Hulu is booming with a selection of solid shows for fantasy fans to sink their teeth into. But where to start?
The streaming service has a number of great series – both new and long-running – like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and anime juggernaut “Attack on Titan.” Both well worth any fan’s time but for very different reasons. There is something for every subset of fantasy fan.
Below are the fantasy TV shows that viewers should check out first when looking for their next binge.
Attack on Titan
“Attack on Titan” is a meticulously paced, completely thought-out series that will have any fan of long-running fantasy stories frothing at the mouth. Following a civilization that is beset by towering titular Titans, a group of expeditioners is forced to go on the offensive or risk their own extinction. That’s the quickest elevator pitch for a show that quickly evolves into much more than that as a large cast of lovable and loathsome characters fight for a future, no matter how bleak it may be.
“Attack on Titan” starts strong and finishes stronger, which is something that happens less and less these days. If you only dive into one show on this list, make it this series.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy – the next in a long line of Slayers tasked with protecting humanity from all manner of supernatural entities, be they vampires or others. Juggling that, she also has to deal with high school (and later, adult) woes. The show was ahead of the curve in many of the topics and themes it explored, and it changed how TV stories were told with its masterful blend of episodic and serialized storytelling. With a new revamp around the corner, there is no better time to check out the original.
Smallville
It’s a classic for a reason! “Smallville” boasts 10 long seasons of origin story for Clark Kent as he navigates learning about his powers – and his rogues gallery – before ever taking flight or donning the red and blue tights. The original CW superhero series has a bit of that early-aughts cheesiness to it, but it becomes endearing rather than a distraction. Tom Welling is a fine Clark Kent, but Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex Luthor is just as captivating, if not more.
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
There are a lot of anime options to consider on Hulu, but a universal, top-of-the-list choice for most fans of the genre is “Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.” The series tracks two brothers on the search for the mythic Philosopher’s Stone with hopes that it can restore their bodies – one lost just arms while the other’s whole body is robotic – while breaking the rules of alchemy, trying to resurrect their mom.
True Blood
One of HBO’s first big swings into the fantastical was their steamy vampiric “True Blood.” The series was set in sweltering Louisiana and followed Sookie – a local oddball and mindreader – who falls for a 173-year-old vampire who recently popped back up in town. The show was ahead of the curve in what has become a booming subgenre of novels in the 2020s. Fans of books like “A Court of Thorns and Roses” and “Fourth Wing” will likely find themselves in familiar but exciting territory with “True Blood,” as long as you don’t mind some horror with your spicy romance.
Over the Garden Wall
Not every fantasy show has to be about wars, dying by the sword, or world-ending magic. Sometimes, it’s nice to just plop down for a cozy quest in a delightful world. “Over the Garden Wall” has become many people’s go-to Fall rewatch for a reason. It’s whimsical, it’s beautiful, and it has as strongly realized a world as anything else on the list with a fraction of other shows’ runtimes. The story follows two brothers who accidentally get lost in a strange forest called The Unknown and need to find their way out.
