HBO’s Best Fantasy Show Since Game of Thrones Is This 84% RT Series With a Perfect Ending

Ever since Game of Thrones turned into an internet-breaking sensation, TV networks have been trying to catch up and find their own version. Multiple fantasy shows have tried to replace Game of Thrones, but few have really came close. That’s either because they were cancelled too soon, the quality was simply lacking, or even just because the changing landscape of television – and rise of streaming and binge-watching – no longer allows for a pop culture monolith to exist in quite the same way.

Game of Thrones‘ ending may have been controversial, but there’s still nothing else quite like it. Even HBO has tried to find new success within the same franchise, via the spinoff House of the Dragon and, next up, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The former has already faced its own major criticisms; the latter will be great, albeit a smaller show. But the cable outfit’s best fantasy show since Game of Thrones was something different, albeit still a book adaptation: His Dark Materials. Based on Philip Pullman’s novels (which were previously adapted into the not-so-great movie The Golden Compass), it’s arguably the best show to come from TV’s post-Thrones fantasy boom.

Why His Dark Materials Is A Must-Watch Fantasy TV Show

The show begins relatively small in scope: Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen) searches for her missing friend in Oxford, England. However, while the world is like our own in many ways, it contains some differences, such as the presence of daemons – essentially your soul, but physically manifested as an animal. There are other differences and wonders to be discovered too: this embraces its fantasy elements, with witches, armored polar bears, and doors to other worlds that Lyra wanders through, pulled into a much bigger story that will eventually lead to questions over the universe’s nature and fate of humanity.

Like Game of Thrones at its best, the worldbuilding is incredibly rich in detail, feeling textured, lived-in, and something you actively want to learn about. It may not be as adult – the books are more in the YA realm, and there’s not the same level of sex and violence – but that by no means makes it lesser. There’s still plenty of heft to the series, with some weighty themes around organized religion, free will, and the loss of innocence. There are also some exciting sequences, shocking twists, and moments that will leave you completely devastated.

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The show’s budget wasn’t quite at the level of Game of Thrones‘ biggest seasons, and while you can sometimes feel that early on – if there’s a criticism, it’s that the daemons aren’t featured enough in Seasons 1 and 2, not dissimilar to Thrones‘ misuse of the direwolves later on. At the same time, the production value is still high; there are some gorgeous visuals, and some of the CGI – another mention for those polar bears – is fantastic.

Even more so, though, is the cast. Keen broke out in Logan, but she displays greater emotional range and acting maturity here in what’s her best performance to date. Ruth Wilson is utterly magnetic; the complexity of her character, who can be at turns sympathetic and terrifying, showing extreme sides of good and evil, calls to mind Lena Headey’s tour de force showing as Cersei Lannister. And like Game of Thrones, the rest of the cast is absolutely filled with (mostly) British talent you’ll probably recognise.

Perhaps most importantly, though, for a fantasy show in the post-Game of Thrones landscape, is that this not only has an ending, but a great one. His Dark Materials started in November 2019, just six months after the backlash to Daenerys Targaryen’s Mad Queen turn, King Bran Stark, and more. It wrapped up just three seasons later – one season per book, with the advantage, of course, that they’d all been written. It’s a show that gets better with each year, and builds to a conclusion that is as close to perfect as you’ll find in any fantasy TV series, and that will live long in the memory for all the right reasons.

His Dark Materials and Game of Thrones are both available to stream on HBO Max.