Television series

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

A prequel built centuries before Frodo was born, this is Amazon's staggeringly expensive attempt to dramatise the Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of Sauron, the founding of Numenor. It's gorgeous, slow-moving, and more interested in myth-building than pace. Best for Tolkien devotees who want lore deepened, not for anyone wanting a tight, propulsive story.

TVMaze rating7.1

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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring2001

The source of the whole design language Rings of Power is quietly building toward, and still the gold standard for how this world should feel on screen.

But Three hours long, and if Tolkien fatigue has already set in, more of the same well might be too much right now.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring poster

Game of Thrones2011

The ensemble political fantasy Rings of Power is visibly chasing — factions, oaths, slow-building doom — but with sharper teeth and higher stakes.

But The final seasons divide people badly, and the violence is far more graphic than anything in Middle-earth.

Game of Thrones poster

House of the Dragon2022

Same prestige-prequel move — we already know how this ends, and the dread is the point — but tighter plotting and a meaner streak.

But Another slow-burn court drama; if you wanted more magic and less politics, this leans even harder the other way.

House of the Dragon poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Princess Mononoke1997

Both stage the twilight of an old magical order against the rise of industrious, ambitious newcomers, and both refuse to make the encroaching side purely villainous.

Miyazaki's animated epic pits ancient forest spirits against rising human industry, refusing to let either side be simply right or wrong — the same moral fog Rings of Power gestures at between elves, men, and orcs.

But Subtitled Japanese animation and a slower, more mythic pace than Western fantasy tends to move at.

Princess Mononoke poster
More like this (8)

The Witcher2019

Elves, dwarves, monster hunters and a world with a long, exhausted memory of its own wars — similar bones, rougher edges.

But The fractured timeline confuses a lot of first-time viewers, and quality swings wildly between seasons.

The Witcher poster

The Wheel of Time2021

Another sprawling pre-history fantasy adapting a dense book series, with the same ambition to build centuries of lore into a single show.

But Leans heavily on source material newcomers won't have, and pacing occasionally sprints past things it should slow down for.

The Wheel of Time poster

His Dark Materials2019

Fantasy with real emotional weight and strong young leads, gorgeous design, and a story about growing up under cosmic pressure.

But More YA in tone, with smaller stakes battles that might feel modest after this show's scale.

His Dark Materials poster

Willow1988

Practical-effects fantasy adventure from Lucas and Howard — sorcery, dwarves, a farmboy hero — cosier and funnier than anything in the Second Age.

But Dated effects and a much simpler story make it feel slight next to modern prestige fantasy.

Willow poster

Shadow and Bone2021

Brisk, colourful fantasy with a proper magic system and warring factions — good if you want the genre with a faster pulse.

But Romance-forward YA plotting and much lower stakes than Middle-earth's mythic gravity.

Shadow and Bone poster

Vikings2013

No magic at all, but the same mythic scale — kings, prophecy, doomed ambition — and landscapes that could pass for the Elder Days.

But Purely historical, zero fantasy elements, a real tonal jump if elves and wizards are what you're actually here for.

Vikings poster

Excalibur1981

Both hinge on a single crafted object binding fate to power, and both treat the fading of an age of wonder as tragedy rather than triumph.

John Boorman's lurid, mythic Arthurian film did the forged-object-that-shapes-history plot first and stranger — a sword instead of a ring, but the same doomed grandeur and rot at the heart of power.

But Very of-its-time visually, with a dreamlike, almost hallucinatory tone that some will find campy rather than epic.

Excalibur poster

Succession2018

Strip away the elves and rings and both shows are the same engine — a dynasty deciding who is worthy to hold power, and what that ambition costs everyone around them.

Swap swords for boardrooms: a story about who inherits legacy, power, and a corrupted birthright, driven entirely by ambition, alliance, and betrayal among people who all believe they deserve the crown.

But No fantasy elements whatsoever, and the humour is savage in a way that might feel like tonal whiplash after Middle-earth's earnestness.

Succession poster

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