One True Threesome / Live-Action TV

• 13 Reasons Why has Clay/Justin/Jessica who became significantly popular as they are the show's Power Trio after the focus on Hannah shifts away. That help they were in the final scene in Seasons 2 and 3. And also Justin being a fan-favorite as the show continues, fans tend to ship his most popular ones (Justin/Clay and Justin/Jessica).
• Abbott Elementary: Melissa/Barbara/Gerald is a very popular threesome pairing in the fandom, especially by those who don't like the idea of applying Die for Our Ship to Gerald. Barbara and Melissa are best friends and the Fan-Preferred Couple, while Barbara and Gerald are Happily Married. It helps that Melissa and Gerald seem like close friends and get along well.
• Angel:
  • The unexpected family-like closeness among the original cast (Angel, Cordy, and Doyle) won many fans, some of whom 'shipped the whole threesome. This went double for Angel, Cordy, and Wes — after fans forgave the latter for replacing Doyle, that is.
  • Gunn/Fred/Wes, to reconcile the shipwars. Big Bad Jasmine even hinted to Gunn and Wes that they should do this in order to stop fighting over Fred.
• In Arrow Laurel/Oliver/Tommy, Shado/Oliver/Slade, Felicity/Oliver/Diggle and Felicity/Oliver/Tommy have all appeared in fandom. There's also Felicity/Laurel/Oliver, Felicity/Sara/Oliver, Laurel/Sara/Oliver, Felicity/Oliver/Ray, and Sin/Roy/Thea. If you wanted to make OT4/+ there's Felicity/Laurel/Sara/Oliver, Felicity/Laurel/Oliver/Tommy, Felicity/Laurel/Oliver/Ray, and Laurel/Sara/Oliver/Tommy. But then the show is really good at giving opportunities for OT3 to flourish.
• Sheridan, Delenn and Lennier looked sort of like this in Babylon 5 for a long time but in the end it didn't quite work out. Some Fan Fic writers disliked this.
• Apollo/Starbuck/Boomer of Battlestar Galactica (1978) are sometimes shipped this way. Athena/Cassiopeia/Sheba is as well, but it's rare.
  • The first scene of the last episode 'Hand of God' proves to be very suggestive when Apollo shows Sheba, Starbuck and Cassiopeia the Celestial Dome. Starbuck even suggests that the dome could be used for more than just stargazing. The four looked obviously guilty when Tigh asked them about it.
• Being Human:
  • Mitchell/Annie/George on the UK version, particularly in the early days. Occasionally made into an OT4 with the inclusion of Nina.
  • Tom, Hal and Alex have this vibe going on in Series 5. There's some romantic tension between Hal and Alex as well as lots of Ho Yay between Hal and Tom.
• The Big Bang Theory fanfic resolves several issues with Howard/Bernadette/Raj.
  • Also Leonard/Penny/Sheldon counts. Being the Power Trio of the show with fews importants pairings within (Leonard/Penny, Leonard/Sheldon, Penny/Sheldon). In addition, they have an amount of Threesome Subtext.
  Bernardette:Okay. I now pronounce you husband and wife. And the weird other husband that came with the apartment.
  • Amy/Sheldon/Penny exists, too. Sheldon and Penny are the characters with Amy talks and hang out the most loving both very much (to high-level Les Yay with Penny). Exists also because that resolves the Die for Our Ship situation for people who ship Sheldon/Penny. And they have also Threesome Subtext like Sheldon and Amy's first date with Penny as driver and eating at the same table in Season 4 Premiere.
• Big Time Rush:
  • Most popular is all four of the main boys, James/Logan/Kendall/Carlos, but you'll find pretty much any threesome combination if you look hard enough, sometimes even with one of the girls thrown in.
  • James/Logan/Camille is incredibly popular, especially considering how Logan orchestrated James and Camille's dress/tux trade in the prom episode.
• Bernard/Fran/Manny in Black Books. Three co-dependent friends, both of the guys being quite confused about their sexuality but usually too drunk to care, and most of the plot revolving around extreme boredom. The fanfic writes itself.
• Black Sails: Two canonical ones: Thomas/James/Miranda and Max/Anne/Jack.
• Boy Meets World:
  • Before Shawn fell in love with Angela, he, Cory and Topanga functioned as a trio. Heck, even post-hookup with Angela there's still plenty of support for Cory/Topanga/Shawn, especially after the former two get married.
  • Jack/Rachel/Eric also has some strong subtext.
  • The vibe's still there in Girl Meets World, including several jokes about it when Shawn makes his first appearance. As for the younger set, it's a tossup between Riley/Maya/Lucas and Riley/Maya/Farkle, though it might be closer to call this a One True Foursome.
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine has the Pimento/Rosa/Terry OTT. With Terry always being the unwanted hilarious witness to Rosa and Pimento's Unresolved Sexual Tension throughout the first half of the series.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Despite the massive Ship-to-Ship Combat, some fans are followers of Angel/Buffy/Spike — given that Angel and Spike are Buffy's most popular canon Love Interests and have a ton of Ho Yay between them already, it's not hard to see why. This is acknowledged in one Joss Whedon-written issue of the canonical Buffy Season 8 comic book, where it is revealed that Buffy's sexual fantasy is a threesome between her, Angel and Spike. Even more kinky, she wears a nurse uniform. And they're chained to her. Once again directly acknowledged by canon in Season 10, where Harmony outright states the 3 of them all getting together in a polyamorous marriage is the obvious solution to their longstanding Love Triangle.
  • Throw Dru in for super awesome PTB points.
  • Buffy/Angel/Faith is another big one, what with Buffy and Faith having Les Yay out the wazoo and Angel and Faith having enough chemistry to get a spin-off comic series out of it.
  • Oz/Willow/Tara could solve plenty of problems.
  • Buffy/Willow/Xander had quite a number of supporters in the early seasons.
  • Or take a look at "I Am What I Am" on the Fan Fic Recommendations page to find Buffy/Xander/Faith in a Type 8 triangle. It Makes Sense in Context.
  • Warren/Andrew/Jonathan isn't that uncommon.
  • Buffy/Willow/Tara has quite a few supporters, especially when you consider that Willow and Tara moved in to the Summers' house and were already essentially honorary big sisters to Dawn anyway.
    • The "Wuffara Chronicles" has Tara establish such a relationship when she 'invites' Buffy to join her relationship with Willow, Tara acting as the Mistress to them both while Buffy subs to Tara and is Domme to Willow, satisfying Buffy's need to both be ''in'' control and not have to be in charge all the time while Willow enjoys being given instant praise for her performance and Tara revels in being in control.
  • Given Dru's happiness at the three of them being together again and Angelus' implied past relationship with both Dru and Spike, Angelus/Drusilla/Spike is the obvious conclusion. Darla is sometimes included.
• Michael/Fiona/Sam, Burn Notice.
• Chuck fandom has both Chuck/Sarah/Casey and Chuck/Sarah/Bryce (as a solution to the triangle).
• The Closer and Major Crimes fans torn between the canon married adorableness that is Fritz Howard/Brenda Leigh Johnson and the sizzling Belligerent Sexual Tension that is Brenda Leigh Johnson/Sharon Raydor beckon the warm friendship-and-respect-with-slight-UST that is Fritz Howard/Sharon Raydor into their open arms and ship Fritz Howard/Brenda Leigh Johnson/Sharon Raydor.
• Cobra Kai: Daniel/Johnny/Amanda, for those that want to see Daniel's Hoe Yay with Johnny taken to its logical conclusion but aren't comfortable with the idea of him cheating on his wife. Amanda getting along with Johnny way better than Daniel ever did doesn't hurt either.
• Troy/Abed/Annie seems pretty popular in Community fandom. This may be because shipping Annie with either of the two guys singularly is itself a very popular option while in canon Troy and Abed have a very intensely close Ho Yay-laden bromance with each other (which, naturally, has led to shipping in and of itself), and this is a nice third option where everyone wins.
• Covert Affairs: It's early days, but Jai/Annie/Auggie is just too hot and snarky to pass up.
• Degrassi:
  • In Season 2, there was Craig/Ash/Sean. They even play Power Trio in the season finale. Executive Meddling made Sean leave the group, though.
  • Tracker/Sean/any girl.
  • In Season 3, Marco/Ellie/Sean.
  • In Season 4, Jay/Alex/Sean. And Jay/Emma/Sean.
  • In Season 5, Jay/Alex/Paige. And Paige/Alex/Hazel.
  • In Season 6, Jimmy/Spinner/Ash. And Sean/Emma/Peter. And Sean/Emma/Manny. Just...Sean in general.
  • In Season 8-9, Spinner/Holly J/Jay. Or Spinner/Jane/Holly J. Or Declan/Jane/Holly J. And Peter/Riley/Anya has some following (Peter/Riley/Anyone has some fan following).
  • In Season 10, Eli/Clare/Fitz or Eli/Clare/Adam... or Eli/Clare/Anyone really. Eclare has a lot of following. While Peter is out of the series, Riley/Anya/Zane and Riley/Anya/Dr. Chris have some fans making eyes.
  • In Season 10, we have Holly J/Declan/Fiona.
  • The whole time Sean and Ellie are together, Craig and Ash either hate each other or are "best friends", and Craig/Ellie attracts a huge invokedHatedom, but the Fun with Acronyms of Ashley/Craig/Ellie/Sean is worth it.
• Doctor Who:
  • Doctor (usually 9)/Rose/Jack Harkness. This came as close to canon as possible for a family show: Jack and Rose are both in love with the Doctor, Jack and Rose also fancy each other, and the Doctor loves Rose (but Cannot Spit It Out and never states whether it's romantic love or something else) and merrily flirts with Jack. Their dynamic culminates in Jack romantically kissing the Doctor and Rose in the same scene, in front of each other, and neither of them make a fuss — the Doctor kisses Rose soon after. However, their lives get very complicated right after that and, apart from a brief battle against a Dalek army years later, they never actually get a chance to spend more time together.
  • Doctor/Master/Rani got some Foe Romance Subtext in "Mark of the Rani", though they don't get much support in comparison to the ever-popular Doctor/Master.
  • Two/Jamie/Zoe, as seen here◊; three characters, one hairdo. There's an RL platonic element to this one. The three actors were quite close and, according to Frazer Hines, even made some of the other actors jealous on the set of "The Five Doctors". Hines also stated that none of the constant hugging was scripted — it just came natural.
  • Eleven/Amy/Rory is a bit of a variation. Rory is completely Amy-sexual, Amy is in love with Rory but obsessed with the Doctor and wants to fit them both into her love life somehow, and the Doctor consciously represses his attraction to Amy (cf. "Amy's Choice"), but quickly grows to really like Rory with heaps and heaps of Ho Yay. Fandom seems to have embraced it big time. Their idea of a honeymoon is to run off with the Doctor in the TARDIS, And they look gorgeous◊. Though after Amy and Rory were revealed to be the Doctor's mother- and father-in-law, this ship was largely abandoned... until Eleven (being Eleven) decided that this was in no way a reason to stop randomly snogging Rory.
  • Five/Tegan/Turlough and Five/Tegan/Nyssa.
  • Ten/Rose/Handy (Handy here being the fan nickname for 10.5, the duplicate Doctor that grew from the Doctor's severed hand. Long story. Really long story.). Some people don't think it's quite fair that Rose should have to choose one of them and leave the other pining for her until the end of his days. Or something equally dramatic.
  • From the UNIT years, Three/Jo/Master is tremendously popular, especially now that it's canonical that the Master was flirting with the Doctor all along. There are quite a few official prose stories about the era in which Jo seems to ship it.
  • It's pretty much a grab bag with Torchwood, as Everyone Is Bi and the gang all have really screwed-up love lives.
• Dollhouse, has a variety of polygonic shipping. A popular ones include Echo/Alpha/Paul, Paul/Echo/Mellie, and Echo/Alpha/Whiskey.
• In Due South fandom, the fact that Fraser Has Two Rays has caused both the Ray Wars and the occasional threesome.
• Eureka: Due to huge amounts of subtext between everyone involved, there is a small subset of the fandom that ships Jack Carter/Nathan Stark/Allison Blake. Allison and Nathan used to be married, Jack and Allison have had Unresolved Sexual Tension since the very first episode and were married in an alternate universe, and Jack and Nathan have epic Foe Romance Subtext. Nathan's death seems to have merely spawned a host of resurrection fics, rather than stop the shipping. Nathan spent twelve hours in-canon analyzing Allison and Jack's relationship, tormenting Jack with his and Allison's romantic past, walking around without a shirt on, and implying the size of the... shoes that Jack must fill. In turn, Jack had quite a few jealous and Stupid Sexy Flanders moments, but slipped in there, "Still. It's really great seeing you again", implying that they're not all "Foe" on the "Yay". This is all in Jack's mental projection of how he remembers Nathan, and Nathan was crucial in resolving Jack's issues and getting him together with Allison.
• Firefly:
  • Zoe/Mal/Wash (although it was noticeably awkward when Mal and Zoe "tried" to make their relationship physically romantic).
  • Official Couple Simon/Kaylee may be joined by Jayne, River, or Inara depending on your tastes.
• The Flash (2014) There are Barry/Iris shippers, Iris/Eddie shippers, and probably shippers of Barry/Eddie. Forget ship wars, let's just have an awesome threesome! After all, Barry loves Iris, but he does care for Eddie (despite his slight jealousy). Iris loves Eddie, but she loves Barry, too, she just doesn't realize she loves him (in a more than sibling way) yet. Eddie loves Iris, but he does care about Barry, seeing him as a friend.
  • Following Eddie's death, Caitlin has generally taken the role of the third possible part in this triangle, as she is close to Iris and virtually all of her love interests after the death of her brief husband Ronnie have shown similarities to Barry.
  • Barry/Caitlin/Cisco as well. Being a dorky version of True Companions and having a great chemistry between them, many fans called them "Original Team Flash" ("OTF") and/or "Snowbarrisco".
• Friends: Monica/Chandler/Joey. Monica/Chandler being Happily Married, Chandler and Joey being Heterosexual Life-Partners and Monica single-handedly feeding Joey for years. When Monica and Chandler buy a house they include a "Joey Room" and both of them talk about him growing old with them. For their one year anniversary Monica books them a romantic trip away...to see Joey in Vegas. (Notably they're annoyed when the rest of the gang come along, but had no issues when it was just them and Joey.)
• Glee:
  • Puckleberry Finn (Puck/Rachel/Finn) is the most popular threesome.
  • Puckleberry Quinn, for those more fond of Les Yay than Ho Yay.
  • Kevin McHale, Naya Rivera, and Heather Morris have all said that they would love to see Artie, Santana, and Brittany get together.
  • Sebklaine (Sebastian/Blaine/Kurt) and Klaineofsky (Dave/Kurt/Blaine) are known to occur in fanfics.
  • The most popular and lampshaded in the series however, is The Unholy Trinity, comprised of Quinn, Santana and Brittany. They both used to hang out almost exclusively as a three and were considered best friends in the first 8 episodes (Before shit ensued). What makes this so awesome is that it's plausible. Santana is a lesbian, Brittany is bisexual, and Quinn has had a fair bit of Les Yay in the past, what with her drawing pornographic pictures of girls on the bathroom walls [read: Rachel] and drawing pictures of girls with hearts around them [read: Rachel].
  • From the Season 3-5 newbies, we have Jake/Marley/Ryder. Hell, the bulk of the fanfiction involving them has them basically saying a poly relationship is almost natural.
• The Good Place: Chidi/Eleanor/Tahani, since Eleanor has shown interest in both of them, and the two ships are equally popular amongst the fandom. Eleanor/Chidi eventually became canon, and Eleanor has repeatedly expressed being attracted to Tahani, though it's unknown if she reciprocates.
• Audrey/Duke/Nathan in Haven. They're affectionately known as "The Threegulls" by the fandom, a nod to the trio and Duke's bar, The Grey Gull.
• Heroes:
  • Matt/Ted/Bennet, until Ted's death.
  • Sylar/Peter/Elle. (Even after Elle's death.)
  • Some throw Adam and Mohinder into the above mix as well.
  • Season 4 has given us the carny OT3 of Samuel/Lydia/Edgar.
• Horatio Hornblower has Horatio/Archie/Bush in "Mutiny" and "Retribution". Archie Kennedy having been Horatio's best friend for the first series, and Mr Bush being his canonical best friend who actually appears in the books. While the Hornblower fandom is not known for a lot of animosity between ships (pun intended) any conflict between Archie/Horatio and Bush/Horatio can be solved with this.
• House:
  • While it might be slightly abusive, fucked up and Wilson/Cuddy tend to also act like House's parents, House/Wilson/Cuddy is still a firm favorite in the fandom.
  • Until Amber's death, more than a few fans were getting into Amber/Wilson/House as well.
  • There is no shortage of House/Wilson/Stacy, Chase/Cameron/Thirteen, and Chase/Foreman/Thirteen.
• How I Met Your Mother: All of the gang has been shipped in various groups. The "Marshall/Lily + one of the others" parings are particularly popular. Though all five of them have such unbelievable chemistry with each other that some people outright ship the group as an OT5.
  • Marshall/Lily/Barney: This is a blooper. Don't worry, you didn't miss an episode.
  • Marshall/Lily/Ted
  • Marshall/Lily/Robin is popular, especially given Lily's admission that she's had sexual dreams about Robin and their pretty enthusiastic kiss. Though as Barney points out, Robin and Marshall have absolutely no chemistry as a potential couple.
  • Ted/Barney/Marshall, and Ted/Robin/Barney seem to have their followers as well.
  • Barney/Lily/Robin, because he's Barney.
• iCarly has Carly/Sam/Freddie aka Creddiam. Freddie/Sam/Spencer is another pretty popular one.
• The IT Crowd's Jen/Moss/Roy. Understandable, given that Jen and Roy have had some moments of Ship Tease, Moss and Roy have kissed on occasion and had an entire episode dedicated to their relationship being Like an Old Married Couple, and Jen and Moss are strongly implied if not confirmed to have slept together once.
• Kamen Rider certainly has its hypothesized polycules. That's what happens when you have multiple hot guys who fight side by side and almost always have at least some measure of Ho Yay.
  • Kamen Rider Gaim has two main polycules in the shipping realm. There's Kouta/Kaito/Mai, who all seem to be attracted to each other in some way or another (ahem Ranbu Escalation ahem), and Kouta/Micchy/Mai, given that both Kouta and Mai seem to care a lot about Micchy. Micchy, for his part, acts almost like a jealous boyfriend when Mai decides to side with Kouta, and when he decides to become a Rider, it's implied that it was at least partially because he wanted to impress Kouta.
  • Kamen Rider Saber has so many possible polycules it would be impossible to list them all. The one that encompasses most of the shipping is Touma/Rintaro/Kento/Mei, with some shipping Touma/Kento/Ren.
    • It's funny- it seems like the series that have a lot of polycule shipping tend to be ones with a lot of Riders. Like, at least eight.
• Legend of the Seeker's Kahlan/Richard/Cara.
• Legends of Tomorrow has a few, like Nora/Ray/Nate, Len/Mick/Sara, John/Gary/Desmond and Charlie/Zari/Nate.
• In the Leverage fandom, the solution to the Parker/Hardison vs. Eliot/Parker seems to have mostly resolved itself in this fashion.
  • The creator actually confirmed this one.
• Life On Mars/Ashes to Ashes (2008): Oh, so many. Sam/Gene/Annie has been around nearly from the beginning, and A2A really pushes the Ray/Chris/Shaz and, let's face it, Gene/Alex/Keats. 3.07 has Keats lampshading the Gene/Alex/Keats overtones:
  "Do you think this is a game, Alex? A silly, flirty little game being played out by you, me, and Hunt?"
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Elrond/Durin/Disa is fairly liked for its heartwarming dynamics. Elrond and Durin have very emotional scenes all the time, and Disa is very supportive of their friendship and even pushed Durin to reforge his friendship with Elrond. They are not in lacking of memes like "Disa: This is my boyfriend, Durin, and this is Durin's boyfriend, Elrond."
• Lost:
  • The most popular OT3 is Jack/Kate/Sawyer.
  • There's some Charlie/Kate/Claire and Jack/Juliet/Sawyer out there.
  • An OT4 with Jack/Kate/Juliet/Sawyer.
• Lost Girl:
  • Bo, Dyson and Lauren, which Bo acknowledges the possibility of.
  Bo: We've never done this before, huh? Just the three of us. Like a threesome. Not that I've thought about it that way or anything.
  • With the addition of Tamsin there might be a Lauren/Bo/Tamsin.
• Lucifer spent a good chunk of Season 3 on Maze's objections to her ex Amenadiel and best friend Linda getting together; some fans decided to resolve this by having them all get together.
  • Chloe/Lucifer/Dan has also gained some popularity, since Lucifer is in love with Chloe but is openly bisexual and has had some ho yay moments with Dan. Plus Chloe and Dan were previously in a relationship and still get along and care about each other.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Three of Agent Carter's most popular ships are Peggy/Daniel, Peggy/Jack, and Jack/Daniel. The Peggy/Jack/Daniel solution is obvious.
  • Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; Fitz/Simmons/Daisy is a thing, pairing the show's Official Couple Fitz-Simmons with the undisputed captain of their ship, Daisy Johnson.
  • For Daredevil (2015), Foggy Nelson / Matt Murdock /Karen Page is quite popular, given Foggy and Matt's attraction to Karen, her clear affection for the both of them and the copious amounts of Ho Yay and Mistaken for Gay between Foggy and Matt. Some fans joke that Matt's so busy with his superheroing that he doesn't realize he's in a polyamorous relationship.
• In M*A*S*H fanfics, Hawkeye/BJ/Peg is the most popular OT3 with Trapper/Hawkeye/Margaret a close second.
• Merlin:
  • With Merlin, Arthur, and Gwen destined to rule Camelot together there is an outrageous amount of shipping going on, fueled entirely by the show itself. A dream sequence showed Arthur crowning Guinevere Queen of Camelot whilst Merlin watches with a look of abject adoration on his face. Most of their scenes together involve them staring at each other lovingly, and oh look! Gwen and Arthur have gone on a private outing to celebrate their anniversary. Wait, is that...? Yes, they brought Merlin along on their anniversary date. Clearly, he's also married to them both.
    • This can be expanded to a popular OT4 by adding Morgana, and sometimes then further expanded to OT5 by adding Lancelot.
  • Oh the shippable Knights of the Round Table. They're an OT7, consisting of Arthur, Merlin, Gwaine, Lancelot, Leon, Percival, Elyan, and possibly Gwen. If you want the wittle that down a little, Merlin/Arthur/Gwaine is popular. So is Gwaine/Percival/Leon and their actors, who seem to become popular due to interviews and twitter.
• The O.C. haves actually a ot4 between Ryan, Marissa, Seth and Summer. Being quite popular mainly because they're the main teens and couples (Ryan/Marissa and Seth/Summer) and each same-sex pairings are Heterosexual Life-Partners without forget the chemistry between all of them.
• Once Upon a Time:
  • A lot of fans who ship Emma/Regina are also big fans of Ruby and like to include her. It helps that Emma has chemistry and Les Yay with both of them, as does the fact that Ruby is bisexual in the show. Ruby's canon relationship often being seen as Strangled by the Red String also helps. This pairing is referred to as "Red Swan Queen".
  • Aurora/Phillip/Mulan. Aurora/Phillip is canon, Mulan fancying Aurora is also canon, you could make a very good case for Aurora fancying Mulan, and Mulan's relationship with Phillip is ambiguous. So, for those who didn't think much of the canonical departure of Mulan, this is an acceptable workaround. It helps that there's a Scottish variant of Sleeping Beauty ("Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree") that takes this exact path.
  • After Elsa was introduced in Season 4, Elsa/Emma/Hook became very popular among shippers who shipped Official Couple Emma/Hook. It helps that Elsa is the one to help Emma control her magic and also became close friends with both Emma and Hook. These shippers refer to it as "Captain Frozen Swan".
  • A lot of Regina/Robin Hood shippers love Maleficent and will often include her in their fanfics. It helps that while Robin Hood is Regina's canonical soulmate, she has a close friendship and great chemistry with Maleficent. These shippers often refer to it as "Dragon Outlaw Queen".
  • In an interesting case, at the end of season 5, Regina separated her Evil Queen half from her and allowed for the Evil Queen persona to interact with both her and Emma at the same time. Fans who ship Fan-Preferred Couple "Swan Queen" (Emma/Regina) took this as an opportunity to ship both the enemies version from the first two seasons and Les Yay that quickly became popular in later seasons at the same time. This is helped by fans also shipping the two versions of Regina (called "Mayor Queen") together. This threesome pairing is called "Mayor Swan Queen".
• Five episodes into The Orville, and this is being bandied about with Ed Mercer/Kelly Grayson/Alara Kitarn. Mercer and Grayson, despite a messy divorce, still have feelings for one another. The fourth episode put in some Ship Tease with Mercer and Kitarn, with Kitarn admitting she found Mercer to be cute and that Mercer seems to be the only man on the ship not intimidated by her Super-Strength. The fourth and fifth episode also had some good moments and chemistry between Grayson and Kitarn, with the fifth episode having both of them trying to defend him from the Villain of the Week.
• Power Rangers:
  • In Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, we had Tommy/Kim/Kat, and Jason/Tommy/Kim. Just Tommy in general.
  • Despite more than a few common non-romantic trios throughout the years, OT3 shipping really didn't hit its stride in PR until Dino Thunder, in which some fans started trying to pair Conner/Kira/Ethan. Though before that, Wes/Jen/Eric was pretty popular.
  • Truly, every season will have some fans that support the entire team being in a polycule with each other, though in some seasons (like Dino Charge) it's a little more common.
  • If there's major Ship Tease for two of the rangers within the 5-member main team, it's also not uncommon for the other three to be put together in a polycule in works featuring the main couple as a focus.
• Pretty Little Liars has has a couple of OT3s but Spaily has very recently grown in popularity. Combining the canon Emily/Paige (Paily) with the fanon Emily/Spencer (Spemily) and working off of the tension in Spencer/Paige interactions. Other OT3s include Lucas/Hanna/Caleb and Wren/Hanna/Spencer.
• Seems to be a fair amount of interest in Abby/Becker/Connor in the latest Primeval series. Helped along by the fact that these are the only remaining team members from the previous series (aside from Lester.) Oh, and they shared a rather emotional three-way hug in the opening episode of Series 4. Plus, they're all awfully pretty...
• Lassie/Shawn/Jules seems to be pretty popular amongst Psych fans, sometimes with Gus thrown in. It helps that this particular arrangement would very much not be out of character for Shawn to support.
  • The series finale basically makes Gus/Shawn/Jules canon when Gus leaves his job to move to a new city so he can be with Shawn after Shawn moves so he can be with Jules. Gus is even part of Shawn's marriage proposal to Jules and Shawn makes it clear that Gus will always be a part of their lives.
• Pushing Daisies Ned and Chuck are the Official Couple however Olive/Ned/Chuck is not out of the question.
• In Riptide, Nick/Cody/Murray is popular with fans who don't want Murray left out of all the Nick/Cody shipping. The three do live together on Cody's small boat, as well as being business partners, so it's easy to imagine Murray joining the two men who are his best friends.
  • In the first episode, Murray says "Yes" when the Girl of the Week asks him if he loves Cody and Nick. And Nick and Cody work together to protect Murray and are frantic when Murray is kidnapped and they think they've lost him forever.
• A good chunk of the Riverdale fandom supports Betty/Archie/Veronica, pointing out that it would solve a lot of problems. It doesn't hurt that the subtext is definitely there and played up — for example, the 3 of them going to a dance together.
• Will Scarlett, Djaq, and Allan-a-Dale from the 2006 version of Robin Hood.
• Sanctuary has Helen/John/James and Helen/John/Tesla as its most popular ones. It certainly helps that everyone seems to have subtext going on with everyone, so some fans just call it a day and ship The Five as an OT5.
• JD/Turk/Carla in Scrubs. JD has kissed both Carla and Turk. It's almost addressed in the show itself by Carla. When Turk is about to ask JD to be his best man at their wedding, JD somehow gets the idea they're about to suggest a threesome. His Inner Monologue doesn't sound too averse to the idea...
  JD's Inner Monologue: Oh my god, would I have a threesome with Turk and Carla? Well, it's certainly flattering and I don't think they'd tell anyone...
• The Shannara Chronicles seems to be actively aiming for this between the 3 main characters, at least as a subversion of the Madonna-Whore-dychotomy Love Triangle that existed in the book the show was based on. Amberle and Eretria are both in love with Wil, and he clearly fancies them both (even if he's perhaps more in love with Amberle, since Eretria had sex with him partly to steal his McGuffin). So far, so normal Love Triangle around a White Male Lead. But as the show goes on, it becomes more and more obvious that the Chosen One quest in this story is really Amberle's and Eretria's, with Wil having functions in the group that are normally given to the girl. And towards the end of the first season, the girls actually start to bond, bury their jealousy somewhat, and Eretria starts openly flirting with Amberle while sharing a bath...
• After their adorable interactions in Series 3, some Sherlock fans have started shipping Sherlock/John/Mary. It helps that this is invoked in-universe as well. Mary is the only woman that has been shown to like Sherlock, pushing John to reconcile with Sherlock and genuinely supporting their bromance and not becoming jealous of it. Sherlock, in turn, has been shown to genuinely like Mary for her own sake, as well. He's been actively accommodating John's relationship with her rather than his typical reaction of merely tolerating or actively sabotaging it. Here's another three-way wedding photo.◊
• Siren (2018) gives a lot of this to Ben/Maddie/Ryn, with Ben and Maddie in a relationship before they find themselves becoming attached to their mermaid guest Ryn (albeit complicated by such details as Ryn's lack of understanding of human boundaries and the unfortunately hypnotic effect of her song). As of Season 2, the triad is canonical and consummated; Ryn honestly loves both Ben and Maddie and her lack of learned boundaries helps Ben and Maddie accept that they both love the siren back, all of them know it, and there shouldn't be a reason not to be open about it, at least between themselves.
• Skins has Freddie/Effy/Cook — sometimes even outright implied in the show.
• Stargate SG-1:
  • To resolve Ship-to-Ship Combat we have Jack/Daniel/Sam. (Or Jack/Sam/Janet.)
  • Similarly, Stargate Atlantis has Sheppard/Teyla/Weir.
  • McKay/Beckett/Sheppard, Sheppard/Ronon/Teyla, McKay/Ronon/Keller, Cadman/McKay/Katie Brown...
• Star Trek:
  • Uhura/Sulu/Chekov. And of course Kirk/Spock/McCoy!
  • Star Trek: Voyager: has Paris/Kim/Torres. Meanwhile Seven/Janeway/Chakotay takes the sexual tension established between Janeway and Chakotay throughout the series, takes the mentor/student (or mother/daughter) dynamic between Seven and Janeway to the next level, and reluctantly lets in the out-of-left-field pairing of Seven and Chakotay tacked on to the last episode of the series.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has Bashir/O'Brien/Keiko, Bashir/O'Brien/Garak and Jadzia/Kira/Sisko. After Kira became a surrogate mother for Yoshi, O'Brien/Keiko/Kira has gained some traction.
  • The most popular ones in Star Trek: Enterprise are Archer/Trip/T’Pol and Archer/Trip/Malcolm.
  • For Star Trek: The Next Generation, there’s some Worf/Riker/Deanna and Tasha/Geordi/Data out there.
• Stranger Things has the Steve/Nancy/Jonathan ship, which some fans see as preferable to how Nancy ends up with Steve at the end of Season 1 before ditching Steve in Season 2 to be with Jonathan, and Steve still pines for her.
• Donna/Harvey/Mike on Suits, while not as popular as Harvey/Mike, gained a lot of popularity in Season 2, with Hardman's arc. Donna and Mike both have Undying Loyalty to Harvey; Donna is Mike and Harvey's Secret-Keeper, and when Harvey's position is at risk, Mike and Donna work together to get help him win. When Donna gets fired, Mike and Harvey pull together to get her back.
• Supernatural: Every male character has been shipped in a threesome. No exceptions. And given the fanbase, foursomes and fivesomes aren't that uncommon. Put the characters' names in a hat, grab a few, and odds are there's a fic somewhere.
  • Some people ship Sam/Dean (Wincest), some people ship Dean/Castiel (Destiel), a rare few ship Sam/Castiel (Sastiel/Sassy), and some people say "Forget it" and ship Sam/Dean/Castiel (Wincestiel/Team Free Will/WinCasWin).
  • Dean/Castiel and Sam/Gabriel are fairly common shipmates, but occasionally it'll turn into a foursome (Team Free Love).
  • One of the best ones is Cas/Dean/Jo, combining the two best Dean ships. It works because Jo was literally the female Dean and unquestionably his soulmate, and Cas/Dean one of the top ships overall in the fandom. In addition, Cas and Jo had a very cute friendship, and it could easily have gone farther. And really, it's not like Dean would have any problems with this.
  • There's also Sam/Dean/Jess, Cas/Dean/Meg (2.0 only), and Team Free Will 2.0/Next Gen — Ben Braeden, Claire Novak, and Jesse Turner.
  • There's also a few Lisa/Dean/Cas fics, resolving the genuine happiness he seemed to find with Lisa and family life with the obvious attachment he had to Cas. Lisa, the yoga teacher and open-minded girlfriend, is often the instigator of the threeway.
  • Rising in popularity, maybe worth it for the ship name: Destiny, or Dean/Castiel/Benny.
  • There's also quite a bit of Crowley/Dean/Cas, inspired by the whole Mark of Cain storyline and the fact that both Cas and Crowley are canonically written as having feelings for Dean.
  • Dean/Cas/Pie.
• Teen Wolf has gained quite a few over the years: Allison/Scott/Stiles ("The Golden Trio" of TW); Allison/Derek/Scott; Allison/Lydia/Scott; Scoot/Stiles/Lydia; Allison/Isaac/Scott thanks to Season 3A (expanded to an ot4 when Kira came on in Season 4, then Allison died); Allison/Kira/Scott; Derek/Kira/Scott; Kira/Scott/Stiles; Malia/Scott/Stiles; Allison/Lydia/Scott/Stiles; Kira/Malia/Scott/Stiles; Erica/Isaac/Jackson thanks to the rave scene in 2x08; Boyd/Erica/Isaac; Boyd/Cora/Erica; Stiles/Lydia/Jordan...
• Mitch/Alice/Richie from the accurately named Threesome. The show plays up the relationship between all three characters with each other as romantic, so it is near impossible not to ship them as an OT3. Plus, the whole point of the show is that the group have a threesome in the pilot.
• Tin Man has been known to take this route with the three human party members.
• The Top Gear (UK) fandom has a lot of OT3 fic. Sometimes the third party is a car.
• Sookie/Eric/Bill in True Blood was shipped way before it became canon. There was even a dream sequence in which Sookie lays down the law and puts an end to the fighting between them with a threesome.
• Henry/Jasper/Maggie in Unnatural History.
• The Vampire Diaries Universe:
  • The Vampire Diaries: Damon/Elena/Stefan. The primary proponent of this ship appears to be whoever does the show's promo pictures, which frequently portray the situation as less "I'm dating a vampire, and have a certain amount of sexual tension with his brother, which makes things a bit awkward" and more "Yeah, I'm totally doing them both, probably at the same time." This?◊ Not happening. It's further complicated by the part where Elena is the identical descendant of the vampire Katherine, who was — though not actually at exactly the same time, since she was playing them against each other. It was a popular fan theory that Katherine's goal was to do this... though Katherine later claimed that she was only really ever interested in Stefan. She may have been lying.
  • Legacies:
    • Lizzie/Hope/Josie is very popular amongst fans. Mostly due to their relationship development as a trio and some heartwarming moments. Fans generally called them Hosizzie.
    • Not to the same extent but Hope/Josie/Penelope in Season 1 because Josie has a kind of Will They or Won't They? situation with both. Called Phosie by fans.
    • In Season 2, Josie/Landon/Hope became ratherly popular ironically after their Love Triangle was resolved as Landon finally choose Hope and Josie remained friends with both. Their scene at the end of 2x09 attracted a lot of shippers. Some fans called them Handosie.
• Victorious has Cat/Tori/Jade, aka Catorade, as it's most popular OT3.
• In Vikings Season 1, Ragnar Lodbrok is Happily Married to Lagertha but also shares some UST with his priest Athelstan. Ragnar and Lagertha even explicitly offered to share their bed with Athelstan (who declined since he was a monk). Lots of fanfic insists he didn't stick to it.
  • It also helped that it had been established that at least casual male/female/male threesome hook-ups are acceptable in the culture, with Loki inviting another guy to please his wife. And then in later seasons, the show writers started actively supporting the OT3 ship as far as possible without showing gay kissing, what with Ragnar outright telling Athelstan that he loves him and needs him to stay with him (just before Athelstan was murdered). And even later, when Ragnar has a sort of What Could Have Been vision of how he'd really be much happier if he'd just stayed a simple farmer, that vision includes his daughter still alive, Lagertha still married to him, and Athelstan still alive and living with them.
• Wednesday: Larissa Weems/Morticia/Gomez Addams has quickly gathered a following in the fandom as a popular threesome pairing. Weems and Morticia were roommates at Nevermore and have a lot of tension in the present, Gomez and Morticia are happily married, and a lot of fans ship Morticia with both of them.
• White Collar Fans of the Ho Yay in the show don't seem to have a problem including Peter's wife Elizabeth in the fun (probably because she is so awesome, and because she and Peter are so adorably Happily Married). It also helps that Elizabeth, while being fiercely devoted to Peter, isn't shy about being a fan of Neal's blue eyes and charm (in an "I'll stick to my diet, but still enjoy looking at the menu" way.) To be fair, it seems like the promo monkeys◊ are shipping Neal/Peter/Elizabeth. (The promo picture shows Peter kissing El while handcuffed to Neal and all three actors' unbelievable chemistry.)
• The Witcher (2019): Season 2 has a big rise in popularity for the Geralt/Jaskier/Yennefer pairing. Geralt/Jaskier is the Fan-Preferred Couple, Yennefer is Geralt's One True Love, and Jaskier and Yennefer form an Odd Friendship in the second season. It helps that all three actors have great chemistry and it is also a good way to avoid Ship-to-Ship Combat.
• Xena: Warrior Princess: Xena/Gabrielle/Ares, Xena/Gabrielle/Hercules/Iolaus, and even the rare Xena/Gabrielle/Joxer.
• The X-Files: Scully/Mulder/Skinner is definitely not unheard of. More on the slash side of things, there's also Krycek/Mulder/Skinner.

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