Place Your Bets: Which New Fantasy TV Series will be the Next Game of Thrones

[Deck Rickard]

Final season aside, there's no denying that Game of Thrones was a game-changer (no pun intended) for fantasy TV. We're already seeing a number of new shows go into production that hope to be the next big thing in terms of fantasy TV. One of them is even a GoT prequel. I don't know about you, but I'm stoked, especially for The Dark Tower, which is one of my favorite fantasy series of all time, and the new Lord of the Rings show, because Tolkien is the king of all fantasy. And then there's awesome looking stuff like The Witcher, His Dark Materials and Carnival Row. Anyway, I'm sure I missed a few here so feel free to add stuff to the poll if you can.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Wow, am I really the only one thinking about this?

 

[Kaleb]

I don't think we'll ever get another 'GOT' again,especially in the age of binging, fans will just no longer be able to 'digest' each episode and talk about that episode the following day at work/school or wherever.

That saying the closest thing to Thrones I can think of is The Expanse (political drama with infighting with much greater unknown threat around the corner)

 

[Deck Rickard]

Never watched The Expanse. Guess it's worth checking out?

As for "another" GoT... I think some of these shows have the potential to come close. It really depends on how much they are willing to spend and the talent involved. Amazon certainly has the money to pull it off and they seem to really be making a play for the fantasy crowd. My concern about them though is that some of their projects so far haven't measured up to something like GoT, at least in terms of production value. Shows like Electric Dreams and The Man in the High Castle are really good but at times look very cheap (not always, but there are certainly some moments that aren't up to par). If they try to cut corners with something like LOTR or The Dark Tower, then it's really going to be cringey. Guess we'll see.

 

[Persona]

I hope it's The Dark Tower.

Tolkien is my favorite fantasy pretty easily and I hope the TV series is great but it's going to be appendice-based fan-fiction, basically. And we already got a classic movie trilogy with Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films.

Whereas with The Dark Tower all we've got is a hacked-up, 90-minute "adaptation" that I hesitate to even call The Dark Tower.

I really hope The Dark Tower TV series is successful enough for Amazon to give it 5-7 seasons so they can really capture some of what makes the book series so special to people (and to King himself).

The safe bet is the Tolkien series, though, and Amazon will probably see a big boost in their Prime subscriptions shortly before that series comes out, unless the promotional material is bad (and with as much money as Amazon is spending on it, I'm pretty sure they will go to great lengths to make sure the hype is HYPE).

His Dark Materials didn't fare too well when they tried to do the movie and the footage for the series hasn't been that great. I also think Narnia has kind of run its course already as far as major public interest is concerned.

The Wheel of Time? Maaaaaybe, but that's pretty hard fantasy and frankly I'm kind of astounded it's even getting made, so we'll see (mind-boggling that Amazon is doing this AND Tolkien AND maybe The Dark Tower--is Jeff Bezos a huge fantasy nerd or something?)

For Netflix I could see The Witcher being popular at about an Umbrella Academy-level or slightly better due to gamer interest, but I doubt it comes anywhere close to GoT ubiquity.

 

[rebellion]

I hope Witcher and Wheel of Time come close, if not reach the same heights.
At least both book series are finished and hopefully industry learned from the mess that was GoT S8 - if a series isnt finished, dont even think about adapting it. Unless it's Expanse. I can allow that one. The authors are actually sticking to their schedule

 

[Kaleb]

Never watched The Expanse. Guess it's worth checking out?

As for "another" GoT... I think some of these shows have the potential to come close. It really depends on how much they are willing to spend and the talent involved. Amazon certainly has the money to pull it off and they seem to really be making a play for the fantasy crowd. My concern about them though is that some of their projects so far haven't measured up to something like GoT, at least in terms of production value. Shows like Electric Dreams and The Man in the High Castle are really good but at times look very cheap (not always, but there are certainly some moments that aren't up to par). If they try to cut corners with something like LOTR or The Dark Tower, then it's really going to be cringey. Guess we'll see.

I would say so, although I recommend reading the books first (8 so far),which I might add are also written similar to the GOT books, where each chapter is from a characters POV.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Cool, I’ll have to check out The Expanse. I’ve heard mostly good things but I keep forgetting about it for some reason.

Also, yeah, I agree with most of what @Persona said; The Dark Tower NEEDS to be good because if it isn’t, then that series is never going to get adapted again. I’m honestly shocked they gave it another shot so soon after that embarrassment of a movie but I guess since the movie kinda got swept under the rug quickly, they weren’t worried about people associating the show with it.

And yeah, as much as I hope this LOTR series will be good, I doubt it will hit the highs that the film trilogy did. Anything is possible and technology has advanced even further but those films will be hard to top. They were essentially Star Wars for my generation (and the Hobbit films were, sadly, the Star Wars prequels for my generation... ugh).

 

[Roose Bolton]

The Expanse was also written by GRRM’s protégés

 

[Silvermoth]

Aw it would make me so happy if people loved terry Pritchett as much as I do and it suddenly became mainstream in a positive way

 

[psylockolussus]

Not interested in any of the shows listed in the polls, however if they were a movie, I might have felt different.

 

[Fincher]

I certainly want The Dark Tower to succeed, with the budget and longevity that comes with that, but I think Lord of the Rings is the most likely option.

 

[Lilbaz]

Think sandman could be the best and most unique. Not sure of popularity though.

Wheel of time was my favorite book series growing up (apart from david gemmells individual stories). But think it will be hard to do it justice.

It depends on the producers. Take sword and sorcery seriously, don't make it for kids.

 

[Wyrminarrd]

I´m hoping that the Wheel of Time series will turn out well, though I´m very worried that they will screw it up.

I suspect that the Lord of the Rings series will have the best chance at success if they manage to strike the right tone.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Weren’t they supposedly developing a Dragonlance series a while back? What ever happened to that?

 

[Finarfiniel]

I voted for both The Dark Tower and The Lord of the Rings, they're definitely the two shows I'm most anticipating. I think I'm more emotionally invested in The Dark Tower being a success, but I also think that LotR has the best shot of being the next Game of Thrones level event series.

My thinking is that if the LotR show fails, I don't mind quite as much because we already have the Jackson film trilogy and we've already seen Middle-earth brought to life wonderfully and successfully. The Dark Tower though, we've been given one shameful, embarrassing ****fest of a movie 'adaptation' (using that word very loosely) that failed on every conceivable level, and if the show also fails then I'm never likely to see Mid-World and Roland Deschain and the Man in Black and all of King's wonderful books and characters that I love so much faithfully brought to the screen in my lifetime. And that would be a damn shame.

Done well, The Dark Tower could be a massive hit, I have no doubt of that. I can't think of any other book series that breaches so many genres (fantasy, western, horror, sci-fi, post apocalyptic, multiverse travelling, e.t.c) and does it so well.

 

[Silvermoth]

It’s kind of sad to see lord of the rings on the poll considering game of thrones is kind of a dumber version of middle earth

 

[Deck Rickard]

It’s kind of sad to see lord of the rings on the poll considering game of thrones is kind of a dumber version of middle earth

Oh come on, don’t you think LOTR would have been better if Elrond and Galadriel had a conversation about how Aragorn needs to be the new king of Gondor because he has a c**k?

 

[Erik20]

I think "the next Game of Thrones" might be something completely different and not fantasy at all. (Like Breaking Bad before)

Though a lot of fantasy shows will definitely try to copy GoT and its success, that series was able to make people watch who normally don't even like the genre. I don't see that happening any time soon again... perhaps because they'll be trying too hard to be the next big thing, and make some comprimises like making stories "more suitable" for a large audience.

But I guess LOTR has a pretty good shot, just because of that big name

 

[THORin]

Lord of the Rings - this show is gonna be epic. I'm all in.

I'm also really excited to see what Netflix does with The Witcher, and even with Narnia, since I loved that series: but I don't think they'll come anywhere near the levels of huge, mainstream popularity that LOTR might - might - have a chance at gaining.
Wheel of Time I think is just too much, too complex, too convoluted. Granted, I hate every one of the books in the series past book 3 (the first two were so good!), so I am biased - but the entire middle section of that series is just an interminable slog of meaningless names, places, and objects, combined with the most inordinately complex system of sexist magic ever written down, and an army of ten-billion characters: boring government policies and power struggles, and just way too much plot. Not to mention the main character is extremely unlikable and more than slightly psychotic, so I'm not sure how much people are gonna be invested in watching Ran slip more and more into a spiral of madness. Then again, I could be wrong. Maybe people will love that.
And Terry Pratchett! Oh, I want that show to succeed so badly. I love Pratchett.

 

[Batmannerism]

To me GOT was essentially Lord of the Rings by the writers of the Sopranos. A bit much for my taste but I can see why people likes it. It was a phenomenon, like the Sopranos ( and had an similarly disappointing finale), and I suspect that the next show with that kind of vibe and mass appeal will be from a different genre - maybe a historical drama or a sci fi show ?
I voted for Gaiman's Sandman, but honestly I'm not sure what GOT's true successor will be.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I feel like Sandman has a shot. Gaiman obviously has a loyal fan following and with the right people handling the visuals and story, it could really be something special. Though I can’t help but wonder how it wasn’t already made into a series of movies years ago directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, because those comics seriously looked like they were ripped straight from Burton’s mind.

 

[Lilbaz]

To me GOT was essentially Lord of the Rings by the writers of the Sopranos. A bit much for my taste but I can see why people likes it. It was a phenomenon, like the Sopranos ( and had an similarly disappointing finale), and I suspect that the next show with that kind of vibe and mass appeal will be from a different genre - maybe a historical drama or a sci fi show ?
I voted for Gaiman's Sandman, but honestly I'm not sure what GOT's true successor will be.

Sopranos had the best ending.

 

[Batmannerism]

Sopranos had the best ending.

That's a matter of opinion. If you liked it, more power to you. While I stopped watching the show regularly after season 2 or 3 I would check in on Tony from time to time. It's

Spoiler: G

almost certain that Tony was murdered but I feel like Chase owed it to the character and the fans to give him a proper ending..

 

[Lilbaz]

That's a matter of opinion. If you liked it, more power to you. While I stopped watching the show regularly after season 2 or 3 I would check in on Tony from time to time. It's

Spoiler: G

almost certain that Tony was murdered but I feel like Chase owed it to the character and the fans to give him a proper ending..

Spoiler: G

it left it up to the audience to decide the ending. Did he get killed, did he finish dinner and have a happy ending, did he get arrested? I thought it was brilliant. Built up the tension, expecting something, then fade to black. Can understand some being left underwhelmed and wanting closure though.