The greatest fantasy TV shows of all time
Magical, mythical and mind-bending
With A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms gracing our screens this month, we now have a trio of TV shows based on George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy novels.
Between them, these lavishly produced shows represent some of the very best televisual fantasy entertainment that we’ve ever seen.
It’s a tricky calculation to make. The history of TV entertainment is rife with brilliant shows set in fantastical realms or dealing with supernatural subject matter.
Not all of these shows conform to the Game of Thrones mould – indeed, not many could afford to – but all offer a brand of magical escapism that proves impossible to resist.
Have we left any big hitters off this list? You bet your wizard’s wand we have. Be sure to share your own personal picks – along with your reasons why – in the comments below.
11. His Dark Materials
Philip Pullman’s original His Dark Materials trilogy is a ‘90s YA fantasy novel series that makes Harry Potter look like, well, kid’s stuff. In this three-season TV series we get a surprisingly faithful and carefully-calibrated adaptation, with a classy cast and tasteful production.
In a world where souls manifest themselves as companion animals (known as daemons), a young girl is drawn into an epic struggle against oppressive religious forces. It might lack the daringly blasphemous edge of the source material, but this is the kind of rare fantasy TV show that’s genuinely suitable for the whole family.
10. Sandman
The legacy of Netflix’s Sandman has unfortunately and unavoidably been tarnished by the serious misconduct accusations levelled against Neil Gaiman, the creator of the comic book series that forms the source material.
That comes as a bitter blow for a whole number of reasons, perhaps the least of which being the fact that this is a really high quality adaptation of a beloved IP. What was once viewed as unfilmable has been miraculously tamed and turned into a moving (if somewhat truncated) story of gods, monsters, duty, and family ties.
9. Attack on Titan
We could fill an entire extended list with brilliant anime shows, but Attack on Titan deserves to take its place here as one of the very best fantasy shows ever made. Based on Hajime Isayama’s manga series, it offers one of the most vividly drawn (quite literally) dark fantasy worlds we’ve ever seen depicted on screen – and also one of the weirdest. In this alternate universe, where the aesthetic is European medieval-meets-steampunk, we find pockets of humanity walling themselves in as mindless flesh-eating giants roam free.
8. Supernatural
Supernatural would deserve its place on this list through longevity alone – it ran for 15 seasons between 2005 and 2020. You don’t get that far in modern TV without offering something that people really like, and Supernatural has one of the most avid fanbases around.
The premise is simple: brothers Sam and Dean Winchester drive around in their black Chevrolet Impala, hunting assorted demons and monsters. The world building behind this premise, however, is a thing to behold, with events building into something much grander than the show’s humble family-oriented underpinnings might suggest.
7. Stranger Things
Is it fantasy, or is it sci-fi? The truth is, Stranger Things is a total mish-mash of ‘80s genre reference points – and that includes a hefty dose of fantasy. It’s all right there in the way that our young gang of nerdy heroes define and contextualise the creepy goings on in their home town through the Dungeons & Dragons board game lore that they all avidly consume together. The series itself has been somewhat uneven across its five seasons, and never quite managed to hit the heights of the first, but it’s undoubtedly the big fantasy show for Gen Z.
6. The Leftovers
I’m still not sure whether The Leftovers can be considered fantasy or not. Its premise certainly has strong supernatural overtones, with the primary narrative driver being the sudden and inexplicable disappearance of 2% of the world’s population – some 140 million people – right at the outset.
The show resists providing a tidy answer to its central mystery, but unlike Lost (the most directly comparable quasi-fantasy show), it still manages to wrap everything up in a satisfying manner. Whatever box you choose to squeeze it into, The Leftovers and its heart-shattering depiction of loss and grief remain truly transcendent entertainment.
5. House of the Dragon
There’s a very simple reason we’re not worried about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, despite it being a spinoff of a hugely successful property: the last one they attempted was (and indeed continues to be) really very good indeed.
Starting at a much smaller scale than GoT, House of the Dragon has steadily built up to be, if not quite as epic, then every bit as compelling in its depiction of imperial intrigue and the fateful machinations of the ruling class – with a side order of (slightly icky) family dynamics.
4. Avatar: The Last Airbender
No, we’re not talking about Netflix’s pointless live-action remake. Good effort and all, but that’s not our Aang. And no, this has nothing to do with James Cameron’s silly blue giants either. This is Nickelodeon’s beloved animated fantasy series, which ran for three impeccable seasons in the mid-noughties.
It tells the tale of a young boy with vast elemental powers who emerges from hibernation to restore balance to a war-torn world. Heard it all before, huh? Not like this, you haven’t. Not with this much humour and joy and painstaking world-building.
3. Arcane
We’re not sure what we were expecting from a computer-animated series drawing from the League of Legends game, but it certainly wasn’t anything of the calibre of Arcane. This lavishly produced series is so much better than it needed to be, with a sharply focused two-season run that never leaves you in any doubt that it’s heading somewhere.
Featuring a fully realised steampunk world, memorable and compelling characters (even the seemingly unlikeable ones), and outstanding animation from French studio Fortiche, it’s fantasy TV at its best.
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
As inauspicious starts go, you can’t go much better than a series based on a total flop of a movie with a 36% Rotten Tomatoes rating. Joss Whedon’s televisual reboot took a darker, more overtly dramatic path while doubling down on his whip-smart dialogue and snarky ‘90s humour.
The resulting production ran for seven successful seasons, capturing the millennial zeitgeist and making a star of Sarah Michelle Gellar as the supernatural butt-kicking hero of the title.
1. Game of Thrones
We’d love to hit you with a left field suggestion for the position of ‘best fantasy TV show ever’, but who would we be kidding? Game of Thrones wins on virtually all counts, whether that’s its enduring popularity (the latest spinoff inspired this very piece), its scale, or its phenomenal production values.
It undoubtedly comes unstuck during the second half of its eight-season run, as the writing becomes unmoored from original author George R. R. Martin and dangling plot lines are hastily wrapped up. But those first four seasons represent nigh-on faultless fantasy storytelling.
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