Dungeons & Dragons Meets Star Wars In Netflix's 10-Episode Fantasy Series

Published Sep 15, 2026, 5:59 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. While there are a lot of great sci-fi shows on streaming, only one can claim to merge the epic scale of Dungeons & Dragons with the space opera storytelling of the Star Wars franchise. It is tough for any sci-fi streaming show to stand out in the 2020s. While there have been iconic sci-fi shows since as far back as CBS’s endlessly influential anthology series The Twilight Zone, the genre has enjoyed a massive revival since the emergence of streaming as a medium. Whether it is Apple TV’s ambitious sci-fi drama Invasion, the same streaming service’s space opera Foundation, or Hulu’s dystopian drama Paradise, there is a sci-fi show for every viewer. Even fans of light-hearted, ribald sitcoms have The Big Bang Theory’s latest spinoff, HBO Max’s Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, a multiverse-traveling character comedy that blends high-concept sci-fi plot elements with silliness and R-rated punchlines. That said, not every sci-fi series lasts as long as it should. With this increased output in the genre comes an increase in competition, and sci-fi TV isn’t always well suited to winning when it comes time to decide which shows are renewed. Since sci-fi series often rely on elaborate world building, they can often be slow to start, and audiences might find their premises tricky to navigate. This is what happened to Prime Video’s cyberpunk series The Peripheral, and it may explain why Netflix’s underrated series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance lasted only one season. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Mixes Star Wars’ Sci-Fi With D&D’s Epic Scope One of the streaming service’s most underrated sci-fi shows ever, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance was a prequel series for The Muppets creator Jim Henson’s 1982 cult classic The Dark Crystal. Set on the planet of Thra, Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance starred Anya Taylor-Joy, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Taron Egerton as the Gelflings Brea, Deer, and Rian. An elvish race split into fighting factions ruled over by the Skeksis, Gelflings are too distracted by tribal wars to notice the maneuverings of the malicious Skeksis. When the trio discovers that the Skeksis are planning to cause a planet-wide blight known as The Darkening and wipe out much of Thra in the process, it is up to the unprepared, naive Gelflings to convince their divided race to unite against their seemingly benevolent oppressors. Thus, the stage is set for a show as complex as Netflix’s earlier sci-fi hit Dark, but with the immersive scope of Dungeons & Dragons and the crowd-pleasing underdog story of Star Wars. Like Star Wars, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance pits a group of underprepared but plucky young heroes against a seemingly unstoppable imperial enemy. Like Dungeons & Dragons, the fictional universe of the series feels expansive, grounded, and lived-in, rivaling Tolkien or George RR. Martin in its lush detail and complex in-universe history. Sadly, this wasn’t enough to earn The Dark Crystal’s prequel series a second season renewal. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Deserved More Than One Season One need only look at the unfortunate underperformance of 2023’s underrated Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves to see that mainstream viewers are often unsure of how to navigate complicated fantasy and sci-fi worlds, even when faced with an accessible entry point. Although The Dark Crystal was a cult classic, the movie was also awkwardly positioned in terms of its target audience, being too violent and dark for small children, but still firmly a family movie. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance was even darker than its predecessor, an Andor or Rogue One to the original movie’s A New Hope. As such, more mainstream Netflix fantasy shows like Wednesday had an easier time winning over a larger audience, thanks to their more accessible stories and comparative lack of lore. Sadly, this meant Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance never received the second season it deserved. Release Date 2019 - 2019-00-00 Network Netflix Directors Louis Leterrier Cast Taron Egerton Rian (voice) Nathalie Emmanuel Deet (voice) Writers Will Matthews, Richard Elliott, Simon Racioppa, Margaret Dunlap, Kari Drake Creator(s) Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews