Game of Thrones was the most culturally dominant TV show of the 2010s, the most popular show in HBO’s history, and the most successful fantasy series in many years. Other studios and streamers tried to cash in by making their own high fantasy series, mostly to no avail. Fans seemed to enjoy The Witcher on Netflix…for the first couple seasons, until public opinion soured. Prime Video readied two high fantasy series: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which has largely been a let-down; and The Wheel of Time, which Amazon stupidly canceled just as it was finding its footing. Even House of the Dragon, a direct prequel to Game of Thrones, hasn’t been the runaway success HBO was hoping for; its first season was widely praised, but fans were far more divided on season 2, and are currently in the middle of a two-year wait for season 3.
With middling results like that, you might think that Hollywood would want to put the high fantasy trend to bed, but it now feels like a lot of them are back for Round 2. There are some major new fantasy shows on the way that promise to scratch that Game of Thrones itch.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
How do you replace Game of Thrones? More Game of Thrones.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is another Game of Thrones prequel show and the only series on this list to have actually aired any episodes. It’s based on the Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas by George R.R. Martin and sticks very close to the source material, which has served it well. The first season has been a big hit with fans and critics alike, with buzz growing every episode.
In many ways, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has found success by doing the opposite of what Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon did. Those shows tell huge, sweeping tales with dozens of characters, huge action scenes, and lots of locations. The first season of Seven Kingdoms takes place in one location and revolves almost entirely around two characters: the newly minted knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his diminutive squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell). The whole plot revolves around Dunk trying to do well enough in a tournament so some lord will be impressed and hire him. Things get more complicated for him, but the story is still much smaller in scale than Game of Thrones fans are used to. There are no dragons and no armies, but the characters are so compelling that people have become invested anyway.
Because the stories are so small, HBO will be able to release a new season of Seven Kingdoms every year, which will keep it fresh in people’s minds. If the quality remains high, I can see HBO once again setting the pace for how to do a fantasy show, with its comeptitors scrambling to keep up.
- Release Date
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January 18, 2026
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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Ira Parker
- Directors
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Owen Harris
- Writers
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George R. R. Martin, Ira Parker
Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive
Brandon Sanderson will not be denied
Brandon Sanderson is one of the most successful fantasy authors working today, and it’s crazy that it took this long for someone to get serious about adapting his work. That someone is Apple TV+, which plans to turn his Mistborn books into movies and his Stormlight Archive books into a TV show. Sanderson will remain closely involved in both projects, which is the right call. The folks at Apple Studios have a history of making excellent sci-fi/fantasy content, and they’re the only ones I would trust with projects like these.
Both of these series have potential to be epic, dense, and addictive in the way that Game of Thrones was back in the day. Mistborn is set on a fantasy world ruled over by a seemingly immortal tyrant our small group of heroes are determined to take down. The Stormlight Archive is set on a world called Roshar, which is racked by magical storms. The plot is extremely expansive, but boils down to humanity’s conflict with a dark god known as Odium.
Brandon Sanderson is known for having extensive world-building, so these projects could engage people who loved the depth and breadth of the world from Game of Thrones. If done well, these adaptations could be the epic counterpart to the intimate story told in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
Eragon
Disney trying this again
Eragon, the first book in the Inheritance Cycle, was first published in 2002, when author Christopher Paolini was still a teenager. It tells the story of Eragon, a 15-year-old boy who becomes the first person to ride a dragon in generations. That draws the attention of the evil King Galbatorix, who wiped out the dragon riders of old in his bid to establish dominion over the continent of Alagaësia. By the end of the book, Eragon has met and lost new friends and aligned himself with a rebel group resisting Galbatorix’s tyranny.
Eragon actually was turned into a movie by 20th Century Fox in 2006. While it made a profit, it was widely derided as cheesy, shallow, and wooden. It also changed a lot about the underlying book, which displeased fans. There are four more books in Paolini’s series, but the movie never got a sequel.
Disney bought 20th Century Fox in 2019, and now the studio is giving Eragon another shot. It’s a good fit for Disney, since it’s mostly appropriate for younger audiences and has a simple, straightforward plot that should be familiar to anyone who’s read much epic fantasy, or seen the movie Star Wars.
It brings to mind another Disney+ fantasy show based on a book series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians. That show has its fans, but had trouble sustaining enthusiasm into its second season. The challenge for the creative team behind the new Eragon show will be finding ways to make sure it doesn’t come off as too mild and formulaic. Otherwise, I fear it won’t stand out amid the new crop of competitors.
- Watch the original Eragon movie on Disney+
Fourth Wing
Amazon goes back to the drawing board
Fourth Wing is the first of five planned books in the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros. It’s about a young woman named Violet Sorrengail who is forced by her general mother to train to become a dragon-rider at Basgiath War College, a brutally intense military academy. The fragile, uncertain Violet is nervous, but finds out she has unique abilities and talents. She also starts a relationship with a third year cadet named Xaden Riorson, even though he has good reason not to like her.
Fourth Wing became tremendously popular on BookTok, spreading through social media like wildfire. It helped popularize the “romantasy” genre and makes use of tropes like “enemies to lovers,” “dark academia,” and “forced proximity.”
These books have been very successful with a younger, online-savvy sort of reader who will definitely be there to watch the adaptation. But will Amazon try to please that core constituency or change the story in an attempt to bring in other sorts of audiences? Fourth Wing is one of the most popular new fantasy series around and Amazon is lucky to be able to adapt it, but it will have to handle the property with care.
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Those still left outside
I’m surprised that Hollywood decided to double down on the high fantasy trend rather than abandon it, but not displeased. There are still too many fantasy novels out there that still need to be adapted. Assuming this new round of Game of Thrones replacements performs better than the first, there could be room for everyone.
