Romantasy is one of the biggest genres in entertainment right now and it’s only getting bigger. Thanks to book series like Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses, stories in the romance-plus-fantasy world have been steadily gaining new fans, drawing them in with love stories and keeping them hooked with the intense world-building and action fantasy fans have long enjoyed. And while ACOTAR is huge, there’s another universe that is every bit as popular — that of Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing.
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Currently comprising of three books — Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, and Onyx Storm — the series follows Violet Sorrengail, a young woman forced into a war college to become a dragon rider despite her physical limitations. Violet finds herself pushed to her limits with quests and competitions, all while trying to avoid being killed by one of the most powerful riders, Xaden Riorson. The book is full of action, intrigue, and yes, a bit of romance and it’s such a huge smash that it’s getting a television adaptation from Amazon MGM Studios. However, while fans wait for the Fourth Wing series, there are plenty of other great fantasy television shows they can check out — and should. Here are seven.
7) House of the Dragon
You almost cannot have this list without at least one of the Game of Thrones series and if we’re leaning into the dragon element of it all, House of the Dragon is going to be our pick — just because it gives us the most dragon for our dollar, as it were. A prequel to Game of Thrones, the series tells the story of the Targaryen civil war as the children of King Viserys I Targaryen’s children battle for control of the Iron Throne.
As we’ve noted, the dragons are the lure for Fourth Wing fans, but you get other elements that carry over as well. Like Fourth Wing’s Basgiath War College, the world of House of the Dragon is a brutal place. Both stories also heavily feature political intrigue which makes the stories more than just dragons and romance.
6) The Magicians
While The Magicians is sorely deficient in dragons, it’s the college aspect of the story that makes The Magicians a great choice for Fourth Wing fans. The Magicians centers around Quentin Coldwater, a graduate student at Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy where he’s training to be a magician. However, he and his friends discover that the magical world from his favorite childhood book is actually real and could very well pose a huge danger to humanity.
Brakebills is a lot like Basgiath in the sense that both schools put their students through deadly tests and challenges. Quentin and Violet are also a bit more alike than one might expect, as Quentin also has his own fragilities, specifically a struggle with mental health.
5) Fate: The Winx Saga
Another school-oriented series, Fate: The Winx Saga follows Bloom, a fairy who has fire powers who was raised on Earth by adoptive human parents and enrolls a magical boarding school in the Otherworld. While there, Bloom begins to learn more about her past, but as she does, ancient creatures — the Burned Ones — return to the Otherworld and threaten everyone at the school.
While Fate: The Winx Saga doesn’t have dragons, the discovery of self aspect as well as the high stakes with the arrival of the Burned Ones contribute to what fans of the Fourth Wing book consider to be the overall “vibe” of the universe. It is worth noting, however, that Fate: The Winx Saga was cancelled after just two seasons on Netflix and ends in a sort of incomplete fashion. That said, it’s still a common recommendation among Fourth Wing fans so it’s definitely worth checking out.
4) Shadow and Bone
Shadow and Bone is also a natural choice when it comes to television shows for Fourth Wing fans because Shadow and Bone got its start in the popular books by Leigh Bardugo. Set in the Grishaverse fantasy setting, Shadow and Bone follows Alina Starkov, an orphan and mapmaker who discovers that she is someone with magical abilities — aka, a Grisha — and may also be the key to saving her war-torn world.
Shadow and Bone should appeal to Fourth Wing fans because it also offers that exciting mix of romance, magic, and high-stakes action and intrigue. The world of the Grishaverse is also fairly well fleshed out and developed, much like the world of Fourth Wing.
3) Motherland: Fort Salem
A bit of a departure as compared to the rest of the suggestions on this list, Motherland: Fort Salem is a little darker, but would still be a great watch for Fourth Wing fans. The series follows three witches who are conscripted into the U.S. Army where they train in combat magic. The series is set in an alternative history United States where persecution of witches was ended three centuries before with the Salem Accord, but now the world finds itself dealing with a terrorist organization of witches opposed to the conscription of witches for military purposes.
Fourth Wing and Motherland: Fort Salem actually have quite a bit in common. They both share the military school aspect of things that push their students to their limits in deadly training. There is also the specialized training aspect — magic instead of dragon-riding. However, the biggest commonality might be the way the relationships between characters in both stories are formed, going from enemies to a tight-knight, family-like group. Both Fourth Wing and Fort Salem are also full of action and drama as well.
2) The Outpost
The Outpost is one of those overlooked fantasy tv shows, but it’s one that Fourth Wing fans would enjoy. The Outpost follows Talon, the last of her kind called the Blackbloods, as she seeks vengeance for her family. However, she discovers that she has a mysterious and extraordinary power that puts her in a position to not only save herself, but the world.
While there’s no school element to The Outpost, the series does have the “chosen one” aspect that we get from Violet in Fourth Wing. The stakes in Fourth Wing and The Outpost are both very high with survival being a real challenge. Also, The Outpost features various magical creatures so while it’s not exactly dragons, the worldbuilding feels similar.
1) Vampire Academy
If you trade out dragons for vampires, Vampire Academy makes for a perfect tv show for Fourth Wing fans. Vampire Academy (also based on a novel series, this one by Richelle Mead), follows Rose Hathaway, a dhampir guardian in training and her best friend and charge, royal moroi vampire Lissa Dragomir as they attend St. Vladmir’s Academy boarding school.
Like the school in Fourth Wing, St. Vlad’s is a dangerous school, particularly Rose’s training, as she must become skilled enough to protect Lissa against the darker, more dangerous strigoi vampires. The series also features an enemies-to-lovers trope, complicated mentor and student dynamics, and plenty of action, all of it with very high stakes. There is also serious political intrigue that upends everything. While Vampire Academy only got one season, it was an intense season — and Fourth Wing fans will love it.
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