Most of the series that seem like obvious attempts to follow GoT are from streamers that were willing to throw money at such demanding productions. And they haven't come anywhere close to replicating that success.
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Which makes me wonder if, given the sheer scale and cost of GoT, if traditional networks are daunted by the sheer cost and risk involved.
aug 25, 2025, 4:57 pm • 2 0 • view
I think anything with a large cast or set pieces is going to be daunting for anyone's spreadsheet. But the real trick is to adapt entertaining books, of which there are many which look nothing like that, imo.
aug 25, 2025, 5:07 pm • 3 0 • view
Yeah, I mean, visibly King & Conqueror is trying to follow that model. It looks a lot more like Westeros than 1066!
aug 25, 2025, 5:08 pm • 3 0 • view
There are plenty of fantasy novels/series that are much shorter than GoT too!
aug 25, 2025, 5:10 pm • 4 0 • view
Also, to be blunt, plenty that are very long if your series is a hit and can run for a decade, but don't leave you with an unfinished story that nobody will want to revisit in your back catalogue if it isn't a big enough hit to justify the cost
aug 25, 2025, 5:18 pm • 3 0 • view
Indeed. And I think if one *really* feels a need to pander to the 'I don't like fantasy, other than a bunch of fantasy I am kidding myself is not fantasy', isn't that what King Arthur is for?
aug 25, 2025, 5:11 pm • 9 0 • view
Vikings sort of did that with mythical Ragnar inserted into historical events.
aug 25, 2025, 5:17 pm • 3 0 • view
Yeah, I think that was a v intelligent way around 'what do you do about the vikings' issue, in that basically, what we know to be true about them and what most of us collectively believe is in different galaxies.
aug 25, 2025, 5:20 pm • 3 0 • view
Bernard Cornwell's Last Kingdom was excellent and, I believe, successful...
aug 25, 2025, 5:50 pm • 0 0 • view
Jim, you’ve reminded me of what I loved most about the first series of “Vikings”: the sense that, through glimpses of mysticism and the presence of gods, we were experiencing an alien culture with a very different way of seeing the world. Not quite “Arrival” (the movie) but close. Great stuff.
aug 26, 2025, 11:47 am • 2 0 • view
Yeah, some fantastic stuff in there, and i think the Christian/Pagan process/struggle throughout all the series remains interesting.
aug 26, 2025, 12:24 pm • 1 0 • view
Robin Hood too!
aug 25, 2025, 5:14 pm • 5 0 • view
aug 25, 2025, 8:22 pm • 1 0 • view
I'm wondering how the "historical, not fantasy" crowd react to things like Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell, which is at once obviously a fantasy book/show and also sumptuously realised as a 19th century period piece.
aug 25, 2025, 5:22 pm • 8 0 • view
My hobby horse on this is that it wouldn't have won anywhere near as many TV awards had people clocked it was fantasy and part of why it didn't make it out of the group stage for the Booker was that people clued into the fact it was.
aug 25, 2025, 5:26 pm • 10 0 • view
Which might go a small way to explaining why Clarke went so hard on the "categorise *this*, motherfuckers" with Piranesi.
aug 25, 2025, 5:27 pm • 6 0 • view
I also think about shows like Bridgerton.
aug 25, 2025, 5:24 pm • 3 0 • view
So we're saying that the answer is for all of these people to watch A Court Of Fey And Flowers.
aug 25, 2025, 5:25 pm • 2 0 • view
There's lots of historical novels also. At least 2 Bernard Cornwall ones that haven't been turned into telly yet.
aug 25, 2025, 5:39 pm • 1 0 • view
I really enjoyed Shardlake, but it was criminally under-promoted and cancelled after one season.
aug 25, 2025, 5:40 pm • 0 0 • view
I'm up to episode 5. No dragons so far. Also minimal... fraternisation.
aug 25, 2025, 5:38 pm • 0 0 • view
And other stuff being adapted in Fantasy works is way more expensive per episode and GoT episodes if anything really cut down a lot of the cooler stuff for budget + filming schedules + Beinoff & Weiss wanting to go and direct Star Wars.
aug 25, 2025, 11:10 pm • 1 0 • view
I mean sure can be shorter but there's like Wheel of Time which is yeah (haven't read it tho) like obviously way more ambitious and expensive to do long run even if the cast is smaller to an extent?
aug 25, 2025, 11:15 pm • 0 0 • view