21 Best Shows to Watch if You Love Game of Thrones

Sharing is caring!

Game of Thrones is widely accepted as one of the best television series ever. It has blood, romance, drama, and many betrayals, not to mention some of the most epic action sequences ever to grace the screen. And once you’ve finished watching, it leaves a bit of a void. 

But if you loved Game of Thrones, we’ve got a whole list of shows you can peruse for your next watch. Whether you liked the intrigue, the magic setting and detailed costumes, or the constant intrigue and struggle to survive, there’s something here to fit the bill. We went to a popular entertainment forum to compile a list of some great TV shows and movies to watch if you love Game of Thrones.

1. House of the Dragon

Listing House of the Dragon might seem to be the same thing as Game of Thrones. However, House of the Dragon is its own series. Based on another book by George R. R. Martin titled Fire & Blood, the series tells the story of what happened 300 years before the Game of Thrones series.

House of the Dragon chronicles the creation and rise of Targaryen power in Westeros and is already a massive hit with audiences. House of the Dragon has one season but has already been picked up for a second, likely coming in 2024.

2. Succession

Succession is similar to Game of Thrones in depicting what happens when multiple characters are vying for the top spot. For example, when Logan Roy, the head of Waystar Royco, has health issues, the family immediately starts stabbing each other in the back to get what they believe is rightfully theirs. Succession is a great watch, packed with drama, suspense, and lots of betrayal.

3. Rome

Rome, the series, centers around the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. It features war, political intrigue, assassinations, family tragedies, and more while weaving in historical figures. It’s almost like a real-world version of the Game of Thrones story.

4. Gotham

Gotham might be more of a comic book-focused film. However, it delivers suspense and backstabbing like Game of Thrones. Taking place in the gritty streets of Gotham, it follows the life of GCPD detective James Gordan.

It has a bit of a gangster vibe, but similar action to Game of Thrones as Gordon must solve many mysteries, including the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents. Throughout the series, a massive gang war brews between the many crime families in town.

Follow us on MSN to see more of our exclusive entertainment content.

5. Boardwalk Empire

Boardwalk Empire is another series that includes politics similar to Game of Thornes. While it is a period drama, it is set in Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition and details the life of the man who runs things.

He is a gangster, which also means many backstabbing and betrayals here. The American Film Institute named Boardwalk Empire one of the ten “best television programs of the year for its first and second seasons.”

6. Vikings

Vikings is a historical drama inspired by the sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok, a Viking who is one of the best-known legendary Norse heroes and is notorious as the scourge of Anglo-Saxon England and West Francia.

The show details his rise to fame, which came by raiding England. Eventually his raiding prowess and accumulated power paved the way for him to become the king. There’s plenty of old-world backstabbing which makes it very similar to Game of Thrones.

7. The Expanse

For those who like Science Fiction, The Expanse is like a Sci-Fi version of Game of Thrones. The series is set in a future where humanity has colonized the solar system. It follows a group of protagonists as they unwittingly unravel and place themselves at the center of a conspiracy that threatens life as they know it by discovering new and dangerous alien technology.

8. The Last Kingdom

The Last Kingdom is based on Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories series of novels. It begins in the year 866 and details the life of Uhtred as he works to avenge those he loves. It has stunning cinematography and is packed with action.

Follow us on MSN to see more of our exclusive entertainment content.

9. The Serpent Queen

The Serpent Queen is an American period drama television series about the life of Catherine de Medici, who marries into the French Valois court as a fourteen-year-old teenager expected to bring in a fortune in dowry and produce heirs. It details her trials and tribulations and gives viewers a lot of clever politicking, just as Game of Thrones does.

10. Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica (BSG) is an American military science fiction television series. It is set in a distant star system, where a civilization of humans lives on a group of planets known as the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. The mood of this show feels similar to Game of Thrones, and the pacing is reminiscent of it as well. 

11. The Witcher

The Witcher is a great follow-up to Game of Thrones mostly because of it’s setting, and the themes of power struggle that run through it. As with Game of Thrones, not all people are who they seem to be in The Witcher, and most of the leading characters feel as if they are somehow outsiders to society. Plus, The Witcher is shorter and a little easier to get through than Game of Thrones, so what’s not to love?

12. Outlander

If you’re after the struggle against injustice and the desperate fight for love against the odds of violence and power, then Outlander should be next on your list. This one involves time travel and Scotland, so really what are you waiting for? Also, since it’s set in our world, it takes on just the slightest element of believability. Besides, if you’re after valiant fighting and good costuming, then take our word for it: this is a good one. 

Follow us on MSN to see more of our exclusive entertainment content.

13. Shadow and Bone

The show Shadow and Bone displays a lot of the same themes present in Game of Thrones. While it’s less about a mad scramble for a single throne, there’s still a struggle of power, and the manipulation potential of a girl in possession of powerful magic. Compassion and kindness battle against bloodthirst and cruelty. And you get a magical kingdom with mysterious landscapes and forces at work into the bargain. 

14. The Wheel of Time

This recommendation is based more off of the fantasy elements than other similarities. In a medieval setting, a group of powerful, magic-wielding women seek to discover the man who will become a powerful magician himself, as was prophesied, and to turn him to the right causes before he can be turned to the wrong ones. This magician could heal the world, or he could destroy it, and circle them once again to the beginning of the wheel of time. Intriguing!

15. The Rings of Power

The Rings of Power is set in Middle Earth, but it shows the history of the Lord of the Rings story that we are all familiar with. Much like Game of Thrones, there are different species of people with different types of powers. The elves have strange skill in all things beautiful, the men of Numenor are gifted with extraordinarily long lives, and even the lesser of the Maiar have enough power to pour dark magic into something as ordinary as a ring…

16. Peaky Blinders

The show Peaky Blinders goes back to the game of power. Although it’s fictionalized, the series is based on a real gang that did really operate in Birmingham, England a few years before the show takes place. Similar to Game of Thrones, the players in Peaky Blinders vie for power and control over an ever-expanding area of England, and then Europe. The show is set in Birmingham, England right after World War I. 

Follow us on MSN to see more of our exclusive entertainment content.

17. Frontier

Frontier takes up the story of fur trading in Canada during the 1700s. Fur trading has been monopolized by the corrupt Hudson Bay Company and small, independent trappers struggle to sell their goods competitively. The main character is a half-Native American, and the racial and political biases are set against him. He’s as much an outsider as many of the characters of Game of Thrones, and his struggles are those of a single man against an organized power

18. Once Upon a Time

If anyone in the fairy tale or fantasy TV series universe is fighting against and unjust power, it’s the cast of Once Upon a Time. Everyone from Snow White to Sleeping Beauty has had their own time of need, and has made a bargain in some way with Mr. Gold, who is the real-world version of the fairy-tale Rumpelstiltskin. Mr. Gold and his collaborator, the evil queen, do everything in their power to keep the rest of the cast under their thumb.

19. The Magicians

This show bridges the gap between our world and fantasy by layering one over the other, though most of Earth is ignorant of it. But Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) plays a grad student who goes to college to be trained as a magician, and amidst the mele of college pranks and antics, discovers that the fantasy stories he loved as a child are in fact the truth about the world of magic … and that it is much more dangerous than he expected. 

Follow us on MSN to see more of our exclusive entertainment content.

20. The Expanse

This show is set in the future, rather than the past. While it’s less magic and more sci-fi than some of the other shows listed here, the power struggles and political pandering are core thematic elements. There are three empires or alliances within the solar system, and they vie against each other for the best trading, natural resources, and influence among the others. It’s as if Game of Thrones grew over hundreds of years to include planetary travel and trade. 

25 Extraordinary Sequels and Remakes That Outshine the Originals

Every once in a while, a movie sequel or remake surpasses the original film. After polling the internet, “Name a single movie where the sequel or remake was better than the original?” Here are the top-voted responses.

25 Extraordinary Sequels and Remakes That Outshine the Originals

10 Crazy Good Movies Where Women Are the Bad Guys

Are you looking for a movie night with a twist? Look no further than these Reddit-voted top ten films where women take on the destructive bad guy role.

10 Crazy Good Movies Where Women Are the Bad Guys