Feel free to connect with him or check out his work. He's everywhere — Upwork, YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, Collider, LinkedIn, Instagram. Fantasy TV has been having a great run in 2026.
The genre just keeps getting bigger, but more importantly, it's becoming far more creative. Today's fantasy shows are experimenting with new settings, diverse perspectives, and character-driven stories instead of relying on grand magical battles and action to drive the plot forward. That's exactly what has made this year's lineup so exciting.
Each of the shows on this list approaches fantasy from a completely different angle, which proves just how flexible the genre has become. That said, here are the six best fantasy shows of 2026 so far, ranked. The biggest surprise about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is that it doesn't try to be the next Game of Thrones.
Instead of featuring another sprawling war between great houses in George R. R. Martin’s universe, the series informs a far more personal story set nearly a century before the original.
The spin-off follows inexperienced hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall, better known as Dunk (Peter Claffey), who unexpectedly takes on a young squire named Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell). What Dunk doesn't realize is that Egg is actually Prince Aegon Targaryen, a royal heir traveling the Seven Kingdoms in secret. The audience watches this unlikely duo as they journey across Westeros and become entangled in local disputes, knightly tournaments, political rivalries, and conflicts that shape the very future of the realm.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms stands out in how refreshingly intimate it feels. Instead of chasing the scale of Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon, the series focuses on the ordinary people living in Westeros. This smaller scope gives the characters far more room to breathe and for the audience to see what it truly means to be a knight.
The fantasy adventure series feels warm while also unfolding with the moral complexity that Martin’s world is known for, and is easily one of the best fantasy series on air right now. Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord finally gives one of the franchise’s greatest villains the story he deserves. The animated series takes place after the fall of Mandalore and the events of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
It follows Maul (Sam Witwer) as he attempts to rebuild his shattered criminal syndicate on Janix, a planet that remains largely beyond the Empire’s control. However, his plans change when he crosses paths with young Jedi Padawan Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon), who survived the collapse of the Order. Maul sees Devon as both a weapon and a possible apprentice and pulls her into an increasingly dangerous underworld filled with crime bosses and powerful Imperial forces.
On the other hand, investigator Brander Lawson (Wagner Moura) begins closing in on the violence surrounding them, which turns Maul’s return to power into a galactic crime thriller rather than a traditional Jedi adventure. Now, the series never tried to redeem Maul. He may be the protagonist, but he is still manipulative and desperate to reclaim the power Darth Sidious took from him.
That’s what makes his dynamic with Devon so unsettling. Aside from all that, the series’ noir-inspired criminal underworld creates a side of Star Wars that feels darker and more morally ambiguous than anything else in the entire franchise. The scores below reveal how the Force sees you.
Your highest number is your true alignment. Read on to understand what that means — and what it will cost you. Disciplined, compassionate, and deeply attuned to the living Force, you have walked the path long enough to understand its demands — and accept them.
You lead not through authority alone, but through example. You have felt the pull of the dark side and chosen otherwise, every time. That is not certainty.
That is courage. You are earnest, powerful, and brimming with potential — and you know it, which is both your greatest asset and your most dangerous flaw. You act before you think, trust your gut over your training, and sometimes confuse impatience for bravery.
The Masters see something in you, though. The question isn't whether you have what it takes — it's whether you'll be patient enough to find out. You are not simply dangerous — you are certain, and that is worse.
You have decided what the galaxy needs, and you have decided you are the one to deliver it. Your power is genuine and formidable, earned through sacrifice that would have broken lesser beings. But examine your victories carefully.
Every Sith believed their cause was righteous. The dark side's cruelest trick is that it agrees with you. You were forged in fire and reshaped by those who found you at your lowest.
You serve, because service gave you structure when you had none. Your allegiance is not to an ideology — it is to survival and to the master who gave you purpose. But there is something buried beneath the conditioning.
The Jedi you hunt? You recognize them. Because you remember what it felt like before the choice was taken from you.
You have looked at the Jedi Code and the Sith Code and found both of them incomplete. You walk the line not out of indecision but out of conviction — you genuinely believe both extremes miss something essential. The Jedi don't fully trust you.
The Sith think you're wasting your potential. They're both partially right. But so are you.
The Vampire Lestat is a direct continuation — and official rebranding — of AMC's critically acclaimed Interview with the Vampire. The soft reboot shifts the spotlight away from Louis (Jacob Anderson) and places the infamous Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) at the center of the narrative. The story begins with Lestat being furious over how the events of his life have been portrayed.
He decides to tell his own version of the story by reinventing himself as the world's first vampire rock star as he embarks on a global tour. The series then flashes back through centuries of his life to explore his origins in 18th-century France, his transformation into a vampire, and the relationships that shaped him into one of fantasy's most fascinating antiheroes. Meanwhile, familiar faces including Louis, Armand (Assad Zaman), and Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) obviously remain deeply entangled in Lestat's life as he deals with ancient enemies and great supernatural forces.
This premise completely transforms the perspective of the story. Interview with the Vampire examined immortality through Louis' guilt and regret, but The Vampire Lestat embraces its protagonist’s theatrics and deeply unreliable narration. The fantasy drama feels gothic, glamorous, and emotionally volatile all at once.
Instead of treating vampirism as a curse alone, the series explores themes of obsession and identity and, in doing so, successfully reinvents one of TV’s best TV dramas without taking away what made it special in the first place. Daemons of the Shadow Realm features Hiromu Arakawa’s fantasy worldbuilding at its best after Fullmetal Alchemist. The anime is set in a secluded mountain village frozen in time, and the series follows young hunter Yuru (Kensho Ono), whose life comes crashing down when armed outsiders attack his home.
During the assault, Yuru learns that everything he has ever believed about his village, his imprisoned twin sister Asa (Yume Miyamoto), and even his own identity has been a carefully constructed lie. Soon after, he is forced into the modern world alongside the mysterious outsider Dera (Yuichi Nakamura), where he discovers that he and Asa were born with the rare ability to command supernatural beings known as Daemons. What immediately separates Daemons of the Shadow Realm from most fantasy anime is how effortlessly it blends ancient mythology with modern society.
One moment, the story feels like a secluded folklore mystery, and the next it's introducing helicopters, secret organizations, and supernatural creatures into the same narrative without ever feeling disjointed. This constant collision between old and new keeps the world endlessly unpredictable, while Arakawa's trademark character-focused writing ensures the emotional stakes remain just as compelling as the action. Daemons of the Shadow Realm builds its mystery piece by piece, and is exactly the kind of ambitious fantasy that has made Hiromu Arakawa one of the genre's most marked storytellers.
House of the Dragon Season 3 premiered on April 21, 2026, after a two-year wait and wasted no time delivering the full-scale Targaryen civil war that Seasons 1 and 2 had been building toward. The series, set nearly two centuries before Game of Thrones, chronicles the Dance of the Dragons, a brutal succession conflict that takes place after the death of King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine). The story follows his daughter, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy), and her half-brother, King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney), as they both claim the Iron Throne.
Season 3 picks up immediately after the devastating events of Season 2, with Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell), Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), and the rest of Westeros forced to choose sides, while dragon battles, shifting alliances, and betrayals push the Seven Kingdoms toward complete ruin. House of the Dragon is yet another ambitious installment in the Game of Thrones universe, but aside from the spectacle, the show actually explores the devastating cost of power. House of the Dragon Season 3 raises the narrative’s emotional stakes by refusing to paint anyone as merely black or white.
The eight-episode season is set to conclude on August 9, 2026, but not before bringing several of the Dance's defining conflicts to the screen. Netflix's live-action One Piece faithfully adapts one of the most beloved manga series of all time, a feat that many deemed impossible to achieve. One Piece Season 2, titled Into the Grand Line, premiered on March 10, 2026, and expands the Straw Hat Pirates'adventure far beyond the East Blue.
The series follows Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy), Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu), Nami (Emily Rudd), Usopp (Jacob Romero), and Sanji (Taz Skylar) as they finally set sail for the legendary Grand Line, where the dangers are far greater than anything they've faced before. The crew travels through Loguetown, Reverse Mountain, Whisky Peak, Little Garden, and Drum Island and encounters ruthless members of the secret criminal organization Baroque Works, powerful new allies including Princess Vivi (Charithra Chandran), and the fan-favorite reindeer doctor Tony Tony Chopper (Mikaela Hoover).
Every stop brings Luffy one step closer to becoming King of the Pirates while revealing just how unpredictable the world beyond East Blue truly is. Instead of simply trying to recreate the manga panel for panel, the series adapts it with a clear understanding of what made Eiichiro Oda's story resonate with millions of readers in the first place. Every island feels like the beginning of a completely new adventure, with its own culture and mythology.
The bond between the Straw Hats remains at the heart of it all and grounds the show’s wildest fantasy elements. One Piece Season 2 wraps up with the conclusion of the Drum Island Arc, and Netflix has officially greenlit and wrapped production on One Piece Season 3, titled The Battle of Alabasta.