Netflix's Ambitious 10-Part Fantasy Series Is So Good, Tolkien Fans Will Approve

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Published Sep 23, 2026, 10:21 PM EDT

Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel.

Netflix has a 10-episode fantasy series that fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings stories will be sure to appreciate. Netflix has continued to give big fantasy stories a lot of rope. Look no further than Greta Gerwig's upcoming Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, Netflix's first original movie to get a wide theatrical release.

It must have been a big blow then to lose out on one of the biggest fantasy IP properties ever to its competitor, Prime Video. Though when Amazon is willing to spend a billion dollars on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, there's not a whole lot Netflix can be expected to do.

Netflix has managed its own fantasy successes anyway, like with The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Like TROP, Age of Resistance is also a prequel series to a beloved fantasy epic. The series is set many years before the events of Jim Henson's 1982 film The Dark Crystal, exploring the lore of the film in greater depth.

The series premiered in August 2019 with 10 episodes, and earned widespread critical acclaim, garnering an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. Like the film, Age of Resistance is set on the planet Thra where the Gelflings, small, elf-like creatures, live under the terrible rule of the bird-like Skeksis.

Rian (Taron Egerton), Brea (Anya Taylor-Joy), and Deet (Nathalie Emmanuel) star as three Gelflings who inspire a rebellion after they discover the secret of the Skeksis' power comes from a horrible ritual. It's a gorgeous series, filled with the imagination, terror, triumph, and courage that fans of The Lord of the Rings will love.

The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance Is Different To LOTR, But Tolkien Fans Can Appreciate It

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, like the original film, owes quite a bit to J.R.R. Tolkien's world. They're not unique in that respect. Any fantasy story told after The Lord of the Rings is inspired at least in part by those stories. There are some major similarities though, beginning with the Hobbit-like Gelflings.

The Skeksis also call to mind the dark forces of Sauron and their obsession with powerful crystal has some similarities to the One Ring. These are all similarities Tolkien fans can appreciate though, because Age of Resistance is a different story than LOTR, and not just a cover song.

The Dark Crystal franchise is a bit weirder, with Henson's puppetry certainly adding to that sense of beauty and unease, but whereas The Lord of the Rings feels like a tale out of time, there's a bit of a modern bent to The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance that suits it more for streaming television.

The Dark Crystal Proves Story, Imagination & Character Is What Makes A Great Fantasy Story

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance may have been canceled after one season, but that was around the time Netflix was canceling every show after one season. The Age of Resistance does what the best fantasy stories do, and that's be unafraid of the imaginative world it has built.

At no point in Age of Resistance do you get the sense that the creators are embarrassed by their story or their characters, or that they are winking at the audience, acknowledging this is all a show. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance takes itself seriously, just as The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and every other great fantasy story does.