Shows like The Witcher: 8 titles you can watch now

With the highly anticipated second season of The Witcher now available on Netflix, you may be looking for more shows like The Witcher to binge throughout the holidays. We’re here to help.

The Witcher follows Geralt of Rivia, the titular Witcher, a wandering monster hunter whose fate is tied to the magical princess Cirilla (“Ciri”), who he has sworn to protect. With timeline jumps and the rise of the mysterious sorceress Yennefer, the three characters’ paths eventually all meet in a conflict-filled fantasy adventure.

So, what are the best shows like The Witcher? Read on for eight picks that may be right up your alley.

Possibly the top contender among shows like The Witcher, The Wheel of Time is Amazon’s bold and ambitious answer to shows like HBO’s Game of Thrones. Based on the novels by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, the series follows Moiraine, a member of an order of women with magical abilities. She guides a group of four young people on a journey to discover if one of them is the reincarnation of a powerful magic user who could save or end the world.

Another Amazon Prime Video original series, Carnival Row sets its dark fantasy in a neo-noir reality and frames its narrative as a metaphor for immigration and xenophobia. Slightly closer to home than The Witcher, Carnival Row is set in an alternate Victorian London, where a human detective falls for a fairy escaping her magical homeland.

The star-crossed lovers are threatened by a hostile environment, a serial killer on the loose, and a government with little interest in protecting its most vulnerable people.

Disney Plus’ flagship series, The Mandalorian was the first live-action Star Wars series following the sequel trilogy. Like Geralt, the titular Mandalorian is a lone gun for hire in a world where justice is scarce. While a science-fiction series may not seem like an obvious pick among shows like The Witcher, both series draw from westerns and samurai films and feature strong, quiet leads charged with protecting an innocent younger character targeted by the bad guys.

Just as Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings redefined fantasy in the 2000s, HBO’s groundbreaking Game of Thrones set the tone for the genre in the 2010s. A lot of The Witcher’s grittiness can be traced back to Game of Thrones, making the fantasy epic an easy choice as a show like The Witcher.

Based on George R. R. Martin’s celebrated novels, Game of Thrones follows ongoing struggles to control the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, with political intrigue, bloody battle, and allegiances broken throughout eight breathtaking seasons.

Apple TV Plus’ See has some of the most overt allusions to samurai cinema I’ve seen in years. That puts it in league with The Witcher, as both series draw from classic tales like Yojimbo and Lone Wolf and Cub. While See takes place in the distant future, when humanity is almost entirely blind, and does not feature any fantasy elements, it shares thematic and stylistic elements of this sort with the Netflix show. Both feature violent worlds where expert warriors with dark pasts fight for what’s right.

When a mysterious race of demons returns to haunt humans, three young heroes embark on a journey with the last of the druids to protect an ancient, mystical tree that defends this realm from such threats. This young adult series was canceled after two seasons, so you’ll sadly be left wanting more. It’s still certainly worth checking out if you want more fantasy after The Witcher.

We’ve come a long way since the syndicated fantasy TV shows of the 90s. But some of them remain well worth watching. The best of the lot is easily Xena: Warrior Princess, in which Lucy Lawless plays the titular Xena. Xena travels around a fictional Ancient Greece, a formidable warrior with a dark past, atoning for her sins by fighting for those in need against their various oppressors. The show developed a fierce cult following and remains a clear influence on fantasy shows like The Witcher.

One of Netflix’s lower-profile fantasy series, The Letter for the King is nevertheless ambitious and boasts some solid talent. That includes His Dark Materials’ Amir Wilson and motion-capture king Andy Serkis. A young squire is sent on a mission to deliver a secret message to the king of a fictional medieval nation. The message could alter the kingdom’s fate in this coming-of-age show like The Witcher.