With 2026 just around the corner, it's time to reflect on the television shows of the last 12 months — and 2025's best fantasy offering quietly claimed its crown at the end of the year.
With The Legend of Vox Machina being one of the strongest ongoing fantasy series of the present day, it wasn't a surprise that The Mighty Nein came out of the gate with great writing, plotting, and animation. The creatives behind Amazon's Critical Role shows clearly know what they're doing, and the studio seems to understand the potential these stories have.
In a post-Game of Thrones TV landscape that's struggling to find other fantasy projects that stick, series like The Legend of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein feel like a breath of fresh air. And I'd argue the latter has already surpassed its predecessor, with its more serious tone, complicated team, and 40-minute episodes lending themselves to a more engrossing story. The series may not be as widely known as some of the other fantasy shows of 2025, but it has still become the best of them.
The Mighty Nein is one of the few standout fantasy shows of 2025
The Mighty Nein made its debut in November 2025, and in just one month, it managed to top all the other fantasy shows that premiered or returned this year. While I don't want to downplay how incredible The Mighty Nein is, it's worth nothing that 2025 has been a lackluster year for fantasy TV. Major series like House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power are in between seasons, and 2025's most-anticipated live-action releases didn't make much of a splash.
The Wheel of Time season 3 was one of the few 2025 releases to emerge early in the year, and although it improved on the first two outings, it wasn't enough to save the show — or win back disappointed book fans. With its cancellation, discussions surrounding the Prime Video series petered out. And The Witcher season 4 and Wednesday season 2 haven't had much more momentum, with both proving underwhelming and seeing drops in viewership.
The only two releases I'd place anywhere near The Mighty Nein in terms of enjoyment and quality also came out at the tail end of the year: Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2 and Stranger Things 5. The former is, understandably, not as mature, as it's a middle grade series. However, this does prevent it from having the same high-stakes, epic feel.
And while Stranger Things is obviously the biggest release of 2025, that doesn't make it the best. It could get there when the rest of season 5 arrives, but there are glaring issues with the pacing and character balance in volume 1. (There's also an argument to be made that it's not straightforward fantasy, as it leans just as heavily into sci-fi and horror.)
Needless to say, it's been a middling year for fantasy TV — and that left the door wide open for any genuinely great series to sweep in and steal the show. The Mighty Nein did exactly that, highlighting what's missing from so many other projects in the process.
What The Mighty Nein gets right that so many other fantasy series don't
The Mighty Nein is proof of what fantasy TV can do when it's well handled, and it gets a lot right that other series could stand to learn from.
To start, it strikes precisely the right balance of remaining true to its origins and taking creative liberties. The series adapts Critical Role's second Dungeons & Dragons campaign, but it condenses the timeline and changes how events unfold. The differences are mostly to the series' benefit, and they haven't received much backlash for one big reason: the characters, themes, and tone still ring true to the campaign.
As so many fantasy shows are based on pre-existing source material, it's worth underscoring how important maintaining the heart of the original story is. With The Mighty Nein, it helps that the cast and creators of Critical Role are so heavily involved in the making of the series. This is also true of Rick Riordan and Percy Jackson, perhaps indicating that studios should push for this level of involvement.
The Legend of Vox Machina spinoff also excels at balancing its many characters and storylines, a skill that TV shows often struggle to master. It's arguably the biggest shortcoming of Stranger Things at the moment, but The Mighty Nein gives its leads equal depth and attention without sacrificing the action or political intrigue. It's well-paced, and the quieter moments often still pack a punch. As fantasy narratives tend to have a lot of moving pieces, this is key to succeeding within the genre.
Speaking of packing a punch, The Mighty Nein also does a great job of paying off the storylines and relationships it's building, even in season 1. Although the finale leaves quite a bit hanging in the balance, the first outing is all about the team coming together and learning to trust one another. They're not fully there yet, but we do get memorable emotional beats as season 1 progresses. It demonstrates that the writers know to gradually develop characters and arcs to create a cohesive story. You'd be surprised at how many series fail to do that.
The Mighty Nein could become one of the best fantasy shows of the decade
It's promising that The Mighty Nein is so compelling and well-received after just eight episodes, and its strong start gives it another thing several of 2025's releases don't have: potential. Most of this year's fantasy TV projects are not new, and some — like The Wheel of Time and The Witcher — won't get much of an opportunity to bounce back, if they get one at all.
Even newer shows, like Wednesday, might struggle to regain their momentum after dips in quality, particularly if they take a long time to return. By contrast, The Mighty Nein has a blank slate ahead of it. It's already renewed for season 2, so cancellation isn't a concern. And if it continues to build on the strengths of its first eight episodes, it could very well see an upward trajectory throughout its run.
And with executive producer Sam Riegel telling Screen Rant that they'd like to see a 2026 release (production on seasons 1 and 2 happened at the same time), it could be even easier to keep The Mighty Nein's strong start going.
If it does return that quickly, it will remain front of mind, in addition to boasting a higher quality than much of what's currently available. That's a recipe for success, especially with viewers growing increasingly annoyed with long gaps between seasons.