The greatest films and TV shows about the quest for immortality

Robert Zemeckis’s dark comedy “Death Becomes Her” takes vanity to its extreme. Two women, Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, engage in a bitter rivalry that includes fighting over a scientist played by Bruce Willis. Willis invents a potion that grants eternal life and eternal youth, which both women greedily consume. Of course, they then come to realize being immortal doesn’t make you invincible.

When you were in junior high school, when you weren’t being assigned “The Giver” to read, you were being assigned “Tuck Everlasting.” Both would, eventually, be turned into movies, though neither proved all that successful. This adaptation stars Alexis Bledel of “Gilmore Girls” fame as Winnie Foster. She meets the Tuck family, who have accidentally become immortal thanks to a magical spring, and they are now dedicated to making sure nobody accidentally or intentionally drinks from it.

Before Darren Aronofsky’s career took off with movies like “The Wrestler” and “Black Swan,” his first big bite at the apple post “Requiem for a Dream” was “The Fountain.” It has largely been forgotten. Maybe that’s because it’s hard to parse, even after you’ve seen it. Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz play multiple characters, and there’s stuff about immortality and, of course, the title is “The Fountain.” Maybe it was too ambitious, and Aronofsky benefited from paring back on “The Wrestler.”

What does one do when one is immortal? Well, in “The Old Guard,” based on a series of graphic novels, you become mercenaries for hundreds of years. “The Old Guard” kind of faded into the background on Netflix, though reviews were good, and Charlize Theron knows how to be an action star. It was successful enough that “The Old Guard 2” got greenlit for 2025.

There can only be one! “Highlander” is silly, but it also became a cult sensation. There is a series of Highlanders, immortal beings, who are in war with one another. Because, after all…there can only be one. Frenchman Christopher Lambert plays a Scottish guy. Scot Sean Connery plays a Spanish guy. Like we said, it’s silly, but primed for cult status.

How do you turn the Jungle Cruise ride into a movie? Well, you throw immortality into the mix for some reason. Dwayne Johnson plays a riverboat captain who has, it turns out, been cursed with immortality. Emily Blunt plays a scientist who hires him to look for the Tree of Life, not unlike the Fountain of Youth or other supernatural elements. “Jungle Cruise” is actually a fun movie, all things considered.

No relation to the song “Forever Young,” this 1992 fantasy romance film stars Jamie Lee Curtis and, um, Mel Gibson. Hey, back then it made sense for him to be cast as the charming lead of a romance! Gibson plays a test pilot who, in 1939, agrees to be cryogenically frozen for a year. Things go a little wrong, and he is not unfrozen until 1992. While Gibson has to deal with all the time he missed like a regular Philip J. Fry or Steve Rogers, he also romances Curtis.

Well, there has to be a film at the bottom of the Marvel rankings, right? For many, that movie is “Eternals.” It’s about a group of immortals who have inspired myths over the centuries. They have names like Ikaris and Ajak. “Eternals” is both kind of silly and takes itself too seriously, leading to an unremarkable movie. Even though it is about arguably the most powerful, most impactful beings in the universe.

After “Temple of Doom” bummed people out, Steven Spielberg rebounded with “Last Crusade.” This time, Indiana Jones has to look for his father and then work with him. In some quality casting, Sean Connery plays Indy’s father. The two set off on a quest to find the Holy Grail, which can grant eternal life. As long as you don’t choose poorly, of course.

“The Substance” is the movie that answers the question, “Can a film be super gross and still get Oscar love?” It sure can! Bringing body horror to the Academy, “The Substance” is about, well, a substance. It helps Demi Moore be Margaret Qualley, but it’s not that simple. Moore got an Oscar nomination for “The Substance,” and was considered the favorite. Then Mikey Madison won. Maybe Oscar voters could only take so much of the grossness.

Ghost ships, and ghost pirates, had been part of “Pirates of the Caribbean” from the beginning of the franchise. However, ghosts don’t count for this list. Also, in case you were curious, we also eschewed vampires. In “On Stranger Tides,” though, Jack Sparrow is on the search for the Fountain of Youth. This is the movie in the franchise where Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom dip out and Penelope Cruz stepped in. Also, it made over $1 billion.

Grab a bunch of acclaimed older actors (and Wilford Brimley, who was actually 26 or whatever) and throw them into a sci-fi flick and you get “Cocoon.” Aliens gift the residents of a retirement home with a renewed youthfulness. It’s a film with charm, and also Don Ameche got one of those career achievement type Oscars for the movie. “Cocoon” also won Best Visual Effects at that year’s Oscars as well.

“Cronos” is notable for being Guillermo del Toro’s first feature film. And yet, he was already working with Ron Perlman! The low-budget horror movie was well-received enough to allow del Toro to start to build his acclaimed career. It’s the story of an alchemist’s device that grants eternal youth, but in a David Cronenberg-esque way. While “Cronos” was not well seen it did give del Toro the chance to hit Hollywood and direct, um, “Mimic.”

We aren’t certain if “In Time” has a conceit that is inherently silly, or if there is promise there but the execution was questionable. It’s a world where time is money in a quasi-literal sense. Science has come far enough that people stop aging at 25, but at that point, there is a one-year timer on their life, at which point they die. That is, unless they accrue more time. You can earn time, barter for time, steal time, do whatever. This film was from the heyday of “Maybe Justin Timberlake is a leading man” era, which may also be part of the issue.

For a minute there, we had multiple shows about immortals in modern times. One of those was “Forever.” Ioan Gruffudd is an immortal medical examiner (occupational irony!) who, in addition to his job, is searching for the reason behind his immortality and if there is a way to end it. Alas, “Forever” only ran for one season, which is also kind of ironic in its way.

Obviously, not every episode of “The Twilight Zone” is about the search for eternal youth and immortality. Some of them are about boogens on a plane. However, “The Twilight Zone” loved a twist, and loved a morality tale, heavy-handed or otherwise. As such, it is perhaps not surprising that we count at least three episodes about this subject.

Obviously, the Doctor is immortal in and of themselves, what with the regenerating. You can’t call the Doctor eternally youthful, though, based on some of the regenerations. Of course, as a sci-fi show that has aired 1,000 episodes or whatever, there are episode plots more explicitly about youth and immortality. There is at least one episode that literally has the Fountain of Youth in it.

Obviously, the focus in the very first “Harry Potter” movie is on introducing all the key characters and locations. We’ve got to get accustomed to Hogwarts and wizardry and all that stuff. However, it is “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” or “Philosopher’s Stone” if you’re British. The titular stone is a tool of alchemy, and can grant people immortality. Maybe it will make you better at Quidditch as well, but Quidditch is dumb, so who cares?

Finally, in the year 2025, we got a movie just straight-up called “Fountain of Youth.” Made for Apple TV+, a place nobody goes for original movies, Guy Ritchie directed this story of a quest to find the famed mythological site. All things considered, having John Krasinski and Natalie Portman play the estranged siblings looking for the Fountain of Youth was a good idea, though Ritchie movies can be a mixed bag.