Let’s be real for a second. Most fantasy TV is kind of a drag. You usually get one of two things: a show that takes itself way too seriously with dense lore about dragons and kings, or a "monster of the week" procedural that feels like it was written for a middle schooler.
Then there was The Magicians.
It was messy. It was cynical. It featured a group of grad students who were basically all disasters, dealing with depression and trauma while accidentally becoming kings and queens of a literal fairyland. It felt like Harry Potter if Harry was an anxious mess and the school was a place where you actually might get murdered by a moth-man. Finding shows like The Magicians isn't just about finding more magic. It’s about finding that specific brand of "adult" fantasy—the kind that isn't afraid to be weird, dark, and heartbreakingly human.
Most people looking for a replacement end up disappointed because they just look for "magic schools." That's a mistake. You're not looking for a school; you're looking for that specific Lev Grossman-esque vibe where the magic is a metaphor for how much it sucks to grow up.
The Genre-Benders That Actually Capture The Vibe
If you loved Brakebills, you probably loved the fact that the characters weren't always "good" people. They were selfish. They made mistakes that cost lives.
The Umbrella Academy on Netflix is probably the closest spiritual successor we have. It’s based on the comics by Gerard Way (yes, the My Chemical Romance guy), and it captures that "dysfunctional family with powers" energy perfectly. Instead of a school, you have a group of adopted siblings who were raised to be superheroes but ended up becoming deeply traumatized adults. They aren't trying to save the world because it's the right thing to do; they're mostly just trying to deal with their dead dad's baggage. The tone shifts from slapstick humor to soul-crushing sadness in a way that feels very familiar to anyone who cried during the Take On Me musical number in The Magicians.
Then there is Legion.
Honestly, Legion is a trip. It’s technically a Marvel show (tied to the X-Men), but forget everything you know about the MCU. It’s psychedelic. It’s confusing. It uses unreliable narrators to tell a story about mental illness that just happens to involve reality-warping powers. Dan Stevens plays David Haller with a frantic, twitchy energy that feels like Quentin Coldwater on a much worse day. If you liked the "mind-bending" episodes of The Magicians—the ones where you weren't sure if what you were seeing was real or a psychic projection—this is the one for you.
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Why We Are Obsessed With "Adult" Fantasy Now
There is a weird misconception that fantasy is for kids. We can blame Tolkien or Disney for that, maybe. But the success of shows like The Magicians proved there is a massive audience for stories where magic doesn't fix your problems. In fact, in these shows, magic usually makes your problems worse.
Look at The Boys.
It’s not "magic" in the traditional sense, but it deals with the exact same deconstruction of tropes. It asks: "What if the people with the power were actually the villains?" It’s cynical. It’s gory. It’s incredibly funny in a dark, 'I shouldn't be laughing at this' kind of way. Eric Kripke, the showrunner, has a knack for taking something shiny—like superheroes—and showing the grease and blood underneath.
If you want something a bit more atmospheric and "period-piece," Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a masterpiece. It’s a BBC miniseries based on the novel by Susanna Clarke. It’s set during the Napoleonic Wars and treats magic as a lost academic pursuit. It’s dry, it’s British, and it’s deeply unsettling. It captures the "scholarly" side of Brakebills—the idea that magic is something you study in dusty books until it eventually eats you alive.
The Problem With Modern Fantasy Adaptations
We see a lot of big-budget stuff now. The Wheel of Time, The Rings of Power, The Witcher. They have the money. They have the CGI. But do they have the soul?
Usually, no.
The problem is that these shows try to be "prestige TV" by stripping away the humor. The Magicians worked because it was self-aware. It knew it was a show about a magic school and it poked fun at itself. When Eliot and Margo would drop a pop-culture reference while being tortured by a dark god, it felt real. That's how people actually talk. We use humor as a defense mechanism. Most high-fantasy shows forget that. They make everyone talk like they’re in a Shakespeare play.
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The International Gems You Haven't Seen
Sometimes you have to look outside the US to find the good stuff.
Ragnarok on Netflix is a Norwegian series that reimagines Norse mythology in a modern high school setting. It’s lower budget, sure, but it has that "teenager discovering they are part of something much bigger and much scarier" vibe. It deals with environmentalism and corporate greed, using the gods and giants as metaphors for the destruction of the planet. It’s grounded in a way that makes the supernatural elements feel heavier.
Then there’s Discovery of Witches.
It’s more "romance-forward" than The Magicians, which might turn some people off. But the world-building is top-tier. It treats the different supernatural races—witches, vampires, and daemons—like different political factions. It’s academic. It’s set in Oxford. It has that "secret world hiding in plain sight" feel that we all crave. It’s based on the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness, who is an actual historian, so the attention to detail regarding old manuscripts and alchemy is actually factual.
Why The "Found Family" Trope Matters
The heart of these shows isn't the spells. It’s the people.
You watched The Magicians because you wanted to see if Quentin and Eliot would ever find happiness, or if Alice would ever stop being so self-destructive. You wanted to see Margo be a girl-boss (before that term was ruined) and Penny be the grumpy heart of the group.
Misfits is an older British show that gets this right. A group of young offenders doing community service get caught in a weird storm and develop powers. One can turn invisible, one can see the future, one can... well, it gets weird. They are all "trashy" characters. They aren't heroes. They use their powers for incredibly stupid, selfish things. But over time, they become a family. It’s foul-mouthed, it’s hilarious, and it has a surprising amount of heart.
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- Watch The Order on Netflix. It was canceled too soon, but it’s a direct descendant of the "secret society at college" trope. It’s got werewolves and magicians fighting a secret war on a campus that looks suspiciously like a Canadian university.
- Check out Motherland: Fort Salem. Imagine a world where witches didn't hide, but instead became the US military. It’s a fascinating "alt-history" take on magic that explores the cost of using power for war.
- Give Preacher a try. It’s more "Southern Gothic" than "Urban Fantasy," but it has that same irreverent, middle-finger-to-the-heavens attitude that made The Magicians so refreshing.
How To Find Your Next Obsession
Don't just look for "magic" in the search bar. Look for terms like "deconstruction," "anti-hero," or "dark comedy fantasy."
The truth is, The Magicians was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment. It was a show that embraced the fact that being "chosen" would actually be a nightmare. It understood that having the ability to change the world doesn't mean you have the emotional maturity to do it.
To find something similar, look for shows where the characters are flawed first and magical second. Avoid the stuff that looks too polished. You want the grit. You want the shows where the characters drink too much, swear too much, and fail more often than they succeed.
Actionable Next Steps For Your Watchlist
If you are staring at your streaming queue and don't know where to start, here is the move. Start with The Umbrella Academy if you want the character dynamics. Move to Legion if you want the visual flair and mind-bending plots. Finally, dig into Misfits if you want the raw, unfiltered chaos of young people with powers they don't know how to handle.
The magic isn't in the wand-waving. It’s in the mess. Go find some beautiful, magical messes to watch.
If you’re still feeling the void, try reading the actual Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman. The show diverges significantly from the books (especially with characters like Janet/Margo), and the books offer an even darker, more literary take on the tropes. It’s the best way to see the "DNA" of what you just watched. After that, look into the Sandman series on Netflix; it’s more "mythic" but shares that DNA of magic being a heavy, often tragic burden rather than a gift.