Why Are We So Obsessed With Fictional Love Triangles Involving Brothers?

Growing up in the era of My So-Called Life and Dawson’s Creek, I slowly internalized a message about love: It wasn’t real unless it endured some serious opposition—preferably, in the form of a love triangle.

When you’re a teenager, every connection can feel fateful, even if—in reality—it’s purely based on proximity. I probably didn’t need to date two guys in my high school friend group and sleep with another years later…before later marrying and divorcing one of those aforementioned love interests. Of course, it would be reductive to suggest that a TV trend was responsible for my admittedly questionable decision-making. But would Angela Chase or Joey Potter have operated any differently?

In popular entertainment, the love triangle is always evolving, adapting with new trends and taking new forms. One of the more recent incarnations, perhaps bizarrely, puts family at the heart of the story—particularly, brothers. Depending on your outlook, you might find these romances deeply charming or deeply creepy. But no one can deny their popularity.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when the modern phase of this trend began, but the examples seem, suddenly, to be everywhere. Perhaps most obvious is the Team Conrad versus Team Jeremiah debate that has defined Prime Video’s mega-hit romance series The Summer I Turned Pretty, adapted from Jenny Han’s book of the same name. Amongst fans of the show, pulling for the right Fisher brother to woo protagonist Belly Conklin became a sort of morality test as the seasons went on.

Similarly, we could look to this summer’s Prime Video series Every Year After, adapted from Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After, in which protagonist Percy falls in love with one brother, Sam, but—spoiler alert—gets briefly entangled with the other when she and Sam break up. Although fans are quick to point out that Percy, Sam, and Charlie aren’t in a true love triangle (it’s obvious from the get-go that Percy and Sam are the “endgame” couple), it’s still noteworthy that a romance involving two brothers would again ignite such interest.

But perhaps a better example is Netflix’s My Life with the Walter Boys, also adapted from a book by Ali Novak, which returned for its third season this week. The series chronicles recently orphaned protagonist Jackie Howard’s integration into the Walter family, which includes seven boys, two of whom compete for Jackie’s affections.

Historically, there’s certainly some precedent for romantic rivalry involving siblings. Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women pits sisters Jo and Amy March between their next-door neighbor Laurie. The 2010s CW supernatural teen drama The Vampire Diaries saw protagonist Elena pursued by two vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon. And even in John Steinbeck’s East of Eden—which itself will receive a Netflix TV adaptation later this year—Cathy Ames marries one brother but sleeps with the other on her wedding night.

A protagonist being caught between multiple prospects is a mainstay of romantic fiction, from Jane Austen to Twilight—particularly when those prospects represent opposite ends of a spectrum. (There’s a reason the jock-versus-nerd trope is such a popular one.) But what is it about brothers, in particular, that has ignited such a fervor?

Alessandra Ferreri, head of content at the popular storytelling platform Wattpad, has witnessed the trend growing in real time. “Over the last five years, Wattpad users have spent an average of 26 million minutes a week reading stories tagged #BrothersBestFriend, #SiblingRivalry, and #LoveTriangle,” Ferreri tells ELLE.

She continues, “The love triangle trope, and specifically when it involves a sibling rivalry, naturally incorporates elements of forced proximity, forbidden romance, and the promise of family drama, making it a compelling narrative within the romance genre. I don’t see it dying down anytime soon.”

In Netflix’s My Life With the Walter Boys in particular, the protagonist is caught between two very different brothers. After Jackie’s family dies, she’s sent to live with her mom’s best friend, Katherine Walter, who just so happens to have eight children, including brothers Cole and Alex. The fact that Jackie ends up living in a house with them both only makes the romantic tension between each pair more complicated.

Melanie Halsall, the creator and showrunner of My Life With the Walter Boys, was drawn to the opportunity to tell “a romantic story set in a beautiful rural location with a large ensemble cast,” she says. But the central love triangle between Jackie, Cole, and Alex “was always going to be the sun around which all the other stories and characters would revolve,” she tells ELLE over email.

As for why viewers are currently flocking to shows featuring brotherly love triangles, Halsall says, “Some of it is wish fulfillment. But from a storytelling perspective, two brothers in love with one girl really raises the stakes.” She notes that dueling love interests pretty much always lead to someone getting their heart broken, and throwing siblings into the mix only makes “the consequences more severe and the fallout longer-reaching for everyone involved as well as in the wider family.”

Bestselling author Nichole Perkins is somewhat of an expert on the topic of literary love interests; her next volume, Book Boyfriends: 30 Fictional Men Who are Better Than the Real Thing, will be released this October. She considers the brotherly love triangle to be a pretty obvious way in which readers and viewers can explore a taboo sans judgment. “I think a lot of readers are into love triangles with brothers because it’s a safe, ‘good girl’ way of having your cake and eating it too by indulging in something close to polyamory,” Perkins says. “You date one brother, fall for the other, and regardless of who you choose as your happily-ever-after, you’ll get to keep both of them in your life.”

Perkins muses on why the trend is reaching such a wide audience in 2026, telling ELLE, “Most polyamory or ‘why choose?’ storylines end up [sorted] in [the] dark romance [category] because they’re considered too taboo for mainstream. But a love triangle featuring brothers can be labeled simply ‘young adult,’ ‘new adult,’ or ‘contemporary,’ for example.”

Celebrity ghostwriter Joshua Lisec, who has authored three New York Times bestsellers and closely follows literary trends on behalf of his many clients, concurs, referencing the “reverse harem” trope, in which “the female protagonist has her pick of multiple men.” He further explains, “As polyamory is mainstreamed, viewers and readers alike are more prepared for this kind of concept.”

Lisec also alludes to Twilight’s Edward Cullen and Jacob Black, whom he believes slip into a sibling-like love-triangle mold. Discussing the growing fixation with brothers, the author says, “This is the Gen Z version of the Twilight saga love triangle that millennials grew up with. Although, in that case, it was not literally brothers; it was a concept where you had ‘brothers’ in supernatural-ity, right?”

Of course, The Vampire Diaries—based on L. J. Smith’s book series —was a natural predecessor to the current love stories involving siblings. Supernatural genres, after all, forgive all manner of potential crimes or questionable relationships, as every faux pas can more easily be excused when magic or mysticism is involved.

Julie Anne Robinson, an Emmy-nominated and BAFTA-winning director who has worked on shows such as Bridgerton and The Hunting Wives, thinks the trend has emerged in the 2020s for a reason.

“Trends are born out of a specific cultural moment,” Robinson tells ELLE over email. “They answer a societal need. During the Great Depression, entertainment skewed toward escapism: musicals, comedies, and stories that offered relief from everyday hardship. If we jump forward to 2026, I would argue that we are a society defined by division.”

Robinson continues, “Families are divided, politics are divided, and increasingly we’re all living inside our own silos. In response, we’re drawn to stories that speak to universal emotions and experiences. And let’s face it: In all their yummy emotional mess, love triangles are one of the few things we can still all argue about together.”

You author Caroline Kepnes agrees. Her Joe Goldberg series subverts romantic comedy tropes through the lens of a serial killer. The author—who recently released her prequel novel You First —enjoyed watching Joe squirm when he found himself challenged by his love interest’s twin brother, Forty.

“Sibling rivalry is an inherently ripe sandbox for drama, comedy, or romance, especially in these hyper-connected, volatile times when so many families are estranged and fighting online,” Kepnes says via email. “Plus, we’re in WTF 2026! You see a photo and it’s like wait…Is that real? Is this AI? A story about a woman torn between two brothers is sort of comfortably rooted in indisputable fact. Amid escalating, disorienting real-life chaos we seek solid, classic storytelling ground.”

Of course, just because something works beautifully onscreen, that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea in reality. Relationship therapist and The Formula of Desire author Anna Elton acknowledges the tension created by sibling love triangles, but in real life, she urges caution to anyone caught in such a scenario.

“If a client found themselves romantically caught between two brothers, I would encourage them to slow down,” Elton says. “Research shows that people struggle most when choosing between two desirable options because every choice involves a meaningful loss.”

Elton continues, “What makes situations like this particularly difficult is that the decision extends beyond attraction and desire. Love, loyalty, guilt, and family dynamics become intertwined, making the choice more complex than a typical romantic dilemma.”

Essentially, the reasons why an expert might advise against becoming romantically involved with two siblings is exactly what makes these stories so engaging to readers and viewers. “Like, if you get involved with your boyfriend’s brother…you can’t so easily ghost him,” Kepnes notes. Basically, Thanksgiving’s going to be super awkward.

While love triangles themselves are unlikely to die anytime soon, the very specific “brothers” dynamic will only “continue until the audience is saturated,” Robinson believes.

If the trend itself comes from anywhere, it’s the audience’s unending desire for protagonists with impossible choices, be it the affections of two best friends, two opponents…or two brothers, apparently. But rather than living out this particular fantasy, watching it play out in TV and novels certainly seems like the safest bet in 2026.