Audiences may love the people who solve mysteries even more than a mystery itself. The iconic detective duos throughout television history represent a tried-and-true character dynamic that can be dropped into any genre (from sitcom to drama), any format (from miniseries to procedural), and any time period.
In this particular time period, we’ve already seen some crime-fighting pairs that will surely secure a spot on the all-time great detectives' list. Below, Collider ranks the best mystery-solving duos of the 21st century, so far.
11. Olivia Dunham & Peter Bishop (Fringe)
10. Jake Peralta & Amy Santiago (Brooklyn 99)
9. Steve Gomez & Hank Schrader (Breaking Bad)
8. Alec Hardy & Ellie Miller (Broadchurch)
7. Temperance Brennan & Seeley Booth (Bones)
6. Rust Cohle & Marty Hart (True Detective)
5. Shawn Spencer & Burton Guster (Psych)
4. Jimmy McNulty & William "Bunk" Moreland (The Wire)
3. Sherlock Holmes & John Watson (Sherlock)
2. Elliot Stabler & Olivia Benson (Law & Order: SVU)
1. Fox Mulder & Dana Scully (The X-Files)
Mulder and Scully also originated in the ’90s, but while Benson and Stabler may have had more airtime in the 2000s, no one has been more influential on television detective dynamics than the heroes of The X-Files. The impact of these two FBI agents can be seen all over this list: the skeptic vs. believer partnership was such a resounding success that it’s still being replicated to this day. But it’s not just the copycats experiencing success in the 21st century. Mulder and Scully are still so popular that following the 2002 series finale, they returned in a major motion picture (2008’s I Want to Believe) and a super buzzy two-season revival from 2016 to 2018.
Even when the mythology of the series became unwieldy, the show was grounded by the chemistry between Duchovny and Anderson, the unwavering faith Mulder and Scully had in each other, and their us-against-the-world dynamic as together they faced down potential alien invasion, shadowy government conspiracies, and every supernatural phenomenon imaginable.