13 brightest fantasy TV series

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Dragons, elves, sorceresses, princesses, demons and time travel are waiting for you.

1. Tenth kingdom

• USA, UK, Germany, 2000.
• Fantasy, adventure, comedy.
• Duration: 1 season.
• IMDb: 8, 4.

The main characters - a young waitress from New York Virginia Lewis and her father Anthony - find themselves in a magical world inhabited by characters from fairy tales. There they have to go through many adventures, help the enchanted prince Wendell regain the throne and learn something about their past.

Long before the series "Once Upon a Time" ironically began to play on the classic plots of the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, a small nostalgic television project "The Tenth Kingdom" was successfully doing it. Unfortunately, the series is rather short - only five hour and a half episodes. The fact is that at the time of its release, its ratings were low, so NBC decided not to shoot a sequel.

2. Enchanted kingdom

• USA, 2007.
• Fantasy, adventure.
• Duration: 1 season.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

A three-part reimagining of Frank Baum's fairy tale "The Amazing Wizard of Oz" tells how the waitress DG searches for her missing parents in a magical post-apocalyptic country captured by the evil sorceress Azcadella.

By the way, 10 years later, according to the familiar story of Baum, a series was again filmed, only even more adult and gloomy than The Enchanted Kingdom - Emerald City, which aired on NBC.

3. Merlin

• UK, 2008-2012.
• Fantasy, comedy, drama.
• Duration: 5 seasons.
• IMDb: 7, 9.

The creators of "Merlin" decided to take a different look at the legends about Arthur. In the series, the famous sorcerer appears not as a wise old man, but as a very young boy. In the story, the king of Camelot, Uther Pendragon, on pain of death, forbade the use of magic. Young Merlin was born a wizard and therefore must hide his abilities. One day the young magician meets the Great Dragon and learns the secret of his mission - to help Prince Arthur.

Despite the modest budget, there were more than enough guest stars on the show. For example, the dragon Kilgarru was voiced by John Hurt. And the witch hunter was played by Charles Dance, known for his role as Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones.

4. Legend of the Seeker

• USA, 2008-2010.
• Fantasy, adventure.
• Duration: 2 seasons.
• IMDb: 7, 7.

A simple villager Richard Cypher learns that he is the Seeker of Truth, the chosen warrior who is destined to rid the Middlelands of the oppressive and cruel Darken Rahl. In this difficult task, he is helped by Mother Confessor Kahlan Amnell and the wizard Zeddicus Zul Zorander.

The series is based on the works of Terry Goodkind from the cycle "Sword of Truth". But the original plot has undergone serious changes, and only the most basic ones have migrated from the book characters to the series.

5. Grimm

• USA, 2011-2017.
• Fantasy, horror, detective, drama.
• Duration: 6 seasons.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

Nick Burckhardt, detective of the Portland Police Department of Homicide, learns that he comes from the ancient Grimm family - creature hunters, among which there are both peaceful and bloodthirsty killer-rippers.

Now Nick has to lead a double life in the world of beings and people. Both the detective's abilities and loyal friends help the sensible hero to fight evil spirits.

6. Once upon a time

• USA, 2011–2018.
• Fantasy, drama.
• Duration: 7 seasons.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

The main character Emma Swan for the time being considers herself the most ordinary girl. But one day the boy Henry appears in her life and declares that he is her son. Together they travel to the city of Storybrooke, whose inhabitants are not ordinary people, but fairy-tale characters enchanted by the Evil Queen. Emma, as it turns out, is the chosen one and can save everyone.

The original concept of the series is that all the characters were once the characters of fairy tales, but they were transported to a world without magic and do not remember anything about themselves. Therefore, the plot develops simultaneously in the past and the present, and the heroes are forced to remember who they really are.

7. Game of Thrones

• USA, 2011–2019.
• Fantasy, drama.
• Duration: 8 seasons.
• IMDb: 9, 4.

The action takes place in the fictional world of the continent of Westeros. The main story arcs are devoted to the struggle for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, the life of the exiled princess Daenerys Targaryen, planning to regain the throne, and the everyday life of the ancient brotherhood that protects the state from the mysterious White Walkers.

It is undeniable that Game of Thrones has become an important part of popular culture. Appearing on television, the film adaptation of "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R. R. Martin radically changed the idea of fantasy and turned it from a local "underground" genre into a subject of general interest.

Now big-budget fantasy projects are rapidly reclaiming their niche. TV series based on The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski, The Lord of the Rings by John R. R. Tolkien and The Dark Principles by Philip Pullman are coming soon. And the HBO channel is not yet going to part with the world of Westeros: they say that they are planning to shoot several prequels and spin-offs.

8. Scary tales

• Great Britain, USA, 2014-2016.
• Drama, horror, mysticism, fantasy, thriller.
• Duration: 3 seasons.
• IMDb: 8, 2.

The famous traveler Lord Malcolm Murray believes that his daughter Mina was kidnapped by vampires. To save her, the researcher assembles an eccentric team, which includes the mysterious clairvoyant Vanessa Ives, the skillful shooter Ethan Chandler, and the genius physician Victor Frankenstein.

The origin story of the name of the series - Penny Dreadful - is very interesting. In Victorian England, this was the name of tabloid, low-grade horror prose designed to entertain an undemanding audience. Therefore, it was worth translating the phrase from English into Russian as "Boulevard horrors" or "Horrors at a cheap price."

9. Outlander

• UK, USA, 2014 - present.
• Drama, fantasy.
• Duration: 4 seasons.
• IMDb: 8, 5.

In the center of the plot is the Englishwoman Claire Randall, a former military nurse. For some unknown reason, the heroine travels in time and ends up in 1743. There she falls in love with the charming highlander Jamie Fraser, but she cannot forget her husband Frank, who remained in another era.

The peculiarity of this series, created on the basis of the series of love-fantasy novels of the same name by Diana Gabaldon, is that it hardly fits into the framework of one genre. Outlander is both an "adult" fantasy, a love story, a time travel story, and a war drama.

10. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

• UK, 2015.
• Fantasy, historical.
• Duration: 1 season.
• IMDb: 8, 2.

The action takes place in an alternative 19th century. Two wizards - refined Gilbert Norrell and daring Jonathan Strange - are reviving lost English magic. Along the way, they will have to face unpredictable and vengeful otherworldly forces.

A short - only 7 hour episodes - the film adaptation of Suzanne Clark's novel will appeal to everyone who is crazy about specific English humor, witty dialogues and charismatic actors.

11. Wizards

• USA, 2015 - present.
• Fantasy, drama.
• Duration: 4 seasons.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

The central character of the series is an introverted student Quentin Coldwater. He does not get out of depression and prefers books about the magical land of Fillory to the society of his peers. But one day it turns out that the magic is real: Quentin is accepted into the Breakbeels school of magic. Only now the fantasy world turns out to be not at all kind, but unfriendly and frightening.

Anyone who misses the atmosphere of magic from "Harry Potter" can safely recommend the series "The Wizards" based on the novel of the same name by Lev Grossman. True, it should be borne in mind that you will have to watch not an easy teenage fantasy, but an adult mystical thriller.

12. The Chronicles of Shannara

• USA, 2016-2017.
• Fantasy.
• Duration: 2 seasons.
• IMDb: 7, 3.

For thousands of years, the magic tree Elkris kept hordes of demons outside the world, but now it is slowly dying. To bring the tree back to life, the elven princess Umberlee, the healer Vil and the thief Eretria go to the ends of the world.

The series is based on a series of Tolkien-style adventure novels by Terry Brooks. Moreover, the creators carefully preserved the spirit of Middle-earth: the filming took place in New Zealand, and the cast involved three performers from the films of Peter Jackson - Manu Bennett, Jed Brophy and John Rhys-Davis.

13. Disappointment

• USA, 2018 - present.
• Fantasy, adventure, satire, sitcom.
• Duration: 1 season.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

The ironic animated series, released on the streaming service Netflix, tells about the adventures of the rebellious alcoholic princess Bean and her friends - the cynical demon Lucy and the elf Elfo - in the land of Dreamland.

Matt Groening's new project was received controversially. The series was accused of being secondary: the drawing and characters seem to have come from the animator's previous works - "The Simpsons" and "Futurama". Some even joked that Disappointment lives up to its name. However, the show should be given a chance for both Terry Pratchett-style humor and a well-crafted story that touches on the important issues of growing up and responsibility.