for Joey to finally make a choice between the two men.

Wait Time: Six years. Joey finally chooses Pacey in the series finale, “…Must Come To An End” (Season 6, Episode 24).

Pacey: The simple act of being in love with you is enough for me. So, you’re off the hook.

Joey: You know, for the record, I don’t want to be let off the hook.

11. Blaine and Kurt/Brittany and Santana, Glee

Glee was about a group of misfits building friendships and finding themselves through their high school show choir. It veered toward zany most of the time, but the love stories between Blaine and Kurt and Brittany and Santana were a steady anchor.

Of course, each deserves their own spot on the list, but I combined them into one because the wait ended for both couples at the exact same time. Only Glee would be crazy genius enough for a double wedding.

Wait Time: Six years. Brittany tells Kurt and Blaine that her one wish is for them to get married along with her and Santana. As for Santana, she’s determined to give her bride what she wants. Kurt is shocked and overwhelmed, but thinks the idea is completely nuts… until Blaine convinces him otherwise. Absolutely perfect.

Kurt: [to Blaine] And then you came along and even if someone had told me that it wasn’t gonna work out and at the end of all of our struggling and all of our work it would just end in heartache…

Blaine: [to Kurt] I would’ve said yes.

Santana: [to Brittany] A thousand times, yes.

Brittany: [to Santana] I would’ve suffered it all just for the tiny chance to be standing up here marrying you.

12. Chuck and Blair, Gossip Girl

They were the epic couple of the Upper East Side. Fans waited patiently for Chuck and Blair to quit all their scheming, to admit those precious three little words, and commit to each other forever.

Wait Time: Six years. Chuck and Blair get married in the series finale. Sure, they get married in a rush so Blair isn’t forced to testify against Chuck for killing his father (it was self-defense), but it wouldn’t be Chuck and Blair without a little scheming!

Chuck: Three words, eight letters.

Blair: One word, three letters: yes!

13. Sydney and Vaughn, Alias

They were spies and meant to be. Still, it took a lot of years for Sydney and Vaughn to find happiness. Sydney dies, Vaughn gets married, Sydney is really alive, Vaughn dies, Sydney has their baby, Vaughn is really alive… and a whole bunch of disguises and spy drama in between.

Wait Time: Five years, because nothing was ever certain on Alias. That is until the final episode aired and Sydney and Vaughn were living peacefully on the beach raising their two children, doing the occasional spy job on the side.

Vaughn: In my life, there’s only one person…the only reason I pushed you away…the one reason I didn’t know how to be around you…

Sydney: I know Vaughn. I know. We’ll find each other. We always find each other.

14. Damon and Elena, The Vampire Diaries

Even for a Stelena shipper like myself, I can admit Damon and Elena are endgame. No matter how selfish Damon was, Elena always saw the good inside him. It was his love for Elena that made Damon want to be a better man.

Wait Time: Four years. Even though she chose Stefan on the Season 3 finale, Elena died and became a vampire. Thus, making Damon her more suitable partner. They slept together in the seventh episode of the fourth season, but the pesky sire bond kept fans wondering if her love was real. Even though Elena chose Damon on the Season 4 finale it wasn’t an easy road.

They broke up over their self-described toxic relationship, Damon died and Elena erased her memory of him. No matter what “will they/won’t they” circumstance The Vampire Diaries threw at Damon and Elena, they always found their way back to each other.

Dobrev left the series, so fans have been patiently waiting for Elena to awaken from her sleeping curse and reunite with her chosen Salvatore. We’re two episodes away. Hang in there, Delena shippers!

Elena: I love you, Damon Salvatore.

Damon: I love you too.

15. Derek and Meredith, Grey’s Anatomy

McDreamy was dark and twisty Meredith Grey’s true love. It took her a long time to find him. And then it took her a long time to even know she wanted him, to be married, to be his wife, to have his kids. Yes, I am blatantly stealing dialogue from Shonda Rhimes because nobody writes a speech like her.

Wait Time: Four years. In a move I always admired, Grey’s Anatomy thumbed its nose at the “Moonlighting Curse” and put Derek and Meredith together permanently on the Season 4 finale “Freedom.” After therapy, Meredith realizes she and Derek can be extraordinary together and makes a heart-felt speech complete with a house made of candles.

From there, Derek and Meredith faced continual up and downs, an elevator proposal, a post it wedding and three beautiful children. Unfortunately, this epic love story has a tragic ending. Derek died in the 11th season, after Patrick Dempsey left the series. I’m still not over it.

Derek: I am calling post-it, Zola, Bailey, the tumors on the wall, ferryboat scrub caps. I thought D.C. was everything. I was wrong. You… you’re everything. I love you and I’m not going to stop loving you. I can’t live without you. I don’t want to live without you, and I’m going to do everything in my power to prove it.

Meredith: I can live without you, but I don’t want to. I don’t ever want to.

16. Castle and Beckett, Castle

There were no shortage of sparks with the crime novelist and police detective, but Castle’s playboy ways and Beckett’s trauma over her mother’s death kept these two apart for a long time.

Wait Time: Four years. After facing death yet again, Beckett finally comes to her senses and realizes what she wants is the man who’s been there all along… Castle. From then on, the series kept the couple together, culminating in their wedding in Castle Season 7.

There was a brief, sort of, break up in Season 8, when Beckett went after her mother’s killer, but they found their way back to each other. After some behind the scenes drama, the series was canceled. As a result, a hastily filmed ending was added to the finale, but it was Beckett and Castle were chasing their kids around their apartment, so I was good.

Castle: Beckett, what do you want?

Beckett: You.

17. Felicity and Ben, Felicity

Confession time: I’m a Noel and Felicity shipper, but it wasn’t to be. Felicity wanted to be with the boy she followed to New York City, Ben Covington. That didn’t stop the show from teasing the love triangle up until the finale episode though.

Wait Time: Four years. After a trippy exploration into “What If” where Felicity chooses Noel instead of Ben, the series finale concludes with Felicity and Ben repairing their broken relationship. And Noel gets married to some woman I can’t remember the name of.

Ben: I am so sorry for what I did. It was stupid and immature. It was unforgivable. And I know this is an impossible thing for me to ask, but you have to find a way to forgive me because I don’t want to live my life without you.

18. Zack and Kelly, Saved By The Bell

It took two series and a wedding special for Zack and Kelly to be together forever, but it was worth the wait.

Wait Time: Four years. Zack and Kelly get married in Vegas. There was a video montage of their love story in the middle of the wedding. It was awesome.

Kelly: Zack, wait. I know how hard it was for you to come and see me off, and I can think of a hundred reasons why we shouldn’t get married.

Zack: I know, Kelly. We’ve been all through this.

Kelly: But my answer is yes.

Zack: What?

Kelly: I love you, and I want to marry you now.

19. Jim and Pam, The Office

Jim and Pam were the sweet and sane love story in the middle of all the crazy in the Dunder Mifflin office. The Office is another series that when they decided to put their fan-favorite couple together they kept them together.

Wait Time: Four years. Even though Jim admitted his feelings for Pam early on, it took awhile for the timing to be right. But once Jim and Pam were on the same page – they stayed there. We watched them get married, grow in their careers together and have two children. Even though they faced martial woes in the final season, they worked their way through it to a happy ending.

Jim: I just had little moments with a girl who saw me as a friend. For a really long time that’s all I had. And a lot of people told me I was crazy to wait this long for a date with a girl I work with — But I think, even then, I knew that I was waiting for my wife.

20. Mathew and Mary, Downton Abbey

Lady Mary Crawley defined Ice Queen, but Mathew Crawley saw through her facade to the warm heart underneath. Duty, rejected proposals, war and a dead fiancée kept Mary and Mathew apart until a magical Christmas.

Wait Time: Two years. Mathew proposes to Mary on Christmas night in the falling snow.  Their blissful union produces a son and heir, but Mary and Mathew’s happiness (and the audience’s) is short-lived.

Mathew dies tragically in a car accident and on the day of his son’s birth no less. Downtown Abbey knows how to stab a dagger in your heart.

Lady Mary: It’s not because you’re afraid of calling it off? Because I’m not.

Matthew Crawley: No. It’s because of something Tom said. That I would never be happy with anyone else as long as you walked the earth.

21. Nathan and Haley, One Tree Hill

Sometimes a series comes along that bucks the “will they/won’t they” trend. Sometimes a series is brave enough to thumb their nose at the “Moonlighting Curse.” One Tree Hill was that series and Nathan and Haley were that couple.

Wait Time: One year. Nathan and Haley married in Season 1. Sure, there was a brief separation later on, but they reconciled quickly with a beautiful second wedding. For nine seasons, Nathan and Haley weathered the storms together.  They are proof there’s as much drama in staying together as there is in being apart.

Haley: Always.

Nathan: And forever.

If there’s one take away we can glean from this list it’s that when you fall in love with a television couple, you are in it for the long haul. The hope and trade off is, of course, that while we wait we are being enterained by some fantastic storytelling.

Which of these couples is your favorite, and was it worth the wait? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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