The year 2020 was tumultuous. As the world came to terms with a global pandemic, the entertainment industry felt the impact. With people quarantined at home, the need for captivating content to watch on television hit an all-time high. Luckily, that demand created an abundant supply, and a surplus of brilliant TV shows has been released post-COVID.
Fantasy has always been a great escape. Viewers get to vicariously live in a fantasy world as they are transported to far-away places and magical realms via their favorite TV shows. Mythical stories, fantastic creatures, and entire universes of wonder are available at the push of a button. Fantasy has held a special place in TV history, and the future looks all the brighter as breakout hits draw viewers back to the genre once more. Here are the best fantasy shows released since 2020.
10
‘Moon Knight’ (2022)
Releasing Marvel TV shows on Disney+ has been like a dartboard at a pub: throw things at it and see what sticks. While some series have been awesome and done due diligence to their source material, others are abysmal and have received their fair share of dissension. One series that struck out to find excellence on its own without the safety cushion of previous prompting in the MCU is Moon Knight.
Moon Knight stars Oscar Isaac as Steven Grant, a timid, socially awkward museum employee whose whole life is blown apart by forces without and within. Steven and the audience learn together that he has multiple personalities, and one of them, Marc Spector, is not only a mercenary but an emissary for the Egyptian moon god Konshu (F. Murray Abraham/Karim El Hakim). Moon Knight is perfect from beginning to end. It is filled with rich iconography, solid character development, and terrific acting. Isaac is irreplaceable in the roles he plays, and the rest of the cast, including Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy, are equally exemplary. Moon Knight is a unique triumph, proving that there is space in the genre for capsule narratives that are excellent within themselves, and they don’t need to spawn from a broader storyline to be great.
9
‘Locke & Key’ (2020–2022)
Locke & Key is a kaleidoscopic experience of dark fantasy. There are many pieces that can be turned and manipulated into different configurations, and each one is interesting and deserves to be viewed from several angles. The series centers around the Locke family. After the patriarch Rendell (Bill Heck) is murdered, his wife and children move into the family home where he grew up, a mysterious and foreboding mansion known as Keyhouse.
After the family moves in, the children begin to find keys hidden all over the property. What makes the keys unique is that they are imbued with special, extraordinary powers. There is the Music Box Key that gives its user the ability to control another person’s movements, the Anywhere Key that allows someone to travel anywhere they wish as long as they’ve seen the destination before, and many more keys with equally impressive values. Locke & Key has dynamic characters, interesting plots, and fantastic villains. It blends elements of fantasy and horror together seamlessly and is an ideal choice for fans of either genre.
8
‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ (2023–Present)
Based on a beloved YA novel series and quietly dominating on streaming this year, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is simply excellent. Two seasons in, the Disney+ original continues to gain momentum and has been a huge hit with both critics and fans alike. Ahead of the much-anticipated third season, the show is surging up streaming charts, and it is clear that fans can hardly wait for more episodes.
The storyline follows the titular protagonist, played by Walker Scobell, after he learns that he is the son of the Greek god Poseidon (Toby Stephens). As Percy learns more about his role as a demigod, he gains friends and foes as he completes epic quests in this thrilling series. Unlike the feature films based on the books that were released in the 2010s, the TV series is a much more faithful adaptation of the books, which has largely pleased avid devotees. With solid special effects, exciting action, and a pantheon of fascinating characters to explore, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is easily one of the best fantasy shows to debut since 2020, and it isn’t finished yet.
7
‘Lockwood & Co.’ (2023)
A hidden gem of supernatural fantasy that you will wish you had watched sooner is Netflix’s Lockwood & Co. Based on the award-winning book series by Jonathan Stroud, Lockwood & Co. takes place in a version of London that is plagued by malicious ghosts. Known as “The Problem,” the city has been seeking a way to deal with its surplus of specters, and it turns out that children are the solution. Only young people can detect the ghosts’ presence, leading to a high demand for those with the ability to sense them.
Lockwood & Co. is gripping, with a rich universe full of lore and interesting characters. The special effects in Lockwood & Co. are well done and enhance the storytelling rather than detract from it. Cameron Chapman, Ruby Stokes, and Ali Hadji-Heshmati are stellar in their performances as the motley trio that comprises the independent ghost-catching agency. Although the series received very little marketing or promotion from Netflix, it has grown to be a massive sleeper hit with over 36 million hours viewed. It is one of the best fantasy series released in the past three years and has a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Although Lockwood & Co.’s tenure deserved to be longer, it is still a fantasy masterpiece in its current form.
6
‘Ghosts’ (US) (2021–Present)
Ghosts follows a married couple named Samantha (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) as they move into a family estate. When Samantha inherits her family’s legacy mansion, her dreams of opening a quaint B&B become slightly more complicated when a freak accident allows her to see and hear ghosts. After her accident, Samantha becomes aware that the Woodstone manor has a plethora of paranormal personalities who remain tied to the property because the location is where they met their demise. As Sam, Jay, and the ghosts learn to live together, it makes for a riot of comical and meaningful moments.
Ghosts is a clever and cute comedy that has been a hit with critics and audiences alike. Five seasons strong, it continues to deliver cliffhangers, conundrums, and will-they/won’t-they romance plots. The cast of characters is diverse and interesting, and there is something for everyone, as each ghost is from a different time period. Hitting nostalgia on multiple levels, Ghosts remains a feel-good sitcom that blends living your best life with the afterlife. The highly anticipated Season 6 will debut on October 29, 2026, and it promises to be one of the best yet.
5
‘My Lady Jane’ (2024)
My Lady Jane is a saucy, rompy anachronistic comedy that broke fans’ hearts when it was canceled after a single season. The series stars Emily Bader as the historical figure Lady Jane Grey, the famous Nine Days Queen. Lady Grey was the Queen of England for only nine days before she was deposed and beheaded. It is a real-life story that seems closer to a plot in Game of Thrones than anything else, but it did actually happen.
My Lady Jane takes this foundation and adds layers of comedy and whimsy to create something altogether unique. With such a tempestuous and remarkable turn of events, the story lent itself to a depiction that colored outside the lines a bit. Fans were passionate about the series and devastated when it was terminated. Luckily, the writing does not end on an earth-shattering cliffhanger, so the series can be appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed as-is.
4
‘One Piece’ (2023–Present)
You don’t get to be one of the longest-running anime in history for nothing. However, anime is a very distinct visual presentation, and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. So Netflix took the awesome premise behind the enduring series One Piece and adapted it into a format that many audiences could appreciate: live-action.
Keeping the essence of the original and incorporating fantastic costume design and makeup, One Piece brings the eccentric characters of the anime to life like never before. The writing is superb in that newcomers to the fandom can join right in, and you don’t have to know anything about the anime to get started. Blending humor with action and adrenaline-dosed adventure, One Piece is everything old and new fans didn’t know they needed. It is a fun, frantic, and absurdist fantasy that never stops delivering on iconic characters and thrilling episodes. One Piece is a blazing comet of creativity, letting everyone know that the fantasy genre still has major creative opportunities to take hold of, and viewers are ready and willing to go along for the ride.
3
‘Arcane’ (2021–2024)
Historically, TV shows based on video games have been subpar. Arcane, however, is pure transcendence. The animated series is based on the popular League of Legends game and incorporates elements of sci-fi, fantasy, and steampunk. Having game developers from League of Legends involved with the making of the show ensured the result would be phenomenal. Not only is the animation stunning and visually rich, but the storyline is dedicated and focused. The series is only two seasons long because it wanted to be, and it avoided the pitfall of writing itself into mediocrity.
Arcane has won several Primetime Emmy Awards and boasts a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. It has proven once and for all that a TV show based on a video game can not only be good, but quintessential. Arcane is a ridiculously gorgeous spectacle of animation that you have to see to appreciate, and the compelling story and committed performances will keep you invested from the very start.
2
‘House of the Dragon’ (2022–Present)
Game of Thrones was a force to be reckoned with when it came to fantasy fandom. The hit series made household names out of its cast and catapulted many actors to stardom. When the series wrapped in 2019, there was a hole left in viewers’ hearts to revisit the lore once more. Enter: House of the Dragon. A prequel set 127 years prior to the events in GoT, House of the Dragon focuses on one of the most popular houses, the Targaryens, and feeds into the same narratives of dragons, deadly conquest, and a desire for power.
House of the Dragon has not disappointed, and it has been a solid hit for HBO Max and the series’ creators. Three seasons in, House of the Dragon remains a must-watch series and is consistently ranking in HBO Max’s Top 10 TV shows worldwide. The series has been greenlit for a fourth and final season, and fans can hardly wait to return to Westeros again.
1
‘Wednesday’ (2022–Present)
Reviving an established IP is nothing new, but Wednesday is a complete reinvigoration of a beloved character that became something greater than the sum of its parts. Wednesday Addams had only been seen in TV shows and movies as a younger girl. The choice to age her into a teen was inspired, and Jenna Ortega’s performance is spot-on, paying due homage to Christina Ricci’s brilliant depictions in the ‘90s movies. Ricci has a role in the series, and there are plenty of fan service winks to keep aficionados happy.
Wednesday includes the brooding, gothic lore that is expected, and then expands upon it by incorporating fantasy creatures like werewolves, sirens, and gorgons. Add in a school for outcasts with a house system akin to Harry Potter, and it was a recipe for success. Wednesday has become Netflix’s most accomplished title, and it is the predominant English-language series on the platform. Combining mystery with the macabre, Wednesday continues to inspire everything from fashion to cosmetics to hairstyles and more, and this absolute masterpiece of a fantasy series shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Wednesday
- Release Date
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November 23, 2022
- Network
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Netflix