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Although one underrated adventure series from 2008 was once one of the best fantasy shows in TV history, the arrival of Game of Thrones knocked this BBC show from its throne fairly fast. Some TV shows are simply destined to change the medium’s history forever with their arrival. The release of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s murder mystery masterpiece Twin Peaks not only offered screenwriters and showrunners an early example of the Mystery Box format years before Lost, but also blended supernatural horror and cop show tropes years before The X-Files.
Thus, without Twin Peaks, viewers would not only never have gotten many Mystery Box masterpieces like Yellowjackets, Fallout, Stranger Things, Dark, and The Leftovers, but would also have been deprived of the many shows that mixed police procedural elements with horror and fantasy tropes, like Evil, iZombie, Fringe, and the 15-season CW hit Supernatural. Similarly, although 2011’s HBO show Game of Thrones was always destined to be an expensive experiment, the cable network could never have predicted its popularity and influence.
An adaptation of author George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire saga, Game of Thrones was a bracing, brutal, dark, adults-only fantasy show with few major names in its cast list. The biggest Game of Thrones star, Sean Bean, died by episode 9, and the show’s sprawling storytelling and dozens of main characters risked alienating audiences as much as its gory violence and constant nudity. However, Game of Thrones instead proved such a huge mainstream crossover hit that memories of earlier fantasy shows like Merlin were all but erased.
2008’s Merlin Was An Iconic Pre-Game of Thrones Medieval Fantasy Show
Loosely based on Arthurian legends, 2008’s Merlin was a Medieval fantasy series that ran for five seasons and 65 episodes on the BBC. Starring Colin Morgan as the titular wizard and Bradley James as the soon-to-be king Arthur Pendragon, Merlin had a talented supporting cast that included Katie McGrath, the voice of John Hurt as the Great Dragon Kilgharrah, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Anthony Head as Arthur’s stern, well-meaning, but misguided father, Uther Pendragon.
While Merlin was well-received when the series debuted, it was the show’s later seasons that saw the BBC hit mature into an all-time great fantasy TV show. Merlin was a rare fantasy show where the dragons played a real, substantial role, with Hurt’s Kilgharrah being a pivotal part of the show’s lore. However, despite earning a superb 85% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and an equally impressive 87% from viewers, this family-friendly fantasy show couldn’t compete with what was coming down the pipeline.
A String Of Great Modern Fantasy Shows Has Knocked Merlin Further Down The List
At the time of its release, Merlin was one of the more expensive and ambitious fantasy shows of the 2000s, and it showed onscreen. However, Game of Thrones then broke every record for TV budgets with its smash-hit first season, and the show’s scope only grew with subsequent outings. The series also broke new ground in terms of mature content, and almost every hit fantasy show that followed in its wake was equally expensive and adults-only in its R-rated approach.
From Prime Video’sCritical Role shows The Legend of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein to Netflix’s The Witcher franchise, to non-Medieval high fantasy shows like AMC’s Interview with the Vampire and Starz’s Outlander, almost every huge critical hit in the genre was unabashedly gory and explicit. Even those that weren’t, like The Wheel of Time, His Dark Materials, and Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, boasted bigger budgets than Merlin.
Thus, the arrival of a slew of acclaimed shows, including Netflix’s Arcane and Castlevania as well as the Game of Thrones spinoffs A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and House of the Dragon, has pushed the BBC’s nostalgic 2008 series down the list of must-watch fantasy TV. Still, Merlin has earned its unique place in fantasy TV history, even if it is squarely before the arrival of Game of Thrones.
