Romeo and Juliet Meet Aliens in This Forgotten 13-Episode Sci-Fi Romance

Forbidden romances make for excellent and heartwrenching love stories, especially when it comes to television. With impossibly high stakes and the world around them working to keep two characters apart, the overall romance is heightened and made all the more compelling. My Lady Jane saw Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader) and Lord Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel) fighting to be together even though she was Verity, and he was an Ethian. Most recently, Heated Rivalry saw Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) finding a way to secretly be together even though they were on opposting teams and there weren't yet any out NHL players for most of the time they were together.

Another excellent forbidden romance TV show was The CW's Star-Crossed, a Romeo and Juliet-inspired teen drama with a science fiction twist. The series was sadly cancelled after just one season, but it was a great show with strong worldbuilding, a compelling main romance, and a number of shocking twists woven throughout the season.

What Is The CW's 'Star-Crossed' About?

Star-Crossed follows a teenage girl named Emery Whitehill (Aimee Teegarden), who lives in the small town of Edendale, Louisiana. When Emery was six years old, a group of aliens called Atrians arrived in Edendale, and they were then attacked by the military. One of the Atrian children ran away from the danger and hid in Emery's family's shed, where she found him and helped him. Although it wasn't for long, the two quickly grew to care about each other, and she was devastated when the military showed up and shot him. Now, a decade later, Emery has spent the last four years in the hospital due to an immune deficiency. Her first day of high school ever is already stressful enough, but there's another major change afoot at the same time.

Emery's first day back at school is also the day that seven Atrian teenagers will be starting high school for the first time after spending all these years trapped in a military base. This is supposed to be the start of a program designed to bring Atrians out of the base for set periods of time in order to allow them to be a part of society, but most of the people at Emery's school are especially hostile and unwelcoming towards them. Despite her automatic popularity, Emery has a great deal of empathy for her new Atrian classmates. She is only further drawn to them when she learns that one of these seven Atrians, Roman (Matt Lanter), is the very same boy that she helped in the shed when she was six. Not only is he alive, but he remembers her, and he is willing to risk everything to get to know Emery again.

The CW's 'Star-Crossed' Is a Suspenseful and Emotional Forbidden Romance Series

Over the course of Star-Crossed's 13 episodes, Emery and Roman get to know each other again after all these years, even though most of their friends and family members are against the idea of the two of them even being friends, let alone dating. It's already dangerous for the seven chosen Atrians to be attending school when so many people are against their being there, but spending time with Emery only places more attention on Roman and makes him more of a target. Meanwhile, there's a great deal of pressure on Emery to avoid the Atrians and try to have a normal high school experience after spending so much time in the hospital, and showing an interest in Roman puts her in the crosshairs as well. Some of the most dangerous forces working against the two of them are an anti-human group of Atrians called the Trags, and an anti-Atrian group of humans called the Red Hawks.

Star-Crossed is an emotional and fast-paced teen drama that sees Emery and Roman falling in love in spite of all the forces working against them. Everyone in their orbits also soon gets wrapped up in the chaos as well. Emery's best friend, Julia (Malese Jow), has leukemia, and Roman secretly uses his blood to save her life and cure her of her cancer. Meanwhile, Roman's friends start to question where his loyalties lie when he continues to choose Emery whenever she needs him, while Emery also grows closer to Grayson (Grey Damon), a human boy who's interested in her. All the while, a shocking tragedy forces Roman to step into a position of power among the Atrians before he's ready. The show is very entertaining and messy in all the best ways, and it had the potential to stand alongside similar shows like The Vampire Diaries and Teen Wolf, but it sadly never got the chance due to its early cancellation.