The 2000s came with a unique brand of fantasy TV shows, many of which can’t be beat by any modern series. Of course, every decade brings something new to the genre. The 1980s had those deliciously cheesy projects, while 1990s fantasy TV shows introduced the campy, monster-of-the-week format. The 2000s kept the ball rolling with shows that fit, to some extent, into both categories, but the sudden technological developments completely changed the game.
We’ve had plenty of truly exceptional fantasy TV shows in the 2010s and 2020s. Some prime examples are Game of Thrones and the spinoff House of the Dragon, both featuring truly breathtaking CGI and top-quality performances. Still, the modern refinement of television shows means that a particular flavor from the 2000s has been lost. Suffice it to say, we’ll never see shows quite like this again.
Heroes
Heroes isn’t a perfect fantasy TV show, but it has that strictly 2000s feel that modern shows just can’t capture. The show premiered in 2006, introducing a variety of characters who suddenly find they have supernatural abilities. The first season was especially fun, as the story jumped between these characters, linking their stories as they decided how they would use their new powers.
Live-action superhero-style TV shows are even more prevalent today than back in the 2000s. Quality has improved in a variety of ways, but that means that delightful campy cheesiness has been lost. Heroes is a prime example of what we have traded in for better CGI and a more refined plotlines.
Supernatural
Supernatural kicked off in the 2000s, but it only wrapped up in 2020. This itself is a pretty spectacular indicator of how superior this series is to anything made today. Supernatural fantasy shows certainly have the capacity to go long-term, but their baked-in cheesiness makes consistently positive critical reception essentially impossible. In this way, Supernatural is an enigma.
This fantasy series ran for a whopping 15 seasons. Of each of these, only one fell below a score of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes. Several installments even managed perfect 100% scores. This is completely unheard of for any fantasy TV show made today. Even Game of Thrones had a couple of stinkers.
Legend Of The Seeker
Legend of the Seeker is one of those divisive shows that critics and general viewers simply couldn’t agree on. Its Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes sits at a pretty abysmal 46%, and everyday viewers looked at Legend of the Seeker far more favorably, granting it an 84% score. It’s pretty clear that this show isn’t perfect. What it is, however, is pure fantasy.
In the modern age, everything that hits TV either has to be a remake or an entirely fresh idea. The beauty of Legend of the Seeker is that it was a solid fantasy show in the strictest sense. It wasn’t revolutionary, but those who love the genre will find exactly what they are looking for here. Add in the gorgeous New Zealand filming locations, and every moment in Legend of the Seeker feels like magic.
The Vampire Diaries
If there’s anything that the 2000s could do right, it was a love triangle—especially in the fantasy genre. 2009 came with one of the best examples we can imagine. The Vampire Diaries delivers every traditional trope and archetype in the book, and this allowed it to remain absolutely delicious for eight whole seasons.
The Vampire Diaries had a somewhat shaky takeoff. The first season performed moderately, the second, spectacularly. Then, season 3 took another dip in critical reception. From then on, however, The Vampire Diaries was a consistent home run, delivering campy thrills and shiver-inducing romance at every turn. The TV industry seems to have taken a break from this type of show. It’s a real shame.
The 10th Kingdom
The 2000s kicked off right with The 10th Kingdom, an often forgotten, somewhat niche epic fantasy miniseries. This show strikes the perfect balance between cliche fantasy and fresh ideas, combining classic fairy tales like Snow White, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and more in a deliciously dark parallel world.
Even the way The 10th Kingdom aired was pretty spectacular. It comprised 5 episodes, each of which is nearly 2 hours long. These installments were aired on consecutive nights, so viewers made it all the way through in a single week. Even modern streaming projects can’t boast this sort of magnitude. The special effects might have been crude, but with such excellent performances and gold-standard world-building, we didn’t even notice.
Merlin
There have been countless adaptations of the Arthurian legend over the years, but 2008’s The Adventures of Merlin (or just Merlin) was by far the most impactful. This series placed the wizard Merlin at the front and center, but each of its five seasons came with the introduction of other familiar names. Merlin is a rare example in the fantasy genre of critics and general audiences actually being on the same page.
Merlin has an overall critic score of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and an audience score of 87%. Once again, the show had a slow start, but it really found its groove by season 3. This alone is something we don’t see much of these days, since a sophomore slump is enough for even a promising TV show to get the ax. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case for Merlin, which managed to work its way up to a 100% score with season 4.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
American animated TV shows rarely achieve the sort of widespread success as Avatar: The Last Airbender. This project isn’t just one of the best shows within the medium. It’s also quite easily among the greatest fantasy TV shows ever made. If you don’t believe me, please refer to Avatar‘s perfect 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes (and the only slightly lower 98% audience score).
Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s massive success (with only three seasons, mind you) naturally means that several TV shows have attempted to achieve something similar in the years since its 2008 conclusion. Netflix’s live-action version of the story brings the refinement of modern TV magic, but it has still fallen short. It only goes to show that 2000s fantasy possessed a certain quality that really just can’t be beat today.
