Reveals Like ‘Tracker’ and ‘Excessive Potential’ Are Nice, however Community TV Wants To Revive the Fantasy Style in 2026

Within the final decade, the fantasy style has exploded on TVwith almost each streaming service providing its personal epic fantasy story, starting from HBO’s rising Recreation of Thrones universe, to Netflix’s The Witcherand Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Energy and The Wheel of Time. Whereas these reveals have made the style greater than ever, fantasy has a protracted historical past on community TV that has been forgotten. Years earlier than these large-scale productions grew to become so widespread, community TV was residence to many fantasy tales. Sadly, because the style gained prominence, these smaller productions have light away.

Whereas the spectacle of latest fantasies could be thrilling, a well-written, inventive sequence would not want an enormous funds to thrive. A few of the perfect fantasy sequence have come from community stations with restricted budgets and sensible results. Examples like Merlin, The Vampire Diariesand As soon as Upon a Time managed to develop a big fanbase with out the benefits that include a streamer, however this sort of present is not made. In 2026, we have to bear in mind the thrill of community fantasies and produce again this forgotten part of TV, particularly since this format might handle a few of the present points trendy fantasy sequence are dealing with. In any case, cannot we now have a present with dragons or fairies earlier than or after episodes of reveals like Matlock, Tracker, The Rookieand Legislation & Order?

Fantasy Collection Do not Want Massive ‘Recreation of Thrones’ Budgets To Work

The latest development has been to create fantasy reveals with huge particular results and provides them a few of the largest budgets of any present. Whereas that technique has led to a number of wonderful sequence, it is not mandatory for each fantasy present.What’s required is an interesting story and lovable characters. Collection likeMerlin and Legend of the Seekerfunction prime examples of this. These reveals are much less concerning the epic battles and sprawling worlds, however extra concerning the characters, and that is why they do not want fairly as a lot spectacle as newer entries into the style.

TakeMerlinfor instance, which can not have the bloody wars of aRecreation of Throneshowever has the connection between Arthur (Bradley James) and Merlin (Colin Morgan) that saved followers engaged for 5 seasons and continues to be well-liked. Community fantasies could also be totally different, however they’ll succeed with out the bells and whistles that streamers use.Whereas streamers purpose for cinematic results that depart the viewers in awe, community fantasies sometimes depend on sensible results and tacky magical parts that finally give the community fantasy reveals their attraction. They might look totally different, however there’s a place for each large-scale epics and the smaller, extra character-driven reveals in fantasy, if solely the networks would begin to prioritize them as soon as extra.

Community Fantasies Can Keep away from the Style’s Largest Issues

Because the fantasy style has moved away from community reveals, a significant downside has grow to be prevalent, particularly with these big-budget sequence: streamers have been reducing again the variety of episodes and taking very lengthy in between seasons. Whereas that is true all through TV, it is an particularly noticeable downside for fantasies, which require thorough world-building that merely can’t be accomplished successfully in eight or ten episodes. Community reveals have a bonus right here as they sometimes have an even bigger episode relyand, on a smaller funds, might probably have a faster turnaround between seasons whereas additionally having seasons which are longer than what streamers can generate.

Not solely do longer seasons enable reveals to discover the magic inside these tales, however additionally they assist the present’s longevity. It can’t be ignored that, as streamers have taken over the style, too many fantasy sequence have been prematurely cancelled whereas community fantasies typically lasted for much longer. The inflated budgets of contemporary fantasy sequence make them straightforward targets, however community TV permits extra time to develop the story. Whereas there are examples of reveals that did not final on networks, the fantasy reveals of the 2000s and 2010s often reached a conclusion, and lots of lasted for a number of seasons. With examples like Merlin, Legend of the Seeker, CharmedVampire Diaries, As soon as Upon a Time, Avatar: The Final Airbenderand so many extra, it is clear that community TV could make memorable fantasy sequence. TV thrives on selection, and that’s what the fantasy style wants proper now.