Nancy Drew: All 4 seasons ranked from worst to best

Updated: Aug. 25, 2023 – Nancy Drew returned for its fourth and final season on Wednesday, May 31. The beloved CW program got its start in 2019, introducing a new audience to the famed investigator in a live-action adaptation geared toward young adults like the titular character who is finding her way after the death of her mother.

In Horseshoe Bay, a sleepy seaside town, nothing is as it seems. And, though Nancy isn’t a believer in the supernatural, she begins to understand that the paranormal doesn’t need her belief in order to wreak havoc on the people and the town she loves. With the help of Ned “Nick” Nickerson, George Fan, Bess Marvin, and Ace (whose last name is only hinted at), Nancy solves cases that the police department can’t get a handle on and it often leads her into more trouble than she’s initially prepared for.

Over the course of four seasons, we’ve been taken on quite the journey with Nancy and the Drew Crew. Season 1 was all about Dead Lucy and slowly unraveled a truth about the heroine’s parentage and connection to the Hudsons that turned her world upside down. The second season focused on the aftermath of that revelation whilst also introducing us to the Bobbsey Twins, a ghost named Odette, and the Road Back (a villain that’s explored more in the short-lived Drewniverse spin-off Tom Swift).

By season 3, Nancy and her friends were neck deep in a magical plot involving Temperance, an ancestor of the sleuth whose scheming wound up thrusting Nancy into a tragic love story with the fate of the town and Ace’s life hanging in the balance. Season 4, the unexpected final season of the series, introduced more twists, even more trauma, and featured the Drew Crew bidding their beloved Claw farewell as they all went their separate ways.

But which season is the best and which is comparatively the worst? Here’s our ranking of every season of Nancy Drew.