House Of The Dragon Makes Way For Prime Video's Returning Fantasy Series

The biggest fantasy show on TV right now is House of the Dragon. Currently in its third season, House of the Dragon is rapidly proving to be an even bigger disappointment than Game of Thrones. At least we got six great seasons out of Game of Thrones before it took a nosedive; we only got one great season out of House of the Dragon before it became frustratingly slow and bafflingly unfaithful to George R.R. Martin’s source material.

After racing through all of Fire and Blood’s juiciest drama in season 1, skipping years at a time in every episode, House of the Dragon came grinding to a halt in its second season. HBO probably didn’t expect the spinoff to become as big as it did, so the writers have had to stretch one more season’s worth of story material into three seasons of laborious, wheel-spinning television.

Although season 3 got off to a thrilling start with its opening battle sequence, the subsequent episodes have exhibited all the same problems as season 2: the big payoffs are being indefinitely delayed, characters are having the same conversations over and over again (especially Rhaenyra and Alicent), and it just doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere exciting.

House of the Dragon’s third season is set to sputter to the finish line with its finale on August 9. After that, a much more promising fantasy show is on the way to take its throne as the genre’s biggest hit of 2026.

The Rings Of Power Season 3 Could Be The Best One Yet

Amazon is bringing back its billion-dollar Lord of the Rings spinoff The Rings of Power for its third season on November 11. That’ll be the next big fantasy event on TV after House of the Dragon ends its own third season, and it’s looking a lot more promising than the worst Game of Thrones show’s second-worst season.

The Rings of Power was an eye-watering investment on Amazon’s part — the show’s $1 billion budget and ambitious five-season plan were both unprecedented — and it was supposed to give Prime Video its own Game of Thrones: a medieval fantasy crossover hit, attracting both diehard fans of the genre and casual viewers just looking for a good show to binge. Ultimately, after a weak first season, The Rings of Power failed to break out into the mainstream like Game of Thrones did. But the core Lord of the Rings fan base is big enough, and dedicated enough, that enough people have been tuning in to keep the show on the air.

Season 2 was a huge improvement over season 1, and season 3 is bringing in a lot more recognizable elements from the Peter Jackson movies to appeal to the general audience. This season revolves around Sauron’s attempts to create the One Ring, and it’s bringing in Simon Pegg as the voice of the Balrog. So, The Rings of Power’s third season could be its best yet.

The Biggest Fantasy Show Of 2026 Won’t Be Rings Of Power Or House Of The Dragon

The Rings of Power will make a fine replacement for House of the Dragon, but neither of them will end up being the biggest fantasy show of 2026. This Christmas, HBO is releasing the first season of its Harry Potter TV show, adapting the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. While a remake of Harry Potter is completely unnecessary, especially considering the original movies nailed it and still hold up today, that show will be like catnip for fantasy fans.

Harry Potter is so unbelievably popular that there’s no way this show doesn’t become huge. Even if people are just hate-watching it, there will be more than enough of them to declare it an even bigger hit than House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power combined.