20 new shows that could become the next Game of Thrones

HBO’s mega-hit series Game of Thrones is now fading in the rearview mirror, but where will its massive audience go? Just about every big entertainment outfit on the planet is hoping to answer that question by snapping up the TV rights to popular sci-fi/fantasy novels, films, comic books and video games and throwing their bank accounts at them.

Which upcoming series will follow in Thrones‘ footsteps and break through into the ratings stratosphere? Will it be an old lion like Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show, or a fresh idea? Will it even come from the sci-fi/fantasy genre? One thing’s for sure about high-stakes gambling: nobody’s guaranteed to be a big winner, but there will be a lot of losers.

So let’s look at some of the big-budget tentpole shows coming down the pipeline, and see if we can figure out which ones have the best chance of filling the gaping hole that Game of Thrones has left in our hearts and minds.