Sep 29, 2026 Content Strategy
Meeting your girlfriend’s family can be intimidating. Discovering they’re vampires adds a few complications.
In Eternally Yours, CBS’ new family comedy, earnest human Max (Jaren Lewison) enters a Seattle household with centuries of history. His girlfriend Emma’s (Helen J. Shen) parents, Charles (Ed Weeks) and Liz (Allegra Edwards), have been together for 500 years and their once-passionate romance has settled into an eternal rut. Max’s arrival shakes up the family and forces the couple to confront what it means to make love last forever.
Premiering Thursday, October 8, the CBS Studios series brings an eclectic coven into present-day Seattle, where supernatural abilities offer little protection against relationship troubles, family friction or the awkwardness of meeting the parents.
Familiar Relationships, a Few Centuries Older
For Rose Abdoo, who plays Phyllis, the connection to the material began with something immediately recognizable: the way married people talk to each other. Reading the script with her husband as her audition partner, Abdoo found a familiar rhythm in its exchanges. “The writing jumped off the page. To me, it's like exactly the way I talk to my husband.”
Learning that Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, whom she had worked with on Ghosts, were behind the show added to the appeal. But it was the household itself—with its marriages, children and chosen family sharing one roof—that made the comedy feel accessible. “They are, at core, a family that loves each other. They just happen to be vampires. So, you don’t have to have a deep interest in vampires to love this show,” Abdoo says.
That sense of recognition also drew Parker Young, who plays Jesse. Beneath the fangs, he saw a show he wanted to share with his family. “From the moment I read the script, I thought it was hilarious and just a fun, fresh take on vampires and something that I would enjoy being a part of, but also something that I would enjoy watching with my kids. It’s just a really fun, family comedy,” Young says.
Rose Abdoo and Parker Young in Eternally Yours
For creators and executive producers Port and Wiseman, those familiar dynamics grew out of their own longtime collaboration. “So really, Charles and Liz, in a way, are me and Joe,” Port says. “And it's inspired by our long-time friendship and business partnership.”
The pair wrote the script more than a decade ago, before adapting Ghosts. That show’s success ultimately helped bring their vampire family to the screen. “So now because of the success of ‘Ghosts’, we get to revisit this,” Wiseman says.
On screen, the arrival of Emma’s boyfriend gives Charles and Liz a reason to reconsider the example they’re setting. “Well, I feel like Emma is in danger of being overly influenced by Charles’ massive cynicism and sort of curmudgeonly view on relationships,” Weeks says.
Liz offers a more hopeful perspective, and Edwards sees something moving in her character’s desire to set a different example. “I think that the parenthood piece of it is sometimes once we realize that our kids are mirrors to ourselves and our own behaviors, and that they are learning from what we're doing... But if our kid is looking to us for what to emulate in a relationship, that after hundreds of years might actually elicit some change,” she says. “And if she won't do it for the sake of her own marriage, maybe Liz will try again to chip away at her husband's stubbornness or try to put some life into her marriage, as it were, for the sake of her daughter. And I actually find that to be a very moving concept and so relatable as a parent myself.”
Allegra Edwards and Ed Weeks in Eternally Yours
Supernatural Powers, Everyday Problems
Living alongside humans means navigating everyday routines while keeping vampire instincts in check, and, as Helen J. Shen notes, supernatural abilities can create their own complications. “It's obviously really cool with the powers and stuff, but they're kind of silly powers,” she says. “And when we interact with regular Seattle and mortality and the mortal world, the vampire powers and the vampire world kind of becomes its own small obstacle.”
The chance to explore that combination of spooky and silly was irresistible to Shen, whose interest in the genre dates back to her teenage Tumblr years. “There’s something about the spooky world building about this, with its comedic tone. I just thought, I need to be a part of this. I just want to have a good time, laugh, maybe put a fang in, I don't know.”
A World with More to Discover
The family’s everyday challenges unfold within a supernatural world that gives the cast and audience plenty to explore. “I think audiences are going to love the fact that we have a lot of lore nerds creating this show from all sides,” Shen says. “Everyone has some connection to vampire lore, mythological creature lore, and there's such a lush world that I think we're playing in.”
Jaren Lewison and Helen J. Shen in Eternally Yours
For Jaren Lewison, the experience has matched the promise of his first read. “The writing is exceptional. The sets are unreal. It's a really special show. I'm very, very lucky.”
Together, they’re building a household where forever leaves room for new surprises and very familiar arguments. “I think there's something for everyone. I think that it's so funny and I think it's so relatable,” says Lewison. “And no matter where you come from or who you are, I think there's something for you in this show.”
The cast of Eternally Yours
No Fangs Required
Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. Eternally Yours is teaming up with the American Red Cross to help ensure safe, lifesaving blood is available to those who need it. An upcoming PSA featuring Ed Weeks and Allegra Edwards will encourage fans nationwide to donate, running across series and talent social channels with additional amplification through CBS local news stations. Paramount employees will also roll up their sleeves on October 6 for an Eternally Yours-branded blood drive on the Paramount Lot, complete with vampire-themed giveaways. It’s a chance to help change a life—no fangs required.
Eternally Yours premieres Thursday, October 8 at 8:30 ET/PT on CBS and streams live with Paramount+ Premium.