Prime Video's New 7-Part Fantasy Series With High Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score Becomes Major Streaming Hit

Published Sep 9, 2026, 3:30 PM EDT Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more. Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics." Prime Video has a new fantasy series setting the streamer's charts on fire. Prime Video's library of TV shows is filled with major fantasy releases, both in terms of live-action shows, and animated projects. On the latter, Critical Role's immersive world of Exandria has given Prime Video a fantasy shared universe through The Legend of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein so far. As for Prime Video's live-action fantasy series, The Wheel of Time made a splash on the streamer for three seasons before it was ultimately canceled. That said, Prime Video holds fantasy's most ambitious TV show. Coming from one of the biggest franchises of all time, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has already aired two successful seasons on Prime Video, with the fantasy series set to return for season 3 on November 11. The Rings of Power is reportedly the most expensive TV show ever made, and Prime Video has plans for at least five seasons of the hit series. While The Lord of the Rings show does not return, the streaming service has seen the rise of a new 2026 fantasy series, The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin, and it is taking over. The Pendragon Cycle: Rise Of The Merlin Conjures A Major Prime Video Start Right now, The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin is already the 5th most-watched TV show on Prime Video in the United States. The fantasy series originally debuted on DailyWire+ on January 22 with a two-episode debut followed by weekly releases for the rest of its seven episodes. The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin, as its title suggests, follows the origin story of one of the most beloved characters in the fantasy genre, Merlin. The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin is based on Stephen R. Lawhead's The Pendragon Cycle series of fantasy novels, adapting the first two, Taliesin and Merlin. After its original release, The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin arrived on Prime Video on September 1, starting to trend on the streamer nationwide a week later. Now, the new fantasy series leaves behind major shows like the new spy comedy series Ride or Die, the court show Judy Justice, the hit romance series adapting bestselling novels Every Year After, and more. Currently, Prime Video's most-watched TV show in the United States is Reacher, with season 4 of the Alan Ritchson action thriller series set to conclude soon, on September 16. The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin continues a fantasy streak. Why The Fantasy Series Has Become A Prime Video Hit One of the main reasons The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin has become a Prime Video hit is the fact that the streamer's high-profile fantasy series have all trended on Prime Video's charts with their latest seasons, indicating how subscribers connect with the genre. Additionally, The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin boasts a high 84% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, which should boost interest in the show for new viewers. On that last topic, Prime Video's subscriber base in the US is exponentially bigger than DailyWire+'s, which means the hit show is now getting put in front of millions of viewers who had likely not heard about it on the niche streaming service. Finally, Merlin is a well-known fantasy player, and this gritty origin story told in the Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin with impressive production design, is an easy draw for genre fans. founded September 7, 2006 first original series alpha house notable shows The Boys, Invincible, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Hanna, Carnival Row, The Wheel of Time, Reacher, Daisy Jones & The Six, Swarm, Citadel notable movies Borat 2, The Tomorrow War, Coming 2 America, One Night in Miami, Jolt, Sound of Metal, Honey Boy, Without Remorse