The Best Fantasy Shows Based On Books

Ranker TV
Updated July 20, 2024 40 items
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Voting Rules
Vote up the best TV series based on supernatural or fantasy novels or short stories. No comic book adaptations.
Latest additions: WondLa, Reginald the Vampire, Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Most divisive: Dracula
Over 700 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Fantasy Shows Based On Books

The best fantasy and supernatural series based on books need to not only captivate any old audience but should win over the original fans as well. When fantastical lands and creatures have been living in full color in readers' heads for years, it can be hard to compete as a TV show. Even so, the best fantasy series based on books do more than just bring the magic to life, they bring more folks to the fold who may never have even heard of the books before. Such is the power of the best fantasy adaptations.

Some of the most popular fantasy shows adapted from books are based on book series, such as Game of Thrones, Outlander, and Shadowhunters. The range of shows and styles is beautifully broad when it comes to fantasy book adaptations - with supernatural series like the Sookie Stackhouse books (True Blood), literary classics such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or Dracula, and more traditional high fantasy like The Witcher. The faithfulness of the adaptation to the original text may vary for each series but each one of these shows was born from a book.

Which of these shows based on supernatural and fantasy books is the best? Vote up the best fantasy series below - whether because they nailed the adaptation or because they were top-notch, quality programming in their own right.