HBO’s 10/10 Fantasy Masterpiece Shows ‘Game of Thrones’ How It’s Done

Published Oct 18, 2026, 4:44 PM EDT

Jasneet Singh is a writer who finally has a platform to indulge in long rants about small moments on TV and film in overwhelming detail. With a literature background, she is drawn to the narrative aspect of cinema and will happily rave about her favorite characters. She is also waiting for the Ranger's Apprentice novels to be adapted... but the cycle of hope and disappointment every two years is getting too painful to bear.

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Titles like The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones have been dominating the high-fantasy genre for a long time, and once those movies and shows came to a close, fans searched for something similar and as immersive to sink their teeth into. Luckily, Prime Video came out with The Wheel of Time, another high-fantasy adaptation of novels by Robert Jordan that swept us away into a world with light and dark magic, a small-town Chosen One, and stunning, perilous settings.

Unfortunately, the relief would be short-lived as the series was shockingly canceled after three seasons, leaving the rest of the Dragon Reborn's tale to be told on the pages of Jordan's novels rather than on the small screen. To alleviate that gaping hole, there is an often overlooked HBO series that deserves another look. His Dark Materials is exactly what every fantasy fan needs to dig into in the wake of The Wheel of Time's cancellation, as it offers a host of new favorite characters, a lived-in world, and a good old complex battle between good and evil.

What Is HBO's 'His Dark Materials' About?

Like The Wheel of Time, His Dark Materials is based on a successful fantasy book series of the same name by Philip Pullman, though in the U.S., the first book was better known as The Golden Compass. This wasn't the first time someone tried to adapt the novels, as Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig headlined a 2007 film that had an abysmal reception. As such, the BBC and HBO co-produced TV series is the first time anyone has managed to adapt more than just the first book in the trilogy, and it is exactly what we were hoping for.

Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky

Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides

🖖Capt. Kirk

✊Princess Leia

🔦Ellen Ripley

🔥Max Rockatansky

FIND YOUR HERO →

01

How do you lead when the stakes couldn't be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.

AI absorb everything — every variable, every pattern — and move only when I know the path forward. BI read the room, make the call, and own the consequences. Hesitation costs more than mistakes. CI rally people. A cause needs a voice, and I refuse to let fear be louder than conviction. DI assess the threat, establish what needs doing, and get it done without waiting for permission. EI don't lead. I act. Others can follow or not — I'm already moving.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.

APrescience — the ability to see further ahead than anyone else and plan accordingly. BImprovisation — I'm at my best when the plan falls apart and I have to invent a new one. CConviction — I know what I'm fighting for, and that certainty doesn't waver under fire. DComposure — I stay functional when everyone around me is falling apart. Panic is a luxury. EEndurance — I outlast things. I take the hit and keep moving long after others have stopped.

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03

What is the thing you'd sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.

AThe survival and dignity of my people — even if I have to become something frightening to ensure it. BThe safety of my crew — every single one of them. No one gets left behind. CFreedom — for my people, for every world still crushed under the weight of an empire. DThe truth — what actually happened, what's actually out there, whether anyone believes me or not. EThe one person — or the one memory — that still makes any of this worth surviving for.

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04

How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.

AWith intensity and distance — I care deeply, but the weight I carry makes closeness complicated. BWith warmth and irreverence — I take the mission seriously, not myself. CWith directness and trust — I say what I mean, and I expect the people I work with to rise to it. DWith professional care but clear limits — I'll protect you, but I won't pretend we're family. EWith wariness that slowly becomes loyalty — I don't trust easily, but when I do, it holds.

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05

You're facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you're the only one who sees it defines everything.

APrepare in silence. If they won't listen, I'll be ready when they finally have to. BKeep pushing until someone listens — and if no one does, handle it myself. CBuild the case, find the allies, and make the threat impossible to ignore. DDocument everything. The truth matters even if no one believes it yet. EStop trying to convince anyone. Survive it. That's the only argument that counts.

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06

What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they'd pay it again.

AMy innocence — I've seen what I'm capable of, and I can't unsee it. BPeople I loved — the command chair has a view, but it's a lonely one. CA normal life — I gave up everything ordinary the moment I chose the cause. DMy sense of safety — I know exactly what's out there now, and I can't pretend otherwise. EAlmost everything — and I'm still not sure what I'm carrying it all for. But I keep going.

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07

How do you feel about the rules of the world you're in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What's yours?

AI understand them deeply — and I know exactly which ones must be broken, and why. BI respect the spirit of them and bend the letter when the situation demands it. CThe system is the problem. I'm not here to work within it — I'm here to dismantle it. DI follow protocol until protocol stops being useful. Then I make the call myself. EThe rules collapsed a long time ago. What's left is instinct, and mine are reliable.

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08

When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.

ADestiny — or something that feels so much like it that the difference no longer matters. BThe people on my ship — their faces, their trust, the fact that they're counting on me. CThe belief that what we're fighting for is worth every sacrifice, including this one. DSheer refusal to let it win — whatever it is. I don't stop. That's just who I am. EI'm not sure anymore. But the road is still there, and I'm still on it.

REVEAL MY HERO →

Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…

Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

Paul Atreides

You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you're capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

• You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
• You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn't ask for but can't escape.
• Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
• That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won't, is exactly you.

Captain Kirk

You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you've always believed there's a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

• You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
• Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you've earned it.
• Kirk's genius isn't tactical — it's human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
• That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.

Princess Leia

You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you're fearless, but because giving up simply isn't something you're capable of.

• You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
• You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you've never looked back.
• Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
• That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.

Ellen Ripley

You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone's hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

• You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
• Ripley's heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn't have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
• You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn't there.
• When it counts, you don't flinch. That's everything.

Max Rockatansky

You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

• You don't ask for help, don't need validation, and don't wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
• Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it's earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
• Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
• That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

The story follows a young girl called Lyra (Dafne Keen), who lives in a magical version of Oxford where human souls live outside the body and take the form of animals called daemons. Her journey begins with trying to save a friend in a frozen tundra, but she is soon embroiled in a larger-than-life mystery involving a substance called "Dust" that is linked to daemons. The next thing she knows, Lyra is traveling between dimensions and is involved in a major conflict against the reigning religious power called the Magisterium.

Throughout the series, we also meet her uncle, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy), the enchanting Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson), the strong-willed Will Parry (Amir Wilson), and many others. Between talking polar bears called panserbjørne wearing armor and a knife that can literally slice through the fabric of reality to hop into a different dimension, His Dark Materials has enough fantastical elements to be awed by while following a saga-worthy battle.

The World-Building in 'His Dark Materials' Is As Immersive as 'The Wheel of Time's

Image via HBO

Good world-building is the quintessential foundation for any high-fantasy endeavor, and The Wheel of Time gave us so many distinct terrains to get lost in, from the magical intrigue of the Tower to the arid perils of the Aiel Wastes. Meanwhile, His Dark Materials quite literally has multiple worlds, each having its own flair and style. This is also likely a reason why the books were better suited to a TV show rather than condensed into films, as the episodes take their time to flesh out these worlds, making them just as immersive as more famous fantasy shows. From the winding cobbled streets of the mercantile, seaside town of Cittàgazze to the snowy stone palace of Iofur, king of the panserbjørne, each location drops jaws just like they are supposed to. But, of course, world-building doesn't just end at locations.

His Dark Materials has a fascinating political and social climate, mainly due to its associations with religion. Author Pullman described his novels as "anti-Narnia," a tale that holds many parallels with His Dark Materials, including being in the fantasy genre and having talking animals. However, it becomes Narnia's antithesis when looking into themes of religion, morality, and childhood. Narnia evidently has strong ties with Christian symbolism and allegory, whereas in His Dark Materials, Pullman directly challenges these ideas; the crux of the series is to fight against a tyrannical religious force. However, the series is less about attacking faith and more about organizations that control people through censorship and misinformation, and this can be clearly felt in the show's intrepid and then rebellious atmosphere. It is also another reason why the show works better than the 2007 film, which omitted these significant themes.

More than this, the series deals with the realities of childhood and coming-of-age refreshingly. Rather than idolizing virtuousness or purity, it allows its characters to tackle the changes that come with growing up, including ones that are sexual in nature. Having a female lead makes this thematic concern even more resounding and intriguing, as she is truly allowed to grow into herself mentally, emotionally, and physically. The Wheel of Time did an incredible job with its female characters, with many of them exploring their own identities outside their romances or obligations, so fans will be delighted by even more nuanced female characters in His Dark Materials.

The Battle Between Good and Evil Is Complex in 'His Dark Materials'

His Dark Materials and The Wheel of Time have many things in common, but their most satisfying similarity is their indulgence in the morally gray area. The Wheel of Time has a more definitive battle between good and evil, with the major antagonist quite literally being called the Dark One, but many of the characters within the series lie somewhere in between. While His Dark Materials eventually does have a distinct antagonist of the Magisterium, it is not as obvious in the beginning, especially when we meet Mrs. Coulter, who is part of the ruling organization. Fans of Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) will absolutely adore Mrs. Coulter, as she is just as alluring, elusive, and blinding as the Aes Sedai initially is. But Mrs. Coulter is dignified, unruffled, and socially influential —unlike Moiraine for a lot of the series — eventually turning into an instrumental part of the show.

Wilson plays Mrs. Coulter beautifully, managing to convey all the gritty, manipulative, and sympathetic sides of her. She is almost reminiscent of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) in Game of Thrones, a character who became more complex when she was adapted from the page to the screen. Mrs. Coulter, Cersei, and Moiraine are the type of characters that keep us on our toes, as we are always second-guessing their motives and can't help but be drawn to them, even when they make less-than-savory decisions. And surrounding Mrs. Coulter is a compelling ensemble cast that contributes to the immersive nature of His Dark Materials, making sure we are enraptured from the very first episode.

That complete journey is also where His Dark Materials has an advantage over Game of Thrones. While HBO's sprawling epic reached its conclusion without a finished book series to guide it, His Dark Materials adapted Pullman's completed trilogy across three seasons. Its ending brings the ideas about love, freedom, and growing up into focus, making the emotional cost of Lyra and Will's journey central to the resolution. The spectacle matters, but so does what the characters must sacrifice.