A lot of fantasy shows try their hand at worldbuilding, but which ones do it right?
Worldbuilding is vital to any fantasy epic. It’s not just creating some world at random; you need to craft the backstory, the history, and the overall feel for it. Game of Thrones succeeded by immersing viewers in Westeros, starting with the opening credits map. It showed the wide range of the world and the lore that the series would build on.
Various series try to emulate that, with some failing while others are good, just not great. Yet some fantasy shows are amazing in how they offer better worldbuilding than some fantasy novels. Those who adapt books have an advantage, but others can shine well as more original takes. These are 14 fantasy TV shows that offer worldbuilding on par with Game of Thrones or even better, and a study in how to do it right.
Arcane
This stunningly produced anime boasts a glorious mix of 2D and 3D animation for a style unlike any other show. It also has a very compelling steampunk fantasy world, one where you feel the history of the upper city against the lower one. There’s also the class warfare and the characters that enthrall you in this world and sell the power of the story.
It gets better in season 2 with more action and introduces new threads and themes. For just two seasons, this series is magnificent in building up a steampunk world, a different take on the genre, and so it more than lives up to being one of the best animated shows around.
The Lord of the Ring: The Rings of Power
Obviously, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien are already ripe for worldbuilding. They were the inspiration for every fantasy story that has ever followed, and it's no wonder the Prime Video series utilizes it to the utmost. There are the origins of Mordor, showing the older kingdoms of Middle-earth in their prime, and the conflicts of men, dwarves, and elves showcase their long histories together.
The best part is the Harfoots, as their nomadic culture is brilliantly realized despite little to go on from the source material. The clothing and customs were almost totally crafted by the showrunners, yet they feel so familiar to viewers. Despite its detractors, Rings of Power carries the weight of Tolkien's world well and excels in building it up better.
The Wheel of Time
Sadly canceled just as it was finding its footing, The Wheel of Time benefited from already having elaborate worldbuilding from the novels by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. The TV show had the daunting task of explaining the complex backstory to regular audiences and excelled there. It carried the themes of a world where women wield magical power and the various forces fighting for control.
The series had a wider range than GOT, with so many lands and kingdoms, along with shifting character viewpoints. Again, it was just starting to truly improve when Amazon Prime Video canceled it before the story was close to being done. It’s a shame so much worldbuilding lacked the conclusion to really pay off all the design put into it.
Once Upon a Time
It’s still amazing how ABC pulled this show off. A complex drama mixing Disney fairy tale characters in a modern setting shouldn’t have worked, but it did. The first season is still the best in how it unfolds via flashbacks, showing the fairy tale world linked to the real one and the backstories of the characters. It felt more vivid as it went on, and later seasons, even when wild, expertly built on that.
Soon, the series utilized other mythos from Peter Pan to Oz to Frozen, all pulled together with backstories of the Dark One, a mysterious Author, and more. The canon could become complex yet still workable. Even the disliked final season still used the excellent seeds the show had laid in the previous years to make this a truly wondrous novel for television that beat the odds for a magical watch.
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The Witcher
The Witcher succeeds thanks to the lush backstory crafted not just in novels but in the video games as well. While other game adaptations struggle to convey the massive backstories, the Netflix show handles it with amazing ease, letting viewers slide into this world of monsters, demons, and other threats.
The series grips you into this world and offers a broad landscape of kingdoms and other dimensions alongside the dramatic storylines. The upcoming season should only add to it and showcase how magnificently The Witcher approaches its worldbuilding for audiences.
The Dragon Prince
Too many magic-based shows can be fast and loose with their rules (Charmed, Buffy, etc). The Dragon Prince is different as the animated series has very set rules in their magical world where humans, dragons, and elves co-exist. The system is straightforward for viewers to take in and develops further without breaking what came before.
One notable touch of the series is that, unlike other animated shows, the characters age and evolve as the series goes along. The later seasons build on the groundwork of this land of elements, kingdoms divided into night and day, and more. That makes this a very underrated fantasy tale with better worldbuilding than scores of live-action series.
Avatar The Last Airbender
This classic Nickelodeon series succeeds thanks to the amazing worldbuilding the creators crafted. The first season of Avatar is marvelous, introducing the world of nations based on the elements, and Aang’s journey features each in lavish detail. The animation helps the viewer immerse themselves in the Nations and their differing cultures, with wardrobe to buildings having their own feel. That makes the adventure far more compelling.
The show gets better the more it explores this world, the history of the Avatars, and the complexity of the characters. The live-action Netflix version puts a couple of spins on the lore to respect the original version while also capturing the essence of the tale.
The Legend of Korra
The sequel series to The Last Airbender doesn't repeat things as it takes place decades later with a steampunk vibe to show the progress of this culture. It once more presents the differing lore of each nation and a feisty edge that shows how things have evolved. That includes a different protagonist and more powers, like metal-bending.
The more modern settings add to the show’s appeal, and it’s very smart how the creators showed everything from technology to fashion shifting over time, just like in real life. It’s the sequel show that truly honors its predecessor while setting its own path for a marvelous watch.
Motherland: Fort Salem
This highly underrated Freeform series has an irresistible hook: During the Salem Witch Trials, witches cut a deal that conscripts them into what becomes the U.S. military. The series thus shows a modern world where women dominate more in society, while not hitting you over the head with the differences. It’s a world where magintoic is accepted as much as science and feels very vibrant and real.
The magic itself adheres to strict rules that make sense and increase as the series goes on. There’s also the logical society and cultural clashes between witches and normal humans that work well. While only running one season, this series should be recognized for the fine worldbuilding of a more original magical world.
The Magicians
“Harry Potter for adults” is an easy sell for a show; making it actually work for a long-running series is the tricky part. This Syfy show pulled that off well, expanding on the books by showing a realistic take on giving adults magical powers and thrusting them into a strange world. Rather than fantastic realms, the various dimensions have an oddly grounded feel to them, helped by the show’s sardonic humor.
That gets better with the very steamy elements of the series and the mix of ghosts, time travel, alternate realities, and melding fiction with “reality,” managing to work for its five-season run. It truly casts a spell in terms of worldbuilding, and why it connected with so many viewers for a different type of magical show.
His Dark Materials
Philip Pullman’s novels made a mark for excellent worldbuilding that the HBO adaptation nailed perfectly. A world where people have animal spirits representing their souls is compelling and added on by the different views of science and religion, so it’s a world of zeppelins, not airplanes, so it may feel like our world, just a little altered.
Those differences are more stark in the second season when heroine Lyra enters our world and the story expands more. The talking beasts clash with a science-based person, and the more worlds are uncovered, the deeper the building goes into the cultures and histories. It’s impressive that the show packed so much into its three-season run to do justice to this acclaimed fantasy work.
One Piece
Whether you’re going by the long-running anime or the surprise hit Netflix live-action version, One Piece has worldbuilding at its best. A land dominated by pirate crews already promises some good backdrop, yet the show is astonishing in detailing the oceans, the Red Lines, every island having its own culture, language, and customs, and how every pirate crew maintains its own identity.
That’s not mentioning the politics, the conflicts between pirates and governments, the company that dominates, and, oh yes, the various monsters around the ocean. Top it off with the compelling characters and how even the bad guys get nuance, and it’s no wonder One Piece has lasted so long with a treasure of worldbuilding for viewers.
Shadow and Bone
Netflix’s sadly too short-lived fantasy epic did a better job with worldbuilding than the novels it was based on. It presents the world of the Grishaverse as a mix of late 19th/early 20th-century European nations and cultures, each boasting a unique language, customs, etc. The backstories of the conflicts between these nations are nicely drawn out to make viewers feel the long histories without it being a lesson.
Add in the magical elements like the Fold, the clans, and royal court battles that make GoT look sedate, and the series is brilliant. Like too many Netflix genre shows, it didn’t get as many seasons as it should have, yet Shadow and Bone should be studied by any young fantasy authors to see how worldbuilding should be done.
Vox Machina
Any story based on the Dungeons & Dragons universe needs worldbuilding to work. Thankfully, the Prime Video animated series provides that in droves. Even if you’ve never played D&D or seen Critical Role, you can enjoy this world of Exandria, mixing classic elements and tropes of other fantasy worlds with ease. It’s also done with a fabulous mix of laugh-out-loud humor and shocking horror.
The monsters are truly monstrous, while wizards and humans can be even worse. The politics of the various regions are handled well alongside the wonderfully written and voiced mercenary “heroes.” The show isn’t a parody of the genre, as it gets dead serious at times, and you care because of how genuine it all feels. It’s little wonder it’s one of the best fantasy shows on TV right now, and that’s the best D&D project we can ask for.