Remakes and Rip-offs: The battle to be the next Game of Thrones

Cover illustration by Tilly Binucci. | Despite its disappointing final season, Game of Thrones’ impact on the television industry is undeniable. In the final years of the show, major producers started to anticipate a future gap in pop culture and plans for several more fantasy series began to take shape. We have seen the results these last few years, including shows like The Wheel of Time, The Witcher, His Dark Materials, House of the Dragon, and Rings of Power, with several more to come. High fantasy appears to be the reigning monarch of contemporary television—is this only because of the success of GOT? What else in our time could be causing audiences to crave swords and sorcery?

From a business perspective, this phenomenon is not difficult to understand. HBO proved that it was not only feasible to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a TV production but extremely profitable. With the coinciding rise of streaming services, companies like Netflix and Amazon have been eager to try their hand at epic fantasy. But how successful has the industry been in replacing GOT? Have any of these shows been worth watching?