A-Men! These Are TV’s 16 Hottest Holy Hunks
The lure of a holy man is nothing new to TV audiences. Ever since The Thorn Birds, viewers have watched with fascination as good-looking men in white collars or learned scholars of the Talmud gave their congregations a reason to return week after week (aside from the usual religious guilt).
But what happens when that religious leader is also hotter than Hades himself? How are you supposed to concentrate on doing the right thing when your priest is filling your head with decidedly impure thoughts?
From the smoldering Hot Priest (Andrew Scott) in Fleabag to David Acosta (Mike Colter) in Evil and latest entry, Josh O’Connor from Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Story, this is a list honoring all the alluring, dreamy men of the cloth or the Torah who’ve made us pray for forgiveness while glued to the screen.
Check out our list, and if we missed any hot TV priests, please forgive us, then leave their names and shows in the comments below.
Rev. Jud Duplenticy in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
In the Netflix movie Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the striking Josh O’Connor plays Rev. Jud Duplenticy, a man of the cloth drawn into a murder mystery after being assigned to Wicks’ parish—his punishment for making the mistake of punching out a deacon. – Erin Maxwell
Hot Priest in Fleabag
When it comes to Andrew Scott‘s iconic character in Fleabag, it’s all there in the title: Hot Priest. While he may not have a real name, his swoonworthy approach to befriending and ultimately romancing the titular character (played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) was so real that he became a pop culture icon in 2019. From flirty banter to asking questions when Fleabag felt unnoticed, we couldn’t help but feel compelled by his disarming approach. When he finally breaks his vows for Fleabag, Hot Priest went from sweet to sizzling — nary a viewer can forget his delivering of the line, “kneel.” Still, Hot Priest’s love for Fleabag couldn’t contend with his love for god, making their tryst a brief but memorable one for TV viewers in the years to come. — Meaghan Darwish
Rabbi Noah Roklov in Nobody Wants This
In Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, newly single rabbi Noah Roklov (Adam Brody) is immediately smitten with agnostic podcaster Joanne (Kristen Bell) when they share a meet-cute born of mistaken identities at a dinner party. The attraction is mutual. How could it not be? Just look at that punim. His earnest attempts to make the relationship work against the odds won over audiences, critics, and viewers everywhere. – Erin Maxwell
Will Ransome on The Essex Serpent
The fact that we only got six episodes of Will Ransome’s (Tom Hiddleston) handsome face is a crime. The period adaptation of Sarah Perry’s book of the same name followed the vicar as he fell madly in love with a woman hellbent on investigating the mythical serpent… and audiences fell madly in love with him, at the same time. – Amanda Bell
Father David Acosta in Evil
Casting Mike Colter as a priest-in-training and having him go through with it when he had the chemistry he did with Katja Herbers (as Kristen Bouchard) was one of the most shocking parts of this stellar CBS-turned-Paramount+ drama. That’s not to say that nothing happened between the two — they couldn’t ignore the tension there — but we completely understood why the married Kristen was drawn to him and why we didn’t exactly mind any infidelity. —Meredith Jacobs
Father Paul from Midnight Mass
Hot and slightly evil with a supernatural twist? It doesn’t really get much better than Hamish Linklater‘s deluded priest in Mike Flanagan‘s Netflix masterpiece, Midnight Mass. Arriving on Crockett Island as a mystery man, Father Paul ignites a religious fervor among the small community’s inhabitants, only for them to learn the dark truth behind his presence. While his mission might be misguided, we couldn’t help but be moved by Father Paul’s well-intentioned, albeit poorly executed, effort to reunite the people he loved most in the world. — Meaghan Darwish
Rabbi Marshall Zucker in Extrapolations
As Rabbi Marshall Zucker (Daveed Diggs) in the short-lived Apple TV+ series about the dangers of global warming, he sometimes made shady decisions due to shul politics, but he did his best in times of need. Or at least he tried to.– Erin Maxwell
Monsignor Timothy Howard in American Horror Story: Asylum
Monsignor Timothy Howard (Joseph Fiennes) starts off as a pious, ambitious clergyman at Briarcliff Manor, but his hunger for power blinds him, and he easily folds to darker forces. His good looks and charm help smooth his path, eventually earning him a coveted promotion to Cardinal in New York. Yet the atrocities he allowed to flourish under his watch at the asylum ultimately destroy his legacy, leaving him remembered not as a man of God, but as a weak and complicit figure consumed by shame. – Erin Maxwell
Pope Pius XIII in The Young Pope
Before the first actual American pope was anointed, HBO’s satirical drama series presented Lenny Belardo (Jude Law) as the egotistical and lavishly self-decorated leader of the Catholic church. His ruthless, bitter behavioral styling was a turn-off, as was his declaration that none of his followers deserved to look upon his face, but c’mon. It was still Jude Law in fancy pope gear, which meant the whole show was a 10-episode eye candy session for audiences at home, and he belongs on this list. – Amanda Bell
Father Gabriel Stokes in The Walking Dead
This Episcopal faith leader had one of the more interesting character arcs in The Walking Dead (and, briefly, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live). Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) began as a coward who left his flock out to die and reanimate instead of risking his own skin. Over time, though, he became one of the most important members of the survivor squad and redeemed himself over and over again. – Amanda Bell
Jesse Custer on Preacher
There’s no harder preacher than the title one (Dominic Cooper) from AMC’s dark fantasy series. The superpower-wielding preacher was hilarious and horrifying and without question good looking in his cassock.
Vicar Harry Watling in Inside Man
Without a doubt, Harry made some very questionable (and wrong) decisions across this dark thriller, but we still see the attraction. David Tennant is so good at playing bad (see Jessica Jones) that we’re all for it — and there’s something very appealing — when he does. —Meredith Jacobs
Father Tomas Ortega in The Exorcist
In the history of TV priests, Father Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera) on Fox’s The Exorcist ranks as one of the bravest, and the hottest. He is also one of the most guilt-ridden because he had his own lustful encounter in the first season and is finding it tough to keep the devil out of his own head.
Reverend Paul Coates in Broadchurch
Did he do it?! Like most of the other characters in this brilliant mystery, Arthur Darvill‘s character had his secrets and was one of the main suspects in the murder of Danny Latimer in the first season. Still, even when he was facing off with D.I. Alec Hardy (David Tennant) in the interrogation room and looked somewhat guilty, we loved him seeing him on the screen. —Meredith Jacobs
Father Phil Intintola on The Sopranos
Okay, so Father Intintola (Paul Schulze) absolutely used his position of religious authority as a cudgel to keep the desperate housewives in his church bringing him food, but he was also a hopeless romantic at heart (and probably chose the wrong profession). He had a flirtation with Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco), which meant he also had a flirtation with danger. – Amanda Bell
Father Ralph de Bricassart in The Thorn Birds
Meet the O.G. Hot Priest that scandalized a generation. Based on the Colleen McCullough novel, The Thorn Birds was a hit miniseries in the spring of 1983 and much of that was due to the shocking (but undeniable) love between Father Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain) and Meggie Cleary (Rachel Ward).
