While fantasy show can pack in epic battles to boost ratings, as many focus on smaller-scale stories in order to conserve budgets.

There are plenty of phenomenal the highest-rated fantasy shows – sometimes, they're the ones that are old enough to be a little endearing despite their flaws.

1 Game of Thrones

HBO, 2011-2019

When Game of Thrones first premiered in April 2011, it was all anyone even remotely interested in fantasy television could talk about. George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels were popular enough, but with the usual barrier to entry one expects of books that are over 700 pages long. HBO adapting such a book was groundbreaking, and the show rapidly became an international hit.

As Game of Thrones continued, it accrued a dragon's hoard of awards, until the final season stumbled when trying to run. The show's production schedule had outpaced Martin's writing, forcing the showrunners to come up with an ending on their own – an ending that was seen as shallow and rushed, with the early season's focus on character interactions that had been fueled by the books replaced by spectacle and plot twists.

Still, while the ending was a critical disappointment, much of Game of Thrones still holds up as an excellent example of low fantasy and political drama. Peter Dinklage's portrayal of Tyrion Lannister was phenomenal from start to finish, a legitimate source of much of the show's critical acclaim. And of course, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, repeatedly delivered a command performance.

2 The Vampire Diaries

The CW, 2009-2017

When The Vampire Diaries premiered on the CW, it was a blockbuster for the network, which had been struggling since it was formed from the dying bones of Paramount's UPN and Warner Brothers' WB networks. The Vampire Diaries rapidly became a fixture of the CW's schedule, and was the most-watched show there until Arrow took that title in 2012.

The Vampire Diaries followed Nina Dobrev as teenager Elena Gilbert, a girl who had recently lost her parents and falls in love with vampire Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley). In doing so, she finds herself drawn into the surprising amount of supernatural activity in her small-town home of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Over the show's eight-season run, Elena and her friends dealt with witches, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and all sorts of other brooding supernatural creatures.

Even though The Vampire Diaries was popular with viewers, it had a much more hit-and-miss impact with critics, with the Metacritic review of the first season still sitting at an abysmal rating of 50 out of 100. Still, opinions changed over the show's run, with the development of strong female characters like Nina Dobrev ensuring that The Vampire Diaries would remain memorable with anyone who likes broody vampires, gorgeous casts, and small-town family politics.

3 Lost Girl

Showcase, 2010-2015

Canadian network Showcase used Lost Girl as the flagship of their shift away from focusing so much on the risqué absurdism of their Trailer Park Boys franchise, choosing instead to highlight risqué supernatural drama. Lost Girl is the story of Bo Dennis, a succubus who knows nothing of her supernatural past other than that anyone she is sexually intimate with tends to die.

Not all of Lost Girl has aged well, particularly with regard to the show's special effects, but much of its character work is fantastic, especially Anna Silk's work portraying Bo's conflict between her desire for intimacy and her fear of hurting people she cares about. The show has a phenomenal ing cast, notably Kris Holden-Ried (Departure) as stoic werewolf detective Dyson, Ksenia Solo (Orphan Black) as Bo's human bestie/sidekick/pet Kenzie, and Zoe Palmer (Dark Matter) as Dr. Lauren Lewis.

Lost Girl is notable for its LGBTQ+ representation, as Bo, being a succubus, is openly bisexual, and develops romantic tension with both Dyson and Dr. Lewis, eventually ending the series in a relationship with the doctor. Other LGBT characters also appear with some frequency, resulting in Lost Girl winning quite a few Leo Awards for LGBT visibility between 2012 and 2015.

4 Charmed

The WB, 1998-2006

Charmed was the WB's surprise cult – or more appropriately, coven – hit, with its first episode breaking records as it aired to 7.7 million viewers on an otherwise quiet Wednesday night in 1998. The central characters are the three Halliwell sisters, Prue (Shannon Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs), and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), who discover their family's Book of Shadows in the attic of their San Francisco home and find out they are the Charmed Ones, witches of great power with a destiny to protect the world from dark forces.

Unfortunately, Charmed's later seasons lost the plot; Shannon Doherty's departure from the show meant her character of Prue Halliwell was killed off in the season 3 finale, resulting in season 4 having a particularly grim tone as it replaced Doherty with Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews, the surprise fourth Halliwell sister who was given up for adoption at birth. Later seasons diverged further, replacing many of the traditionally occult foes with fairy-tale creatures.

Even with the decline in quality over its run, though, Charmed remains an enjoyable, easily binge-watched supernatural drama. It also had a profound effect on TV production, as it was one of the longest-running network dramas that had a mostly female main cast. The CW, which succeeded the WB, rebooted Charmed in 2018 with no input from the original cast or creators, which garnered some initial criticism from fans; the reboot was popular enough to run for four seasons, though.

5 Galavant

ABC, 2015-2016

ABC's Galavant was a bold experiment in television that never quite got the chance to hit its stride. A fantasy musical centered around titular knight Gary Galavant (Joshua Sasse) and his quest for vengeance against the evil King Richard (Timothy Omundson), it was a surprisingly genre-savvy romp that cast member Mallory Jansen described as "the bastard child of Monty Python and The Princess Bride."

With a phenomenal cast, impeccable writing, and even musical cameos from Kylie Minogue and "Weird Al" Yankovic, Galavant repeatedly shattered the fourth wall, delighting critics but struggling to retain viewers. Revisiting the show now, it seems very much like something so ahead of its time that it doesn't know how to present itself; streaming platforms would likely have treated Galavant far more kindly than broadcast TV did, but thankfully both seasons are still available to enjoy on multiple platforms.

6 The Shannara Chronicles

MTV/Spike, 2016-2017

Liberally adapted from only a small fraction of Terry Brooks' massive Shannara book series, The Shannara Chronicles attempted to blend classic fantasy tropes, post-apocalyptic aesthetics, and the mid-2010s obsession with brooding protagonists, only partially succeeding. Declining ratings over the first season saw it moved from MTV to Spike (now the Paramount Network), who declined to order a second season; although the showrunners tried to shop it around, they failed to find it a home, and the show was forced to end on a cliffhanger.

The Shannara Chronicles follows young half-elf Wil Ohmsford (Austin Butler), who finds he is the heir of a powerful magical artifact, a set of elfstones that give him powerful magic. Meanwhile, the Elven city of Arborlon is under siege by demons. Set in the far-future ruins of the Pacific Northwest after a vaguely magical apocalypse, Shannara was seen by critics as a "teen-friendly Game of Thrones" (via RottenTomatoes). Still, the effects are fun, the characters are lively and brooding, and the first season is memorable thanks to John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings) as the Elven king Eventine.

7 True Blood

HBO, 2008-2014

Initial impressions of HBO's vampire drama were mixed, but the adaptation of Charlaine Harris' The Southern Vampire Mysteries rose to prominence as the preeminent supernatural show for anyone who liked their spooky hotties to have a touch of Southern charm. Anna Paquin as telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse and Stephen Moyer as Confederate-soldier-turned-vampire Bill Compton fell in love in a world where vampires have become common knowledge.

True Blood put genuine effort into exploring vampires and other supernatural creatures and how they would exist in a world where they were treated as an oppressed minority, often framing them allegorically to be similar to the ongoing struggles the LGBT community was concurrently facing, as well as echoing the impact the civil rights movement of the 20th century had in the American South. While not always successful in this framing – not all of those allegories have aged well – it was still a laudable effort that made for fun, fang-tastical drama.

8 Wynonna Earp

Syfy, 2016-2021

Adapted from the 2003 limited series of the same name from Image Comics, Syfy's four-season Wynonna Earp is still one of the best examples of the Weird West ever aired on TV. Starring Melanie Scrofano (Letterkenny, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) as Wynonna Earp, descendant of famous Wild West lawman Wyatt Earp, the show is set in the small Rocky Mountain town of Purgatory, which is plagued by the undead revenants of every person Wyatt Earp ever killed.

"Weird West" is the term for Westerns with a supernatural influence, typically incorporating fantastical horror elements, as well as occasionally science fiction. Other notable examples include the 1999 film Wild Wild West, starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline, and the tabletop roleplaying franchise Deadlands, which most recently was updated to use the Savage Worlds system.

As the heir to Wyatt Earp's gun and duties, Wynonna is forced to try and return every revenant to Hell before they can kill her first. Of course, plenty of other supernatural forces are at work in Purgatory, including an immortal and infuriatingly charming Doc Holliday (Tim Rozon), Xavier Dolls (Shamier Anderson), the broody agent from a vague yet menacing government agency who is secretly some kind of lizard-man , and more demons, undead, and witches than you can shake a Colt Peacemaker at.

Wynonna Earp was also lauded for its LGBT representation, with Wynonna's younger sister Waverly Earp (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) having a romantic arc with Purgatory's deputy sheriff Nicole Haught (Katherine Barrell) that led to their wedding in the finale; the show was nominated for GLAAD's Outstanding Drama Series award in 2017, 2019, and 2021. 2024 saw the release of a follow-up movie-length special, Wynonna Earp: Vengeance, on Tubi.

9 Xena: Warrior Princess

Syndicated, 1995-2001

There's no question that Xena: Warrior Princess is one of the most enduring fantasy TV shows to come out of the 1990s; it's also, due to its age, extremely difficult to watch. It still hasn't received a high definition remaster, and the special effects were low-budget to begin with – and yet Xena still remains a cult classic thanks to its phenomenal mixture of earnest character work, a willingness to take storytelling risks, and Lucy Lawless being Lucy Lawless.

Xena (Lawless), the Warrior Princess of the title, was once a cruel warlord from the Greek city of Amphipolis who, having a change of heart after an encounter with Hercules (in Hercules: the Legendary Journeys, a show which hasn't aged nearly as well), dedicates her life to righting the wrongs she was responsible for and protecting the innocent. With her stalwart soulmate, the bard Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), at her side, Xena travels throughout the ancient world, fighting evil and defying the gods.

Another landmark show for LGBT representation, Xena has had a profound legacy in both lesbian culture and genre television. NBC attempted to reboot the show in 2015, but creative difficulties shelved the plan in 2017; Xena remains inimitable, and is still a phenomenal show despite its age.

10 Angel

The WB, 1999-2004

Joss Whedon's spinoff of Buffy the Vampire Slayer centered on the titular vampire Angel is unquestionably a deeply flawed show. Initially considered a poor attempt at a cash grab, it never managed to eclipse Buffy in ratings, but by the later seasons Angel found its footing.

David Boreanaz continued in the role of Angel, the vampire with a soul (and an on-again, off-again relationship with Buffy) who departed Sunnydale at the end of Buffy's third season to find redemption in, of all places, Los Angeles. With fellow Buffy characters Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), Wesley Windham-Price (Alexis Denisof), Spike (James Marsters), and Harmony Kendall (Mercedes McNab) ing over the course of Angel's run, the show replaced Buffy's adolescent angst with a more mature, film noir-inspired angst.

While the first few seasons of Angel struggle to find their own pace and identity, the show redeems itself by the fifth season, thanks in part to Spike ing the cast. Boreanaz and Marsters have an undeniable chemistry that could easily convince viewers that in real life they Angel gets turned into a puppet ("Smile Time," season 5, episode 14).