8 High Fantasy Shows Even Better Than Game Of Thrones

Published Nov 13, 2026, 7:00 PM EST Faith Roswell is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant's Classic TV team. Since earning her degree in Creative Writing over a decade ago, Faith has written articles on film and TV from a variety of different angles. Faith now combines her knowledge of psychology with her love of monster movies to give more insight into what makes the best ones. You may have read her Screen Rant lists and features covering horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, or read her Amazon Top 10 book, "Movie Monsters of the Deep." Faith has had an extensive career as a writer, appearing on BBC live radio, researching true crime for Rotten Mango podcast, and writing for publications including Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and The Daily Jaws before beginning here at Screen Rant. Game of Thrones was a game changer for the high fantasy genre. Before it aired, fantasy was rarely afforded the attention and budget it is regularly given now, with high-budget movies like The Lord of the Rings seen as outliers and fantasy still often treated as a "soft" genre, ​​​​until Game of Thrones' eight seasons full of blood and nudity proved once and for all that this is not the case. High fantasy staples like dragons, epic quests, and the timeless struggle between good and evil transport viewers to another world, but these were once considered stories for children, and the lack of attention to visual effects often kept even masterpiece fantasy TV shows aimed at adults looking slightly low-budget. Game of Thrones opened the door for high fantasy TV series to get the investment and attention they deserved, but this has also allowed many to surpass it. The Wheel of Time The Wheel of Time was adapted from one of the greatest high fantasy novel series of all time, following four channelers of magic, who believe that a Chosen One is among them. This person will have the power to either save the world from a great primordial evil, or destroy the world in the process. "Chosen One" storylines have fallen out of favor when used as convenient plot armor, but it works in The Wheel of Time, which has a more realistic take on the subject that was ahead of its time when the original novels were published. The series explores the psychological toll that prophecies can take, but while this is an intense and sometimes disturbing storyline, the series is often considered a better fantasy TV show than Game of Thrones for its more hopeful atmosphere, which resembles great works of fantasy like The Lord of the Rings, which also tackles mature subjects without the gratuitous sexual violence that famously put some viewers off Game of Thrones. The Mighty Nein Courtesy of Prime TV shows based on the Dungeons & Dragons games are having an extraordinary level of success among critics and audiences, and The Mighty Nein is no exception, with a 100% positive critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes. Being set in another world and with magic being a part of the narrative, Game of Thrones is unmistakably high fantasy, but fans of the genre who prefer quests to politics and magical creatures to family drama will almost certainly prefer The Mighty Nein, which treats magic as an everyday fact of life. Westeros itself is mysterious, with its unique climate and season pattern, but its different locations still fit within the same world. On the other hand, The Mighty Nein makes Game of Thrones look small through its ambitious approach, telling its story on a truly cosmic scale. Reflecting a Dungeons & Dragons game by tasking a group of misfits with saving the world makes for a series that showcases the bonds of friendship in a much better way than Game of Thrones does, with The Mighty Nein being both lighthearted and powerful, which is not an easy balance to achieve. The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance MovieStillsDB The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance might have been canceled before its time, but it still beats Game of Thrones in one main way that is crucial to the high fantasy genre. High fantasy features a battle between good and evil, and Game of Thrones set its main conflict up to be Westeros against The Night King and his undead army. However, the political maneuvering and human conflicts, like the iconic Battle of the Bastards, were much more interesting than the fight with The Night King, which was over before the final episode. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is all about many kinds of good coming together to fight the overarching connected evil that is destroying their world. Despite being created with puppets, the series reflects many of our real-world issues, from corporate resource-extraction to the destruction of nature, enriching a small few at the expense of everybody else. This struggle is at the heart of the series and the high fantasy genre, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance remains an underrated fantasy gem that perfectly captures the sinister tone of the original 80s movie. Avatar: The Last Airbender Credit: Nickelodeon/Paramount+ Every episode in Avatar: The Last Airbender's three seasons is a masterpiece. Ostensibly written for children, the series covers some extremely mature themes, ensuring that not only is it an ideal show for a family to watch together, but it holds up perfectly on a rewatch too. Against a backdrop of warring nations each tied to an element, one Chosen One known as the Avatar must stop the Fire Nation from their path of destruction as they try to dominate the rest of the world. Game of Thrones famously dropped the ball when it came to character arcs, resulting in Daenerys Targaryen's rushed "mad queen" storyline, while established characters, like Tyrion Lannister, began to act wildly differently. The series could have learned from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which was a masterclass in redemption arcs and character building. Azula's fracturing felt grounded and inevitable, while Zuko has the opposite journey to Daenerys, complete with fire, as the former villain undergoes a profound journey to atone for his past as a warlord. Arcane Image from MovieStillsDB Game of Thrones might have had a jaw-dropping budget and enormous ambitions, but there are plenty of storylines that became bloated over time, with the more interesting characters being sacrificed when others were given improbable plot armor. This led to a dramatic drop in quality as the show continued. With just 18 episodes in which to tell the story, Arcane does not have this problem, ensuring that there is not a wasted second during its runtime. Arcane won 16 Annie Awards and eight Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Animated Program. Game of Thrones' writing was rarely predictable, but its cinematography was not as adventurous as other great fantasy TV shows, and while Arcane benefited from being animated, this does not account for all of its incredible critical acclaim. Arcane's soundtrack, character design, and pacing all beat Game of Thrones, and it is easily one of the best high fantasy shows of the decade. The series' focus on psychological trauma makes its villains relatable, even at their worst, but The Night King fell flat compared to complex characters like Cersei Lannister. His Dark Materials Game of Thrones was visually stunning and its effect on the fantasy TV landscape cannot be understated, and while the series was one of the most talked-about shows on TV during its run, it is not a show that keeps its viewers up at night through emotionally intense plots and far-reaching themes. On the other hand, this is where His Dark Materials excels, beating Game of Thrones and virtually every other high fantasy series for its powerful emotional stakes and daring takedown of organized religion. George R. R. Martin was always clear that Game of Thrones would not have a happy ending, but the series came surprisingly close, with many characters setting off for new futures after a rushed final series that did not deliver the payoff viewers had been waiting for. The heartbreaking gut-punch at the end of His Dark Materials might have been closer to the tone originally imagined for Game of Thrones, with the impact of the series' main conflict reverberating for the rest of the main characters' lives. The Legend Of Vox Machina The Legend of Vox Machina is another adapted Dungeons & Dragons success, with an impressive 100% positive Rotten Tomatoes rating across all four of its seasons. High fantasy is one of the most inspiring genres for the way it can reflect real-world struggles, especially through the eyes of everyday people who find themselves fighting for what is right against overwhelming odds, but this aspect of the genre is barely explored in Game of Thrones, which tends to center on the nobility. The eclectic group of misfit characters at the heart of The Legend of Vox Machina reflect the spirit of the high fantasy genre much better than Game of Thrones, where almost every character is out for themselves. Vox Machina's eight mercenaries, with their varying strengths and weaknesses, develop over the course of the series, turning from a group of dysfunctional brawlers to a formidable team as they work to save the realm of Exandria from dark forces. House Of The Dragon via MovieStillsDB House of the Dragon focused on Game of Thrones' once-powerful dynasty, House Targaryen, and it is arguably the success of this series that has kept the Game of Thrones franchise on the map, rather than the original show. Dragons are the definitive high fantasy emblem, and Daenerys' scenes were some of the best in the series, but they were underused as a whole, with too much focus on storylines like Jon Snow's heritage and the struggle for power in Kings' Landing instead of the visually stunning sky battles that the presence of dragons practically demanded. House of the Dragon delivered everything that Game of Thrones promised, from dragon fights to strange and mysterious Targaryen family customs that made it clear that the series was set in an entirely different world rather than a medieval Europe with dragons. The series might not have featured the core good and evil conflicts that most high fantasy stories center on, but it excels in every other way, from building its world to populating it with iconic fantasy creatures.