After eight death-filled seasons, the pop culture juggernaut that is Game Of Thrones has ended, leaving riots in its wake because the series finale (as we predicted) satisfied no one.
Lee-mao.
But I’m not here to make fun of your frustration. Game of Thrones was a really good show (once) and I know how hard it’ll be finding another show awesome enough to occupy the iron throne-shaped hole it has left in your heart. Which is why I made this list of shows you should get into now that you’re in the market for a new prestige show you can get weirdly obsessed with.
You’re welcome.
1. AMERICAN HORROR STORY
AHS, as it’s fondly called by hardcore fans (i.e. ME), is a horror show that premièred in 2011. It’s an anthology series, which means that each season is presented as a self-contained mini-series with a different set of characters, settings, and, sometimes, actors. Did somebody say BINGE WATCH???
WHY YOU SHOULD STAN:
Because it’s a groundbreaking show that contains the best acting performances you’ve ever seen. You truly haven’t lived till you’ve seen Jessica Lange, Angela Bassett, and Kathy Bates share a scene. The settings of all the seasons currently available are as follows:
- Season 1: A haunted Murder House.
- Season 2: An Asylum run by a sadistic nun, a Nazi psycho doctor, and another sadistic nun who later gets possessed by a demon and rapes a priest.
- Season 3: A Coven of badass fashionable witches.
- Season 4: A Freak Show circus.
- Season 5: A haunted Hotel containing the trapped souls of famous serial killers.
- Season 6: A haunted house located on the same spot as the infamous Roanoke colony.
- Season 7: A Cult of murderous political fanatics.
- Season 8: A future where the Apocalypse has been triggered by the anti-christ and his cult of worshippers.
Also, some plot elements on the show are loosely inspired by real-life events. So you get to excitedly scream “I READ ABOUT THAT GRUESOME MURDER ON WIKIPEDIA!” whenever that happens.
2. BLACK MIRROR
Black Mirror is a British science-fiction show that explores the unexpected consequences of technological advancements and is usually set in an alternative present or future. Think of it like The Twilight Zone but with terrifying futuristic tech thrown in. It’s also an anthology series but in this case, characters, settings, and actors change with every episode. Did somebody say BINGE –
WHY YOU SHOULD STAN:
Every episode messes you up and makes you want to swear off technology. Plus it’s an anthology so you can literally watch random episodes from random seasons without missing a thing. Also, they released a choose-your-own-adventure style movie named Bandersnatch that is one hell of an interactive experience.
3. THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA
Based on the Archie comics series of the same name, this show is about Sabrina Spellman, a half-witch half-human who, on her 16th birthday, must learn to reconcile her dual nature while fighting off the evil forces that threaten the safety of her family, friends, and town.
WHY YOU SHOULD STAN:
It has everything you could possibly want in a show about the supernatural. Powerful witches and warlocks, demons, werewolves, angels moonlighting as witch hunters, incubi, occasionally gruesome murders, orgies, and the devil himself depicted as a giant, wildly unattractive animatronic goat in a jute hoodie.
What’s not to love?
4. THE HANDMAID’S TALE
Set in a dystopian future, this show depicts a world where fertility rates reduce drastically due to sexually transmitted diseases and environmental pollution. In the aftermath of a second American civil war, a totalitarian government forms and subjects all fertile women into becoming childbearing slaves named “Handmaids” for the infertile elite.
WHY YOU SHOULD STAN:
Because it’s what our world is slowly becoming the way things are going. In the show’s universe, it’s not just fertile women that get shat on. ALL women are treated like trash by the theonomic government and, by law, aren’t allowed to work, own property, handle money, or learn to read.
Also, the performances are amazing. Elizabeth Moss, who plays the main character named June Osbourn/Offred, deserves every acting award under the sun.
