8 Most Original Fantasy TV Shows, Ranked
Jennie Richardson is a TV Features and Lists Writer for Collider, and a graduate student pursuing an MFA in Fiction Writing. In other words, she really loves stories.
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Television is an excellent medium for adapting fantasy, because it allows the plot time to develop, and has the room to introduce the characters and build this world. Many classic fantasy series have made for fantastic television adaptations, like Game of Thrones, Interview with the Vampire, and Shadow and Bone. Even great fantasy movies can be improved as TV shows, like What We Do in the Shadows and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
There are so many phenomenal fantasy shows out there that are adaptations of books, movies, mythology, and even existing TV series. Occasionally, though, there will be a truly excellent fantasy show that is wholly original, and not adapted from any existing media. These shows stand out in a different way, introducing a story that has never been told, through the perfect medium for fantasy. These are the best original fantasy TV shows, ranked.
Extraordinary takes place in a version of the real world where nearly every single person alive has a superpower that they got on their eighteenth birthday, ranging from traditional ones like super-strength, to very specific ones like the ability to summon sea creatures. Jen (Máiréad Tyers) is the only person she knows without a power, leaving her feeling insecure and lost.
With its incredibly unique premise, Extraordinary plays around with the existence of many bizarre superpowers in very silly and creative ways. It also has some really emotional moments, as Jen often feels very isolated due to her lack of powers, leading her to take drastic measures to try to finally bring her power out once and for all.
7 'Once Upon a Time' (2011–2018)
Once Upon a Time takes a number of existing fairytale characters and brings them together for a very original premise. Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) is a normal woman living in the real world, who is visited one day by Henry (Jared S. Gilmore), the son she once gave up for adoption. Henry tells Emma about the existence of fairytale characters in the real world, and introduces Emma to the town of Storybrooke, Maine.
As it turns out, the entire town of Storybrooke is made up of characters from fairytales, who have been cursed by the Evil Queen, Regina (Lana Parrilla), to live out their days there. The series alternates between the present day and the past, which shows flashes from each of the characters' lives before they get stuck in Storybrooke. Once Upon a Time builds off of the existing fairytales to create some new lore around the characters, gradually revealing the events that led to the curse.
6 'Charmed' (1998–2006)
Charmed follows the Halliwell sisters: Prue (Shannen Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs), Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), and eventually Paige (Rose McGowan). The sisters' lives are turned upside down after learning that they come from a family of witches, right at the same time that they all develop powers. They use these powers for good, protecting beings who need them from those who use their powers for evil.
With its unique premise and nuanced cast of characters, Charmed is definitely one of the best original fantasy shows. It takes existing mythology around witches and other supernatural beings and expands on it, telling a really powerful and emotional story over the course of its eight seasons. Although Charmed is wholly original, it was so beloved that it was eventually adapted into a comic series as well after the show ended.
5 'Supernatural' (2005–2020)
Supernatural is entirely original, but has since been adapted as an anime, and had a prequel spin-off made called The Winchesters. The series follows Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles), two estranged brothers who reconnect after their father (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) goes missing. Like their parents before them, Sam and Dean are hunters of evil supernatural beings.
The fantasy elements in Supernatural are excellent, driving each episode, while also making for a number of suspenseful and emotional storylines. What really cemented Supernatural's legacy are its three main characters: Sam, Dean, and later Castiel (Misha Collins). The individual and group dynamics between the three of them are really well-written, and these characters' journeys serve as the emotional throughline for the series.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Iconic Fandom Should You Join? Harry Potter · Lord of the Rings · Star Wars · Star Trek
Eight honest questions about how you actually are: what you put on when you need cheering up, how deep you go into the things you love, what you argue about, what you keep on your shelf. Answer them and we will tell you where you belong. Four of the biggest fandoms on earth are taking new members, and they could not be more different from one another.
⚡Harry Potter(Wizarding World)
💍Lord of the Rings(Middle-earth)
⚔️Star Wars(A Galaxy Far Away)
🖖Star Trek(The Final Frontier)
01
What do you put on when you need cheering up? Nobody is brave about this one.
02
How deep do you go into something you love? There is no shallow end here, only different deep ends.
03
What do you and your friends actually argue about? Every fandom has one argument it has been having for years.
04
How do you feel about a room full of strangers? Every one of these comes with a very big room.
05
Where would you rather spend a week? Pick on instinct rather than on budget.
06
What do you believe about people, mostly? All four of these stories have an answer, and they disagree.
07
What is actually on your shelf? Look over at it before you answer.
08
What do you actually want from a story? Eight questions in, this is the one that picks your fandom.
Membership Confirmed Your Fandom Is…
Four of the largest communities on the planet, and four completely different reasons to belong to one. Here is yours, what it would give you, and the argument you would be having within a week.
Harry Potter
You belong to the fandom that is really about comfort. Hogwarts works on people because it is a place rather than a plot, and the pull is not the wizard war so much as the corridors, the food, the weather and the sense that somebody is expecting you.
- You are drawn to belonging, which is why this fandom sorted itself into houses within about five minutes and has never stopped.
- This is the most social of the four, and the one most likely to know which type every single person in your life would be.
- The books are built to be reread rather than analysed, and rereading is exactly what you do with things you love.
- The new HBO series is bringing the whole thing back one book at a time, which means the arguments are about to start all over again.
Lord of the Rings
You belong to the deepest fandom on this list, the one where somebody has always read further than you and is quietly delighted to say so. Middle-earth rewards patience more than any other world in popular culture.
- You like the sense that the story you are reading is only the visible part of something enormous, which is precisely how Tolkien built it.
- This fandom takes adaptation seriously to a degree that other fandoms find slightly alarming, and it has good reasons for that.
- Your favourite thing about the books is probably the bit that is not action at all, which is the walking, the songs and the long goodbyes.
- Nobody here thinks heroism belongs to the powerful, and the whole story exists to make that argument.
Star Wars
You belong to the loudest and largest tent of the four, the one where three generations are all watching the same thing and none of them agree about any of it. That disagreement is not a flaw in this fandom, it is the main activity.
- You want something you can share with absolutely everybody, from a six year old to a grandparent, and this is the only one on the list that really does that.
- Nobody argues like Star Wars fans argue, and the argument has been running since roughly 1980 with no sign of resolution.
- The pull here is sensory before it is narrative, since it is the sound design, the score and the look of a used and dented galaxy.
- You would be first in the queue, in costume, with strong opinions and a genuinely good time.
Star Trek
You belong to the thinking fandom, the one that turns up for the argument rather than the explosion. Trek has always been a series of ethical problems in space, and the people who love it love being asked what they would have done.
- You are an optimist in a way that is currently unfashionable, and this is the only major franchise still willing to say the future might be better.
- The best episodes are the ones where nobody fires anything, which is a sentence that makes perfect sense to this fandom and to nobody else.
- Starfleet Academy brought the franchise back to a classroom in 2026, which is appropriate, because Trek has always been a bit of a seminar.
- You would want the conversation afterwards more than the episode itself, and here you will always find somebody willing to have it.
4 'Galavant' (2015–2016)
Galavant is a musical fairytale comedy with a truly creative premise, and some of the catchiest songs ever put on television. Once the most lauded knight in the kingdom, a bad heartbreak leaves Galavant (Joshua Sasse) spending most of his time just lying around doing nothing. He is tricked into going on a quest to save his former love, Madalena (Mallory Jansen), but the whole thing is a ruse concocted by her husband, King Richard (Timothy Omundson), in order to kill him.
With two wildly different and equally excellent seasons, Galavant is truly something special. It utilizes its fairytale-esque setting for some really fun quests, hilarious storylines, and creative musical numbers. The second season really amps up the fantasy, with the addition of an evil sorcerer (Robert Lindsay), a whole lot of magic, and even a dragon.
3 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' (2005–2008)
Twenty years ago, Nickelodeon struck gold with Avatar: The Last Airbender, one of the most creative fantasy series with some seriously detailed and well-thought-out worldbuilding. The series starts when Katara (Mae Whitman) and Sokka (Jack De Sena), two siblings from the Southern Water Tribe, find Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen), the Avatar and the last living Airbender, trapped inside an iceberg after 100 years.
Avatar: The Last Airbender has since been adapted for live-action twice — once as a movie and most recently as a television show that is now going into its third season. It has been adapted into a number of other mediums as well, and had a television spin-off, The Legend of Korra. Although Avatar: The Last Airbender now has quite a legacy, it is wholly original, and all started with that pilot episode.
2 'The Good Place' (2016–2020)
The Good Place is a sitcom that takes place in a "Good Place" neighborhood in the afterlife. When a selfish woman named Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) suddenly dies, she is sent to "the Good Place" by mistake. Desperate to avoid being discovered, Eleanor convinces Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper), her mistakenly-assigned soulmate, to teach her how to be a good person.
With four wildly inventive seasons and some really creative lore, The Good Place is a very detailed and well-written fantasy series. It also examines complex moral and ethical questions over the course of its run with a great deal of thought and nuance, while using its unique setting to weave in some of the most over-the-top and hilarious scenarios. Additionally, its Season 1 finale contains the greatest sitcom plot twist of all time.
1 'Pushing Daisies' (2007–2009)
Pushing Daisies is a fairytale-procedural hybrid that follows Ned (Lee Pace), a piemaker who can bring the dead back to life with a single touch. The world of Pushing Daisies is extremely cozy, with bright colors, a whimsical aesthetic, and an abundance of delicious-looking pies. It's a one-of-a-kind series with a unique premise that sees Ned using his power to help P.I. Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) solve murders.
When Ned's childhood sweetheart, Chuck (Anna Friel), is the latest murder victim, Ned can't bring himself to touch her back to being dead. Thus, Chuck enters his life once again, but they can never touch. Pushing Daisies later inspired a comic book, but the show itself is entirely original, with one of the most unique and delightful fantasy worlds to ever grace a television screen.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.