Fantasy has always been my go-to genre for exploring complex ideas about deeply human emotions like love, fear, and even ambition. Sure, these stories feature typical tropes that include faraway lands and princes who slay dragons. However, when you look past all that, modern fantasy actually reflects the very world we live in instead of just serving as pure escapism.
Now, if you want to explore the genre to its fullest, here are the upcoming fantasy shows based on books that are bound to be epic. You’ll be aware of some, and there will be a few new names. Ultimately, it’s a lineup worth bookmarking if you’re looking to stay transfixed by the genre for the foreseeable future.
1
‘The Dark Tower’
Stephen King‘s The Dark Tower series has to be the author’s most ambitious work, which spans eight novels, a novella, and even a children’s book. The story blends dark fantasy while taking the readers across several realities as we follow the journey of Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger. As the main character travels through space and time, he befriends a bunch of people, and together, they form a group known as ka-tet, who are bound to each other by fate. The series, with all the existential and philosophical questions it asks about destiny and the meaning of life, is often considered to be King’s magnum opus, especially because of how it links so many of his other works together into a single multiverse.
The series was actually adapted into a movie in 2017 with Idris Elba as Deschain, but it’s safe to say that the story did not do justice to the author’s vision. However, The Haunting of Hill House creator Mike Flanagan is currently working on reviving the franchise as he develops a new Prime Video series based on the iconic books. Flanagan is expected to deliver a faithful, multi-season adaptation that captures the scale and depth of King’s narrative while bringing the true impact of the gunslinger’s story to life. The show is currently in development, and none of the cast members have been announced yet. However, if done right, it has the potential to breathe new life into the fantasy genre.
2
‘Ninth House’
Ninth House is a dark fantasy horror novel written by author Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone), and marks the author’s seamless shift from young adult fantasy to adult fiction. The story is set within the halls of Yale University and satirizes the world of elite academia in a riveting way. Ninth House follows Galaxy “Alex” Stern, a 20-year-old high school dropout who can see ghosts. Alex is mysteriously offered a full ride to Yale after she survives a brutal homicide. When she gets there, though, she is recruited into the secret “ninth house”, Lethe, and has to make sure the remaining eight secret societies at the school stay in line.
Ninth House‘s dark academia themes are interesting enough as they are, but the book’s supernatural elements really elevate the story to a whole other level. The timeline shifts between two eras and creates a mystery that reveals itself layer by layer. The novel is nearly impossible to put down because every page takes you closer to the truth without ever sanitizing its darker themes. It’s no surprise that Ninth House actually triggered a bidding war among major streaming outlets, including HBO and Hulu, as per Deadline. Amazon Studios ultimately scored the rights to the series with Bardugo serving as a writer and executive producer. The author told Collider that a pilot for Ninth House has already been filmed, with the rest of the series currently being under development. However, a release date has not been announced yet.
3
‘The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires’
Grady Hendrix‘s The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires features the author’s signature style of taking the ordinary and turning it into something more. The story is set in 1990s Charleston, where housewife Patricia Campbell balances her time between her family and her book club, where she and a handful of women gather to talk about true crime and escape the monotony of their domestic lives. However, things change when a charming stranger named James Harris moves into the neighborhood, and children begin to disappear.
What starts as a cozy premise becomes a powerful exploration of privilege and how women’s fears are often dismissed until it’s too late. The novel is Hendrix at his finest and is bound to be enjoyed by anyone who loves smart horror. The narrative is practically meant to be translated on screen, so it’s great that HBO is developing the story as a dark comedy series helmed by Danny McBride and Edi Patterson. The project has the potential to become the network’s next cult hit with its themes of small-town hypocrisy and Southern horror.
4
‘Fourth Wing’
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros follows Violet Sorrengail, who attends the Basgiath War College, where she must either bond with a dragon or die trying. The author blends high fantasy with romance, drawing from her own experiences of living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which grounds the story in realism. Fourth Wing takes its sweet time with worldbuilding and setting up the characters of Violet and her love interest, Xaden Riorson.
The novel quickly became a BookTok sensation and was praised for its brilliant usage of dark academia themes while still keeping things fresh. The book’s immense popularity and its inherently cinematic quality make it the perfect title to be adapted for TV. The upcoming show is being developed by Amazon MGM Studios and will follow each book in The Empyrean saga, which spans five novels. From high-stakes fantasy to action and an all-consuming romance, Fourth Wing could define the next generation of epic storytelling in TV and live up to the ranks of Game of Thrones.
5
‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’
Matt Dinniman‘s Dungeon Crawler Carl started as a self-published LitRPG that soon exploded into a cultural phenomenon. The series drops the readers into a post-apocalyptic world where aliens host a live-streamed, intergalactic death game called Dungeon Crawler that humans have to participate in for their entertainment. The story will remind readers of The Hunger Games or Squid Game, only with a much darker sense of humor and gaming elements. The protagonist, Carl, and his ex-girlfriend’s Persian cat, Princess Donut, are at the center of the narrative when they are forced into this brutal game of monsters, traps, and psychological obstacles while their alien overlords watch them struggle for sheer fun.
The premise of the show is as wild as it gets, but beneath all the absurdity, it’s a sharp satire on late-stage capitalism, streaming culture, and the thrill of watching others suffer. The series is the perfect blend of violence that you can’t look away from and genuinely human moments that make you root for Carl and his beloved cat. Sure, the pacing is offbeat and relentless, but that’s what keeps things from ever feeling boring. All of this goes to show that Dungeon Crawler Carl will make for the perfect TV show, and the fact that Chris Yost (The Mandalorian) is joining the Universal International Studios project as a showrunner ensures that the adaptation will be just as brilliant as the source material.
6
‘The Atlas Six’
The Atlas Six is the first book in Olivie Blake‘s highly acclaimed Atlas trilogy and is a unique mix of philosophy, politics, and dark academia. The series follows six gifted magicians who are selected to compete for a coveted spot within the secretive Alexandrian society, an elite organization that guards the lost knowledge of the ancient library of Alexandria. Each year, only five of the six initiates make it through the first year, which is why the competition is intense and the boundaries between trust, ambition, and betrayal start to blur.
The story, though set in a fantastical world, will feel relatable to anyone who has dealt with the pressures of being a competitive student. However, what’s interesting is how Blake treats magic less as spectacle and more as a field of study, with the six candidates bringing in their own ideologies and techniques to prove their mettle. The books are currently being adapted into a TV series for Amazon Studios, with Blake herself serving as an executive producer. If the show manages to retain the book’s tone with all its moral greyness, The Atlas Six can very well become the biggest fantasy show of modern times.
7
‘Red Queen’
Red Queen is one of the most underrated dystopian young adult novels out there, but it’s just as good, if not more, than the more mainstream ones. The story follows teenager Mare Barrow, a thief who discovers she can control lightning, which is technically impossible for someone of Red blood. Mare then has to hide her identity as she is engaged to a prince in the world of Silvers and finds herself in the middle of a revolution. The story starts like a fairytale and turns into a story of betrayal, rebellion, and identity.
A Red Queen show has been stuck in development limbo for years, but for now, it is still officially moving ahead with The Hunger Games star Elizabeth Banks set to direct, executive produce, and star in a supporting role. While the show has yet to announce its full cast, Peacock has confirmed it to be a one-hour drama that will closely follow the first book’s story. Hollywood has seen the rise of plenty of dystopian universes in the last decade or so, but Red Queen might just breathe new life into the genre with its realism and fantastical grandeur.
8
‘Katabasis’
Katabasis is R.F. Kuang‘s latest masterpiece that is already on its way to becoming a TV series with Amazon MGM Studios. The novel features the author’s signature satirical style and tells an intense, high academia tale that takes the readers straight to the gates of hell. The story follows Alive Law, a graduate student who studies Magick at Cambridge and accidentally kills her thesis advisor. She then travels to the underworld with her arrogant rival, Peter Murdoch, to retrieve their professor’s soul and get those recommendation letters that they have been working so hard for.
However, the deeper they go into hell, the more infernal politics they uncover. Katabasis is the kind of story that will take anyone back to their days as a student, because of how Kuang reimagines hell as a campus. The author aims to uncover the toxic competitiveness of academia and the ego that defines elite institutions and the people who teach there. The novel strikes the perfect balance between humor and thought-provoking philosophy with a kind of story that will make for the perfect spectacle on screen. Watching Kuang’s academic take on hell is going to be a treat, only if the show manages to do justice to the author’s witty dialogue and surreal imagery.
9
‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’
A Knight of Seven Kingdoms is the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel based on George R.R. Martin‘s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas that focus on Westeros before all the chaos that unfolds in the original series. HBO’s adaptation, set to premiere in January 2026, stars Peter Claffey as Dunk and Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg, the mismatched duo who will take the audience through Westeros while it is still ruled by the Targaryens. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is set in a time when dragons are gone, but the class divide still exists and continues to drive people apart.
The story begins with Dunk entering a grand tournament and finding himself among knights, nobles, and volatile Targaryen princes with relentless ambition. The upcoming series is set to feature six episodes and will take a more character-driven approach compared to its predecessor. The prequel will not sprawl across continents and dynasties, but it will focus on Dunk and Egg’s friendship against the backdrop of all the palace politics that continue to unfold. The show is the perfect way to expand the Game of Thrones franchise and focus on the lesser-told tales from Westeros.
10
‘Harry Potter’
HBO’s take on J.K. Rowling‘s Wizarding World has to be one of the most highly anticipated TV projects right now. The series is set to premiere in 2026 and promises a return to Hogwarts with a faithful, long-form adaptation of the Harry Potter novels. Each season of the show is expected to cover one book in the series and really give each story its time to shine, unlike the Harry Potter film franchise that attempted to condense everything into two-hour-long sagas. The upcoming TV show will feature a brand-new cast to signal a fresh start, but the scale of it all will be grander than ever before.
HBO’s Harry Potter is executive-produced by Rowling herself and will explore the familiar world of the books and movies through a much more mature lens. The show’s structure allows it to explore and flesh out characters like Ginny Weasley, Lupin, and even Peeves the Poltergeist to make up for the lack of time spent on them in the films. Of course, the TV reboot has led to a lot of debate among fans of the books who believe that Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s story did not need to be told again so soon. However, if the show actually delivers the detail and nuance that it has promised, there’s no doubt that it will overshadow the film franchise in a major way.
