It seems that, with each generation, people continue to be obsessed with preserving their youth. However, I cannot say that I submit to that mentality because I have watched my fair share of movies and TV shows that deal with eternal life, and it really does not sound like all it’s cracked up to be.
That being said, the mere idea of having a life without end and being able to experience multiple eras in history firsthand has always fascinated me, which is why I do tend to enjoy these kinds of stories. We could spend an eternity discussing all the best tales of immortality from the big and small screen, but here are some of the essentials.
Death Becomes Her (1992)
Robert Zemeckis’ darkly comic, classic ’90s movie Death Becomes Her, actor Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) discovers that the secret to her longtime rival, author Helen Sharp’s (Goldie Hawn), sudden success and “glow-up” is a potion that grants eternal youth. However, it also makes maintaining that youthful glow more challenging, especially after Madeline and Helen suffer insane accidents, which Sabrina Carpenter and Jenna Ortega parodied in the “Taste” music video.
Steven Spielberg would even use J.M. Barrie’s classic fantasy tale as the catalyst of a story exploring the loss of one’s inner child in 1991’s Hook, which stars Robin Williams as a grown-up Peter Pan.
Ryan Reynolds’ adaptation of Marvel’s Deadpool comics revolve around the eponymous anti-hero’s incredible healing abilities, which also prevent him from aging. Quick-witted mercenary Wade Wilson gained this blessing, or curse, after participating in an experimental program to cure his cancer, which also left him with a grotesque skin condition, inspiring him to wear a costume covering him head to toe.
regenerating and changing his appearance, which explains why he is played by a different actor every few seasons or so.
Jared Leto stars in the moving, surreal sci-fi drama as the last mortal man in a utopian future, where he recounts the life (or lives) he has experienced up to this point to a confused journalist.
Interview with the Vampire. Director Neil Jordan’s adaptation of Anne Rice’s novel stars Brad Pitt as Louis, who tells a 20th-century journalist (played by Christian Slater) the story of his life as an ageless creature of the night, dating back to the late 1700s when he is bitten by Lestat (Tom Cruise).
superhero movie not inspired by a comic book, Will Smith plays the titular boozy, homeless man, who has been mysteriously blessed with extraordinary abilities, including indestructibility and agelessness. However, he comes close to losing those gifts due to a shocking secret about his forgotten past.
most popular vampire TV shows of all time is HBO’s True Blood. Based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris, the drama takes place in a world where humans and fanged creatures of the night are able to co-exist, thanks to the eponymous, synthetic substitute for blood.
Salma Hayek, and more.
movie with a brilliant concept but a lackluster execution is the Justin Timberlake-led sci-fi thriller In Time, set in a futuristic society in which people stop aging at the age of 25. However, they can only live perpetually if they have enough time, which is also treated as currency. In other words, the wealthy are truly immortal, while the poor literally struggle to survive until the next day.
horror-comedy movie favorite, What We Do in the Shadows, which later inspired a hit FX series of the same name. The faux documentary follows what goes on in the lives of a group of centuries-old bloodsuckers (played by Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, and Johnny Brugh) sharing a house in New Zealand.
romantic horror movie Spring is a beautiful, Lovecraftian take on a Richard Linklater-style drama like Before Sunrise. It follows an American man (played by Lou Taylor Pucci) visiting Italy when he falls for a woman (played by Nadia Hilker), who is not only cursed with agelessness, but hides another transformative secret.
best episodes of The Twilight Zone, and his final produced work before his death, The Man from Earth, does feel like something that would have been right up Rod Serling’s alley. The film stars David Lee Smith as a professor who, during his impromptu retirement party, reveals to his colleagues the shocking revelation that he has inexplicably existed for thousands of years.
Japanese horror movies of all time, brings his signature style to this live-action adaptation of the graphic novel, Blade of the Immortal. The film stars Takuya Kimura as a samurai cursed with eternal life, who is enlisted by a young girl to help avenge her father’s death.
Dungeons & Dragons character served as the inspiration for his role in The Last Witch Hunter, in which he plays a man whose immortality has allowed him the time to become the most skilled asset in war against witchcraft.
ridiculous futuristic outfit that Sean Connery wears than the plot of the bizarre sci-fi adventure. The story is set in the 23rd Century, in which Connery’s deadly warrior, known as Zed, comes across a community where death has been rendered obsolete.
New Amsterdam (2008)
Not to be confused with a hit NBC medical drama that happens to bear the same name, New Amsterdam is a short-lived Fox crime drama starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as a New York detective granted eternal youth by a Native American woman he saved 400 years earlier.
The Old Guard (2020)
Based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández, the Netflix original film The Old Guard stars Charlize Theron as the leader of a group of ageless mercenaries. It would spawn a sequel that deepens its lore, which was released in 2025.
Immortality (1998)
Also released as The Wisdom of Crocodiles to reflect the novel that inspired it, the aptly named Immortality stars Jude Law as a vampire preying on women in hopes of finding the one who redeems him.