With ABC’s Once Upon a Time all wrapped up after the final season aired last year, it’s left a gap in the television networks much like Game of Thrones has. So while the next big thing is being cooked up, this leaves Once Upon a Time fans wanting more.
Fortunately, there are many shows with similar premises out there that got started following Once Upon a Time’s success and even beforehand. Though some were short-lived, others managed to last quite a few seasons. Among these, here are arguably the best ones for Once Upon a Time fans to watch.
10 Emerald City (2017)
Those who liked Once Upon a Time’s interpretations of the Wizard of Oz characters might enjoy NBC’s ambitious 2017 show Emerald City. Essentially a Game of Thrones take on L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, it follows the story of a twenty year-old Dorothy ending up in the Land of Oz.
However, her presence triggers a terrible prophecy while the Land of Oz itself is under the tight grip of the Wizard who has outlawed the use of magic making the resident witches unhappy. After one season, though, Emerald City was cancelled. Fortunately, it can be watched on NBC.com for free or streamed on Amazon Prime.
9 Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (2013 - 2014)
When a show becomes incredibly popular, a spinoff usually follows. Such was the case with Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, which takes place in the Once Upon a Time universe. As the title implies, its main focus is Alice in Wonderland but with elements from Disney’s Aladdin.
Like the Tim Burton films, the show has an adult Alice returning to Wonderland. Only in this case, it’s to find her genie lover Cyrus while being targeted by the Red Queen and Jafar. Though Once Upon a Time in Wonderland was ultimately cancelled, some of its characters showed up in the main series.
8 Siren (2018 - )
Among the magical creatures that didn’t get much focus in Once Upon a Time were the mermaids, despite having the ability to create portals to other worlds. Luckily, there is an ongoing show on Freeform that’s dedicated to the mythos of mermaids simply titled Siren.
Set in a fictional seaside town in the state of Washington, the show follows a couple of marine biologists who happen to discover a real mermaid who’s come to land. From there, they delve into the town’s hidden history in relation to the mermaids as well as a government conspiracy. Currently, Siren has two seasons with a third in development.
7 Midnight, Texas (2017 - 2018)
Because the residents of Storybrooke and other similar places in Once Upon a Time were trapped, they were essentially outcasts. They could not return to their true homes nor truly be a part of the real world outside the cursed towns.
Now the titular town of NBC’s Midnight, Texas is where outcasts come to, regardless if the person is supernatural in nature or not. Based on a book series by Charlaine Harris, who wrote the books that inspired True Blood, Midnight is about a psychic who moves into the town. There, he meets a diverse group of characters while helping them deal with outside threats.
6 Sleepy Hollow (2013 - 2017)
From a young age, many Americans learned “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” story featuring Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. Since then, there have been various adaptations of the story from the animated Disney short to the live-action Tim Burton film. This even includes the tv series Sleepy Hollow, which ran four seasons long on Fox.
Set in the real Sleepy Hollow village in the state of New York, except for the fourth season which took place in Washington, D.C., the series is about Ichabod Crane waking up in modern times. But the Headless Horseman also shows up, forcing him to confront it alongside a female cop.
5 Haven (2010 - 2015)
Before Castle Rock did a loose take on Stephen King’s works, there was another similar show that ran during the early 2010s called Haven. Premiering on the Syfy Channel, it was loosely based on The Colorado Kid which focused on a strange unidentified persons case in Maine.
In the show, a similar event is used as the instigating incident to bring a female FBI agent into the titular town. From there, Haven takes a supernatural turn as the FBI agent and a local police detective get caught up in a series of supernatural incidents that have afflicted the town before.
4 Lost Girl (2010 - 2015)
Though it takes strong inspiration from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this show is still worth mentioning for Once Upon a Time fans because it does revolve around supernatural creatures. Only instead of vampires, it focuses on the hidden world of fairies and the internal politics of it.
Into the midst of this enters our main protagonist Bo, who is revealed to be a succubus. Now traditionally, a succubus is a female demon that enters men’s dreams and has sex with them. But in Lost Girl’s case, it’s a type of fairy that draws energy from someone via kissing and/or sex.
3 Grimm (2011 - 2017)
The same year that Once Upon a Time premiered on ABC, Grimm debuted on NBC. While both shows are similar in that they revolve around fairy tales, their approaches are different.
For instance, Once Upon a Time tended to stick to the Disney versions of classic fairy tales whereas Grimm drew more inspiration from the Brothers Grimm book. Their plots are also different, as the former is about fulfilling a prophecy and the latter involves communal balance. Namely, between the humans and an assortments of creatures referred to as Wesen which is put on the shoulders of one homicide detective.
2 Merlin (2008 - 2012)
One of the major story-arcs in Once Upon a Time occurred in Season 5 when the characters had to journey to Camelot where they encountered the likes of Merlin and Arthur. But for those would’ve liked to see an entire show revolve around the two, there is BBC One’s Merlin.
Merlin takes place in a version of Camelot where magic is outlawed by its current king Uther Pendragon. This in turn affects the show’s titular protagonist, who’s a young man, as he hides his powers while befriending the king’s son Arthur.
1 The 10th Kingdom (2000)
Before Once Upon a Time was even conceived, there was a short miniseries that ran on NBC in 2000 called The 10th Kingdom. Set in a fantasy land based on the Grimms’ fairytales, the story is about Snow White’s grandson who gets turned into a dog by the Evil Queen.
He then escapes into our reality, which is the titular 10th kingdom, where he meets a young woman and her father who help him get back to his world. Together, they embark on a journey through the kingdoms to take down the Evil Queen while being pursued by three bumbling trolls.
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