Dylan McKay & Brenda Walsh (Beverly Hills 90210)

Dylan and Brenda were peak teen drama romance: brooding, magnetic, constantly on the verge of a fight—and somehow still impossible to look away from. If you watched 90210, you probably still have opinions about this relationship.

Their real-life stories are bittersweet. Luke Perry (Dylan) died in 2019 after a stroke, and tributes from his former castmates were immediate and heartfelt.

Shannen Doherty (Brenda) died in July 2024 after years of living with cancer, at age 53.

Before those losses, the cast did reunite for the meta-reboot BH90210 in 2019—and the premiere episode used archive footage of Perry and dedicated the episode to his memory.

And in that very ’90s way, their legacy is still huge: people don’t just remember Dylan and Brenda as characters—they remember how they felt watching them.