Netflix Canceled Its Best Game Of Thrones Replacement After Only 1 Season

After only one season, Netflix canceled a show that was poised to be the fantasy genre's best successor to Game of Thrones. While HBO has expanded the franchise with the Game of Thrones spinoffs House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, there have been plenty of other fantasy competitors, including The Witcher, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and The Wheel of Time.

The Rings of Power has been unable to reach the same heights as The Lord of the Rings movies and Prime Video canceled The Wheel of Time when it was at its best. After a strong start, the exit of Henry Cavill and some divisive creative decisions caused Netflix's The Witcher to lose the momentum it had, but the streaming service has another fantasy show that had an even better first season.

The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance Was Game Of Thrones With Puppets

Kevin Baker/©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection

Netflix's best fantasy show that has come out since Game of Thrones ended is The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, and it contains nearly all the best elements of the hit HBO series. Like Game of Thrones, Age of Resistance is a very dark and deeply political fantasy series with intricate world-building told through a cinematic quality. It is a prequel to Jim Henson's 1982 The Dark Crystal movie, featuring even more impressive puppetry and visual effects, but can be understood and enjoyed without having seen the film.

Set on the planet Thra, the show follows a species known as the Gelfling and the species who rules over them, the Skeksis. The Skeksis are believed to be benevolent, but three Gelflings – Rian (Taron Egerton), Deet (Nathalie Emmanuel), and Brea (Anya Taylor-Joy) – discover that their rulers are on a path to destroy them and all of Thra. While some Gelfling insist on maintaining the political systems that have been in place for 1,000 years, Rian, Deet, and Brea ignite the fires of revolution against their oppressors. From the distinctive cultures among each Gelfling clan to the ways the Skeksis have sowed distrust between them, the world building is on par with Game of Thrones.

As with the HBO series, almost no one is safe, with an individual seemingly set up as a main character dying in horrific fashion during the first episode. Many of the character arcs match those in Game of Thrones as well. Like Ned Stark (Sean Bean), Ordon (Mark Strong) is an honorable, highly skilled warrior who is too trusting of the hierarchy that is in place, but he also has a fierce love for his children. Ned and Ordon have complex relationships with their respective sons, Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Rian, who rise up and become inspiring heroes of their own.

There is also Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) and Seladon (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who look down on their sisters for not following the norms of royalty. Despite being ambitious and clever, the two characters are blinded by their reverence for the corrupt elite, such as Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) and the Skeksis, but Sansa and Seladon are also woefully underestimated.

Age of Resistance even features four actors from Game of Thrones. Emmanuel, who voices Deet, is known for playing Missandei. The others are Cersei Lannister actor Lena Headey as Maudra Fara, Margaery Tyrell actor Natalie Dormer as Onica, and Dagmer Cleftjaw actor Ralph Ineson as the fearsome Hunter, also known as skekMal.

Age Of Resistance’s Rotten Tomatoes Scores & Cliffhangers Prove It Shouldn’t Have Been Canceled

Kevin Baker/©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance's cancellation is made even more frustrating due to the stellar reception, with a "Certified Fresh" 89% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 94% audience score. The season 1 finale ends in a satisfying way that pays off all the previous build-up, but it also leaves numerous questions and mysteries unresolved, which makes Netflix's decision all the worse.

This includes the question of what happens to Deet after absorbing the power of the Darkening, what some of Deet's visions mean for the future, the aftermath of the Skeksis creating the ruthless creatures known as the Garthim, and what would be done with the Dark Crystal shard discovered in the Dual Glaive. A great deal also needed to happen before catching up to the timeline of the original movie, meaning Age of Resistance could have run for many seasons, just as Game of Thrones did.

Years after the cancellation was announced in 2020, Netflix still does not have a fantasy show that can compete with Game of Thrones. Due to the puppetry and absence of any human characters, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance probably wouldn't have reached the same level of widespread popularity as Game of Thrones, but it could have been the rare show to achieve the same level of quality.

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  Game Of Thrones

  

  10/10

  Release Date 2011 - 2019-00-00

  Showrunner David Benioff, D.B. Weiss

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    Isaac Hempstead Wright

    Brandon Bran Stark