Are You Afraid of the Dark? is a children's horror anthology television series created by D. J. MacHale and Ned Kandel. The original series aired on Nickelodeon in the United States from August 15, 1992 to February 3, 1996, and also on YTV in Canada. The pilot episode first aired on October 31, 1990 on YTV, and as a Halloween special on October 25, 1991 on Nickelodeon. It led to two revival series, with the first airing from February 6, 1999 to June 11, 2000, and the second airing from October 11, 2019 to August 13, 2022.

The original series was created by D. J. MacHale and Ned Kandel, and was picked up by Nickelodeon in 1992. MacHale, Kandel, and Nickelodeon teamed up with the Canadian company CINAR, and as a part of the deal the show was filmed primarily in Montreal, Quebec, with some additional filming taking place in Richmond, British Columbia. The production teams were respectively represented by the ACTRA and STCVQ (Syndicat des techniciens du cinéma et de la vidéo du Québec) labour unions. The series unofficially premiered with the episode "The Tale of the Twisted Claw" as a pilot on the Canadian television network YTV on October 31, 1990. The pilot then aired on Nickelodeon on October 25, 1991 as a Halloween special, and then re-aired five days later alongside Mystery Magical Special as part of a Halloween-oriented block called "The Haunting of Nickelodeon". It officially premiered as a series the following year on Nickelodeon's SNICK on August 15, 1992, and on Family Channel on September 2, 1992. The series moved from Family Channel to YTV on September 6, 1993. The original series ended on February 3, 1996.

In 1999, Are You Afraid of the Dark? was revived for two more seasons, bringing back a majority of the crew members who worked on the original series along with new directors, writers and cast, and was produced by Nickelodeon and aired on the SNICK block from February 6, 1999 to June 11, 2000, while in Canada the series was moved to the Family Channel, as YTV owned the rights to the original series. The only member from the original lineup to return for the first and second seasons of the revival was Tucker (Daniel DeSanto), although Gary (Ross Hull) returned for the concluding show, which notably broke from the show's established format by blurring the line between story and "reality".

On November 13, 2017, it was announced that Paramount Players would make a live-action feature film adaptation. However, the film was later removed from Paramount's schedule. On February 14, 2019, it was announced that the series would be rebooted for a limited series, which premiered on October 11, 2019. On February 19, 2020, this revival was renewed for a second season, titled Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Curse of the Shadows, which premiered on February 12, 2021, featuring a different cast. In March 2022, the revival was renewed for a third and final season, which premiered on July 30, 2022.

On March 28, 2024, the revival series was removed from Paramount+ as part of a "strategic decision to focus on content with mass global appeal".