About A Discovery of Witches
A Discovery of Witches is a supernatural romance drama based on Deborah Harkness's bestselling All Souls trilogy. The story centers on Diana Bishop, a brilliant historian and reluctant witch who has spent her life denying her magical heritage after a childhood tragedy. While researching alchemical texts at Oxford's Bodleian Library, she unknowingly calls up a long lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782, an act that draws the attention of the hidden world of creatures around her.
The manuscript is believed to hold secrets about the origins and future of witches, vampires, and daemons, and its reappearance sets off a dangerous scramble among supernatural factions desperate to control it. Diana soon crosses paths with Matthew Clairmont, a centuries old vampire and geneticist who is also searching for answers about why the creature species are slowly dying out. Their alliance, forbidden by an ancient covenant that bars relationships between different kinds of creatures, gradually deepens into a powerful and perilous love.
Across three seasons, the series blends romance, mystery, and time travel as Diana and Matthew journey from modern Oxford and the French countryside to Elizabethan London in search of the manuscript and the truth about their own powers. Lush period detail, an ensemble of vampires, witches, and daemons, and a sweeping love story made the show a favorite among fans of supernatural fiction. It is widely seen as a more grown up entry in the witches and vampires genre, grounded in scholarship, history, and character.