From the witchy lore of Nickelodeon’s Every Witch Way to the cozy heartbreak of Pushing Daisies, these seven underrated fantasy series are built for second—and third—viewings.
There’s a certain kind of fantasy show that doesn’t just ask you to watch. It asks you to come back.
The seven series below don’t fade once the credits roll. They reward attention—whether it’s the kind of plotting that makes early episodes feel loaded with clues. or the softer pull of worlds that feel safe enough to revisit. Some series hide revelations in plain sight. Others are simply comforting in the best way. Either way, they’re the kind of shows people end up rewatching and rewatching.
Every Witch Way (2014–2015)
Every Witch Way is a “severely underrated” Nickelodeon series centered on Emma Alonso (Paola Andino). a teenage girl who moves to Miami with her father (Rene Lavan) and starts school at the strange and mysterious Iridium High School. As Emma tries to adjust to everything changing at once. she learns she’s a witch—just like her late mother was.
The power doesn’t come without pressure. The show builds toward the Eclipse, during which a number of witches around Emma are planning to steal her powers. And while Emma is dealing with that looming danger. she also faces a more personal balancing act: each season of Every Witch Way shows her trying to juggle her life as a teenager with the weight of being very likely the Chosen One.
What makes the series especially rewatch-worthy is its unexpectedly complex lore for a kids’ show—new magical species and a deeper witch mythology than you might expect at first glance.
What We Do in the Shadows (2019–2024)
What We Do in the Shadows lives in contrast: epic vampire history meets sitcom-level pettiness. The mockumentary series follows three regular vampires. one energy vampire. and their familiar. all living together in a Staten Island mansion. A documentary crew is recording them. offering a look at their “every-day (after)lives”—right down to how busy they are when they’re supposed to be taking over the world.
Early on, the vampires receive orders from the Baron (Doug Jones) to take over some of the world. But instead of conquering anything grand, they get pulled into surprisingly mundane routines. Each episode delivers random and strange shenanigans ranging from ordinary to bizarrely specific.
Their list of problems includes attending a neighbor’s Superbowl party, dealing with spam emails they’re convinced are cursed, and awakening the spirits of their ghosts. The show takes existing vampire lore and pushes it further—making it funnier, weirder, and less glamorous than ever before.
Galavant (2015–2016)
Galavant is a laugh-out-loud musical fairytale about a once-great knight named Galavant (Joshua Sasse). Everything falls apart after his true love, Madalena (Mallory Jansen), leaves him for the evil King Richard (Timothy Omundson). With his life in ruins. Galavant stops chasing glory and spends his days wallowing—until the desperate Princess Isabella (Karen David) asks him to help save her kingdom from Richard.
Even then, Galavant isn’t exactly eager to jump back into hero mode. The turning point comes when Isabella tells him that Madalena regrets leaving him.
From there, Galavant sets out on a quest with Isabella and his trusty squire, Sid (Luke Youngblood). But the mission is a trap. Richard blackmailed Isabella into tricking Galavant: if Isabella can bring Galavant to Richard so that he can kill him, Richard will let her parents live.
And the story complicates itself further when Madalena is revealed to be more focused on power and more fortune than she is on Galavant—or Richard.
School Spirits (2023–Present)
School Spirits follows Maddie Nears (Peyton List), a teenage girl who suddenly goes missing. Her body is nowhere to be found, but her ghost is trapped in her high school, along with the ghosts of everyone else who has died there.
Maddie can’t remember how she died. She also doesn’t know what really happened to her. That makes her search for answers both personal and terrifying. especially as she navigates her afterlife with help from her new ghost friends and her best friend. Simon (Kristian Ventura)—the only living person who can see and hear her.
The series begins as a grounded teen drama with speculative elements. It then grows into something darker and more horrifying. while still building a deep and complex lore from the very start. Over successive seasons. School Spirits gradually entangles its biggest secrets. and it’s the kind of show fans rewatch because early details can feel like hints you didn’t catch the first time.
The Good Place (2016–2020)
The Good Place opens with Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) waking up after a bizarre grocery cart crash—only to find herself in the Good Place. Eleanor knows she was “just a medium person.” That’s why it’s such a shock when she realizes she doesn’t belong.
In her version of paradise, Eleanor discovers her mistakenly-assigned house, soulmate, and incorrect memories are waiting for her. Soon, she figures out she was supposed to be sent to the Bad Place. Her response is to do everything she can to avoid it.
That becomes a mission she takes seriously when she asks Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper)—a former Ethics and Moral Philosophy professor and her mistakenly-assigned soulmate—to teach her how to be a good person. As Eleanor learns ethics for the first time, she becomes less selfish. The change brings its own twist: it forces Eleanor to question whether she even deserves to stay in the Good Place.
The show is cozy and hilarious, but it also carries shocking plot twists, and it’s the sort of series that truly gets better with each rewatch.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018–2020)
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is an emotional and clever retelling of Princess Adora—known as She-Ra. At the start of the series. Adora (Aimee Carrero) is comfortable as a soldier for an evil army called the Horde. She feels pulled toward a magical sword, so she disobeys orders and goes to find it.
What follows changes everything. The sword transforms Adora into a Princess of Power called She-Ra. Once she has that power—and the people she meets while searching for the sword—Adora decides to turn her back on the Horde and dedicate herself to taking the evil army down with the rest of the Princess Alliance.
But the Horde’s leader is tied to Adora’s past. At the helm is Adora’s ex-best friend, Catra (AJ Michalka). Across the show’s five seasons, Adora fights to rally the princesses and defeat the Horde, no matter the cost.
The series builds toward mindbending plot twists over its run, and it handles heavy themes with nuance and care—making it a strong candidate for repeat viewing.
Pushing Daisies (2007–2009)
Pushing Daisies is a cozy procedural set in a fairytale world. It centers on Ned (Lee Pace), a piemaker who can wake the dead with a single touch. When Ned isn’t running his pie shop, he helps Private Investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) solve murders.
But the latest case changes everything: the murder he’s investigating is the killing of his estranged childhood sweetheart. Charlotte “Chuck” Charles (Anna Friel). Ned can usually touch the dead and bring them back—but he can’t bring himself to touch Chuck back to being dead like he does with other murder victims.
The reason is painful and permanent. Chuck will die again for good if he ever touches her.
So Ned and Chuck re-enter each other’s lives almost two decades later. even while the show keeps forcing a countdown against time. Each episode, Ned, Emerson, and Chuck solve outlandish and bizarre murders together. In the background. Ned tries to keep his pie shop running with help from his best waitress. Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth).
And as comforting as it can feel, the show carries a secret Ned has kept for years: when they were kids, he accidentally killed Chuck’s dad with his powers—and she has no idea.
The common thread through all seven of these shows is simple: they’re built to be revisited. Some deliver bigger reveals the second time around. Others just feel right to return to—like familiar magic, waiting to be noticed again.
fantasy TV shows rewatchable shows underrated series Every Witch Way What We Do in the Shadows Galavant School Spirits The Good Place She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Pushing Daisies