The success of 'Game of Thrones' spawned a whole wave of TV shows about the medieval world, both real and alternative, full of magic, lust, and brutality. But not everyone managed to do it as successfully as HBO.

The success of 'Game of Thrones' prompted many filmmakers and TV network executives to try and replicate the formula of the show that became a true cultural phenomenon of the past decade. Today, we invite you to recall a number of striking examples of TV shows that wanted to become the new 'Game of Thrones' but decisively failed to achieve that.

See (2019 - present)

The Apple TV+ service wanted to make a loud statement as a serious player in the video streaming market and immediately secure a position at or near the level of Netflix. To that end, at its launch, the Cupertino company decided to sponsor the grandiose show 'See' starring Jason Momoa (incidentally, a person with a direct connection to 'GoT').

In reality, the ambition was grand, but the execution fell short, as they say. Baba Voss, played by Momoa, did not become the new Khal Drogo, and the show's mythology turned out to be dreadfully sparse and uninteresting. It turns out that brutality and a dark atmosphere alone cannot make viewers fall in love with a show, especially fans of the HBO series.

Despite the high stakes on the 'See' project, other Apple TV+ developments turned out to be much more interesting, take for instance 'The Morning Show'. Jason Momoa and company will still have chances to convince the audience of their worth in the second season, but they will certainly never achieve the laurels of the new 'Game of Thrones'.

Emerald City (2016-2017)

At NBC, they once decided that dark fantasy was what the audience wanted. Why not take everyone's beloved fairy tale about the Wizard of Oz and try to make it more brutal, explicit, and mysterious? The answer seemed obvious, but not to the company's executives.

By hiring one of Hollywood's foremost visionaries, Tarsem Singh, as director, NBC hoped to grab a piece of the glory of 'Game of Thrones' with its magic and compelling characters. Sex, brutality, giants, witches, and political intrigue — all of this is abundant in 'Emerald City', but following the events is utterly uninteresting. No one wanted their childhood favorite fairy tale to be mocked in such a ridiculous and unnecessary way.

The Shannara Chronicles (2016-2017)

The series 'The Shannara Chronicles' is not the worst project on our list today, but it definitely came out at the wrong time and on the wrong channel. I mean, who in this day and age would take an MTV production seriously?

Another problem with this show is that it tried too hard to be like both 'Game of Thrones' (sex, intrigue, racial issues) and 'The Lord of the Rings' (it was even filmed in the same New Zealand, and one of the roles features Gimli himself, John Rhys-Davies!). And yet, the story here is quite original, and it even has a quality literary basis authored by Terry Brooks. Oh, if only this material had fallen into the hands of capable showrunners, we could have expected another cool fantasy, not a pathetic attempt to play 'Game of Thrones' for teenagers.

The Last Kingdom (2015 - present)

This British show has a lot in common with 'Game of Thrones' beyond the visually similar setting. Just like the Andals who came from across the sea and formed the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, the Anglo-Saxons also came from across the sea and organized their seven kingdoms, which in turn become the target of other invaders (Vikings instead of White Walkers).

There is also its own version of Theon Greyjoy here (Uhtred), who was raised by enemies and later forced to choose between his ancestors and those he grew up with. And all of this, of course, unfolds against a backdrop of wars and struggles for political power.

Even these circumstances did not make 'The Last Kingdom' a big hit on the level of the legendary HBO series. Moreover, each new season of this project was supported by different channels and platforms. It began its run on the BBC (together with BBC America), but by 2018, the British television giant had abandoned further production of the expensive series. It was later picked up by Netflix, where new seasons continue to be released without much fanfare to this day.

Britannia (2018 - present)

In the UK, the series 'Game of Thrones' was broadcast by Sky. And in 2018, as the HBO project was slowly approaching its logical conclusion, the British decided to get a move on and create their own answer to the American creation. Thus, the series 'Britannia' was born, which also received investment from Amazon Prime Video.

The show's creator, Jez Butterworth, produced an epic mix of sex, wars, and magic set against the backdrop of the Roman invasion of Britain. In addition to the familiar ingredients of success from 'Game of Thrones', 'Britannia' also featured David Bradley and Mackenzie Crook, who directly moved over from the American hit. In short, visually, this series should be a perfect fit for fans of 'GoT'.

Nevertheless, viewers were not ready to accept this somewhat hallucinogenic narrative bordering on farce. Episode ratings steadily declined after a strong start, leading Amazon to withdraw from further investment in the project.

The British series failed to replicate the success of 'Game of Thrones', quickly turning into a niche product for a narrow audience that is not scared off by a strange presentation of the story.