Will Black Sails/Vikings/Expanse scratch the GoT itch?

I am all for the Expanse. Large gallery of characters, fantastic twists and turns, and just a deeply satisfying narrative. The first season is not for everyone. It starts of pretty slow and there are so many concepts and characters that it has to introduce. But stick with it, it is nothing short of superb. It also contains a lot of scheeming and politics, which you might have missed from GOT.

Black Sails is a brilliant series!

Maybe you'd like Rome? It was the GoT before GoT (hilariously expensive, various converging stories, b****)

Black Sails is amazing fun, takes a little while to hit its stride but has the best season finales and the ending is superb. Go in blind. Cant go wrong with any of your suggestions.

I always see Rome as an example brought up when people talk about shows being comparable to GoT. Vikings is a great show but also mostly focused on a few charismatic characters and not really about the drama and layers like GoT was.

Black sails is a ridiculously amazing show

The Expanse / Vikings will scratch the GoT itch the best IMO, the paradigm is constantly shifting and politics are a big part of the show and actually matter. And of course great action scenes with huge budget. Imho The Expanse is the best because how far the universe develops and how they keep adding great stories after great stories. Vikings had some highs and lows.

I loved Black Sails and will wholly recommend you watch it but I don't think it really is about multiple interconnected stories as opposed to one single thematic journey with multiple main characters. So if that's what you're looking for, look elsewhere. But definitely watch Black Sails. Also, you may have to grind a little past say episodes 3-6 or so, as it get a bit repetitive back stubby but it's got probably one of the best moments of TV for me personally at the end of season two.

I think The Last Kingdom should be in the conversation. It's way better than Vikings while covering similar ground.

A great large story with interconnecte twists for me is Battlestar Galactica. Make sure you start with the miniseries and not episode 1 as it won't make any sense if you skip the miniseries.

Black Sails. Have no interest in the piratey stuff, but finally gave it a go and was hooked from start to finish.

Watch Spartacus!!

House of the dragon and The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms? people will say HOTD s2 is shit, i liked it. Had some amazing moments. Shogun season 1 100% Andor

Black Sails definitely does. Character drama with lots of politics and violence 

Black Sails 100% recommend

Rome, of course. But I also wanted to recommend The Wire. I think Thrones took a lot of inspiration from the way that show layered its stories and politicking. It's another true ensemble show (as opposed to The Sopranos really being The Tony Soprano Show in actuality, not to dig at it too much), and lays the groundwork for the way Thrones has its characters intersect.

The Expanse is the best of these

Expanse is good but it's not as interconnected as GoT. More you follow the main 4 (well season 1 has more a main 5 I guess) and a couple side characters over the season/s. There's just a far more singular story over the season with some intertwining and seeing it from other perspectives kind of thing compared with GoT which has a lot more separation in it's stories

I highly recommend Black Sails, Vikings, and Last Kingdom. They are all great.

Watch Rome.

The Expanse is incredible, can't recommend it enough. Lots of political intrigue, cool space battles, all good stuff.

Black Sails start a bit slow, season 1 does take some patience to get through but it only gets better and better after that all the way to the finale.

Vikings is great up until a certain character dies. The Last Kingdom is also fantastic

Watch Marco Polo (Netflix) if you want GoT vibes. Unfortunately cancelled after two seasons, but those are absolutely worth it. I dare to say season 2 of Marco Polo rivals the best seasons of GoT. Black Sails is also excellent. Expanse and Vikings were rather mid (still good though) for me.

Black Sails is the closest to GOT with all the politics and backstabbing etc. Great series. The Expanse is different but one of the best sci fi shows of all time.

Dune Prophecy is basically GOT in space

The Expanse would be the most 'similar' to GoT. It starts pretty slowly, and there's a lot of information to assimilate in the beginning. However the payoff is well worth your patience. The first 3 episodes are setting the stage for the story, then it truly kicks in and never really stops. Be warned, some people don't like the main character's actor, but honestly he grows on you. Vikings first 4 seasons were great, mainly due to the fantastic cast of characters and great acting on everyone's part. With season 5 the show actually tried to copy GoT, which I found ridiculous, but that's just my opinion. It's still worth watching, although I found the show less and less interesting as the story progressed. I haven't seen Black Sails in years, but I remember enjoying watching it. I didn't finish the show though, and it's not really similar to GoT. I also really enjoyed the first season of House of the Dragon, and I haven't seen A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms yet but a lot of people say it's quite good.

Try Last Kingdom, it will almost scratch that GoT itch. It's got Viking vibes for sure.

I would recommend something like Andor or Shogun for you. These two shows are the only ones which operate in the same genre as Game of Thrones and are of the same level of quality. I would also recommend Succession of your favourite part of Game of Thrones was the dysfunctional relationship between the Lannisters.

All three are really great shows. Expanse S1 isn't amazing imo, but it takes off later. Out of these Vikings is probably the most Got like.

That's a bit broad, those 3 shows are very different to me. Definitely give Black Sails a try, something I rewatch often because it's just solid in so many ways, though I'm a little bit biased because it filmed near me lol

The only right answer is Foundation. Lee Pace is a god. 

I watched Vikings while GOT was on and I always came away from Vikings saying this seems fast and refreshing vs GOT. They moved the story and there was lots of action. After season 3-4 when one character exits the show it takes a nosedive I thought. But those first 3-4 seasons are great.

I watched them all and no, for me they didnt. None of them had such a broad story line with as many interesting characters. The only thing that scratched the same itch for me was Attack on Titan (to my surprise, as I was quite biased towards anime.)

The expanse absolutely will!

I'll add Warrior and Snowpiercer to the conversation 

Black Sails and The Expanse are both very much cut from the same cloth as GoT. Fair warning: They both require a bit of an investment in S1 for world and character building, but the effort pays off in spades.

Rome was the original Itch for me :)

I heard great things about Black Sails & that it gets better!

In terms of most similar to GoT, I think Black Sails will be closest. It’s an amazing show. I’ve also watched The Expanse (first three seasons) and really enjoyed it. I haven’t watched Vikings but did watch The Last Kingdom. That show was amazing and is also similar to GoT. Maybe consider that one as well.

The Expanse is phenomenal. I would recommend that over the others. And as someone else said HBOs Rome is the true way to go

The Expanse is epic. So is Vikings. You’ll love them both.

Not listed but I recommend Attack on Titans the anime

From these three probably the Expanse. I have to say though the only other show that made me go "holy shit" more times than GoT is...Spartacus. It starts really bad, like a made for TV 300 rip-off and then it gets really, really good. Like I can't believe how good the writing is, kinda good.

Season 1-3 of Vikings was some of the best television I’ve ever watched, and I don’t watch a lot of TV. I was absolutely captivated by that show for the first few seasons. Unfortunately fell off towards the end, but still worth watching.

Yes to all three. Add **The Last Kingdom**, **Rome** and **Deadwood** to maximise the appeal.

In my experience, no.

Another one for Black Sails, first series a bit rough and trying too hard to show t*** all the time but S2-4 are f****** brilliant

I think so yes. Others have pretty much answered you perfectly but I love all of these shows as well. Rome is probably the closest and best one for me, my opinion anyway. Black Sails, Vikings, and the Last Kingdom are also all really solid. I also think the Expanse is an amazing show but it's just a different feel due to the setting. It's still similar but different. I'd also check out Shogun as well if you haven't seen it already.

I still haven't watched any Black Sails but the other two are both very good to great shows, with Vikings being closest to GoT imo but Expanse is my favorite of them. A particular death in Vikings initially made me stop watching but I "grieved" for about a year, returned to pick up where I left off and ended up enjoying the rest, though not quite as much. I'd say something similar about Last Kingdom, which is better if you haven't read the books but does fall off towards the end imo. Like GoT Last Kingdom makes changes from the books and over time they add up to majorly alter the ending. I don't rank it over Vikings or Expanse but it's a good show with some definite GoT feel to it.

Expanse isn't quite Game of Thrones but it's a fantastic series. I binged the entire thing the first time I got Covid.

For Those About To Die is on Prime. It's not the best but it's still pretty fun to watch. Ramsay Bolton is in it so there's the GoT connection. Runs a bit parallel to Gladiator and Rome in terms of subject matter.

I’d say that Foundation is sorta similar in some ways. The empire storyline is my favorite tv show.

The black sails theme song is *chefs kiss* and the show is f****** rad too. I also liked vikings but the later seasons are much more uneven (still watched them all though). I've heard the expanse is A+ sci-fi but have yet to check it out 

Depends what you like. If it's the huge, expansive political machinations and hidden secrets more than the swords and dragons you'll love the Expanse.

Never watched Expanse but I loved the other 2

Black Sails and Expanse might. Vikings got old after 3 seasons

Watched Black Sails last year and the lived in analog feel was so refreshing in comparison to the lifeless digital look that rules most of the shows now. So in that regard is pretty similar to GoT. And the first season is good, too, the only downside is that they don't get to the sea for some episodes being a pirate show.

I'd say it depends on what you liked GOT for: \- The fighting and blood, or medieval worldbuilding: Watch Vikings \- For the character development: Watch Black Sails \- For the overall story and universe: The Expanse. For me, the last 2 are absolutely brilliant series. Vikings is fine too (definitely not bad by any means), and maybe the closer to GOT, on a 1-1 comparison.

No but I’d say the last kingdom is pretty close.

I tried to watch Expanse. I read the books and ended up quitting 5 EPS in. If you didn't read the books then I hear it's a fantastic show and I recommend it

Highly recommend The Last Kingdom. Uhtred son of Uhtred!

Shogun did that for me, it felt like a distilled version of GoT without all the fillers. 

I've been enjoying Vikings, but it doesn't seem to work well in binge format, since there isn't really enough time to really settle into the time jumps. Like anything, it's to be taken with a grain of salt, but it's been an entertaining watch so far.

You should check out The Last Kingdom. Squarely medieval and it has a lot of the political elements of GoT. Very good series, and one of the best parts is that other than the lead, the characters feel very grounded in the setting and their motivations feel true to the time period, not overly modernized like a lot of these shows.

Black Sails will scratch it but it's certainly not the same level as GoT. I really liked the early seasons of Vikings but it did lose my interest part way through. I can't speak for the Expanse.

Black Sails and Expanse maybe. Vikings is equivalent to the later GOT seasons but with a lot less production values.

IMHO Vikings is an even better series, at least the first two seasons. Just watch it. :) Black sails is on my list as well. Rome, Last Kingdom, Expanse, and maybe The Witcher or From could be good for you....fantasy for the former, horror for the latter. If you really like interconnected stories and twists, you could try Dark.

Black Sails & the Expanse are in my top 5 series of all time The Expanse book series also scratched the ASOIAF itch too

Expanse is the best show ever made and the books are even better

I always remember about Vikings how crazy low Budget the first season looked compared to the later ones. I really loved it but the last seasons fell of. Not as hard as GoT tho

Yes these are great. I would rank them like this: 1. Expanse 2. Black sails 3. Vikings

Black Sails and The Expanse are very, very good. Both do take a few episodes to get going. Then, they stay great to the end. Vikings is a strange one. It starts well, gets better, then much better. Then, it tails off faster than anything else I’ve ever seen.

Bit of an odd fit, but Deadwood. Tension, intrigue, shifting loyalties, zero hand-holding, like... 3 instances of ADR in total. Big swathes of the run are in iambic pentameter, which combos with the absurd profanity to make it elegantly funny. Cast includes Timothy Olyphant, Ian Mcshane, Robin Weigert, Brad Douriff, Powers Boothe, Anna Gunn... Guest appearances from Kristen Bell, Brian Cox, Nick Offerman's p****, Garret Dillahunt, Sarah Paulson... I'm leaving off so many people who played wonderful characters. Probably my favorite show ever.

Shogun is the only thing that felt similar to me

If you liked GoT for the world building and political machinations, you’ll love The Expanse.

ROME is the answer.

I’d recommend The Last Kingdom over Vikings

I just finished Black Sails, and it really is a great show. I found the end unsatisfying... But the show was always about the journey not the destination. I will say the most frustrating thing I found about the show was that in its entire run, there is not a single black sail.

depends on what you enjoyed about game of thrones. The first four seasons had excellent dialogue and character development and thats why i liked it. The last few seasons focused on spectacle, vfx, dragons, big battles, etc. But that was never what made GOT so good. I can't speak for vikings and black sails but the expanse has more than one plot going, definitely not as sprawling as GOT though. I hear each of these shows has fans but it's pretty well established that they are not in the top tier of television but still considered pretty good.

There's a dubbed version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms on YouTube. Its basically GoTs but Chinese.

Fwiw the expanse books are widely considered the GoT of scifi. They even have forwards from grrm

 VIkings is great

They're all great shows. Black Sails was really good.

Outlander is great too!

Try The Last Kingdom.

The Borgias is the show you’re looking for.

If you want that GoT vibe, House of the dragon is shite but The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will definitely do it. The Expanse is awesome and definitely recommended. The scale doesn't get much bigger. I definitely preferred it to GoT. Black sails also good, once it warms up, but didn't really do it for me, and it lacks scale; not that that's a bad thing. What about Slow Horses? It's nothing like GoT, but is some super-twisty spy shit with Gary Oldman knocking it out of the park in every scene.

Bit of a historical pirate fanatic and Treasure Island was my favorite book growing up, so I am biased in this. However, Black Sails will always be one of my all time top shows. I stopped watching Game of Thrones around Season 4. That's where it went off the rails and started getting stupid. When it was announced that Season Four would be the last Black Sails season, it was a bit bittersweet. Good that they were going to wrap it up before it had time to be drawn out and start to suck. Bad that my latest favorite show was ending. I made a joke online like, "I would happily trade all of the remaining Game of Thrones seasons for just a few more episodes of Black Sails." My friends thought I was insane and reacted like I had said "I would rather eat rusted metal scrap than a fresh baked apple pie." To them, they either didn't know Black Sails or it was just some low budget D level show on Starz, a service no one cared about. I feel like I won that in the long run. Black Sails Season Four was the same year as Game of Thrones Season Seven, heh. Edit: Totally forgot to throw in the Expanse is another all time top show! Fantastic book adaptation too. I think it's a lot like Game of Thrones minus the gratuitous sex and violence that GoT has going on. There's great characters, factions, political intrigue and plotting, an overarching story that's mostly based in reality but just a touch of weird sci fi strangeness going similar to how Game of Thrones felt like an almost historical show about rival kingdoms and plots but had just a touch of magic and paranormal that grew throughout to be more significant. Both fantastic shows that I have rewatched several times and I have never rewatched Game of Thrones nor did I even finish the last four seasons. Vikings is fine. It started strong and started go kinda "meh" for me but I liked it well enough. Just not on the level as the other two.

I may catch some grief for this, but I liked The Last Kingdom more than Vikings. Maybe a bit repetitive with a lot of plot armor, but nicely done in any event.

Expanse is excellent!

Huge fan of The Expanse and Black Sails. Not So much Vikings, just couldn't get into it. Expanse is probably closer in terms of large scale story.

Of these, I think Expanse is the best. Nothing like GoT, but really amazing Sci-Fi. Didn't watch Vikings OG, but did watch Valhalla and it was fun, albeit braindead. Black Sails is more political like GoT, definitely not to the same quality as GoT (but what is), but I found it got stale after the third season. First one was amazing though.

One of them will. A Knight of the 7 Kingdoms is good too

I would add Shogun to that list if you havent seen it. 

Black Sails is a GREAT series and I would legit describe it as GoT with Pirates.

Black Sails is the king of pirate shows, Expanse is the king of sci-fi shows, so, yes. Vikings is fine up to a point. But I would strongly recommend The Last Kingdom. Brilliant show.

Black sails is strong start to finish. Vikings goes downhill a bit in the later seasons.

Black sails is excellent! After that you might like Spartacus as well. 

Expanse is my favorite Scifi show so I gotta rep that. And the books too for that matter. It's grounded with good care to make the science and people feel very genuine and believable. Very politics oriented with a dash of the fantastical

Rome, Black Sails, Spartacus, Vikings, knight of the seven kingdoms. The show that most reminded me of GOT in terms of hype was actually Marco Polo. Cancelled after two seasons (thanks Netflix) it had the same scope, amazing cinematography and costume design, and Benedict Wong chewed through every scene he was in.

The Expanse kinda, Black Sails is gritty but feels a bit less about political intrigue. This just reminded me to do a Black sails re watch

The expanse was f****** great, but it took me five tries to get into it. 

Others have said "Rome," but I raise them "Deadwood." Also The Last Kingdom isn't close to the level of production values, but has a lot of the moral confusion/nuance of GOT.

All of them are great, bit none has quite the intricate politics or world building of Game of Thrones.

Black sails is awesome, also I’d go “the last kingdom” over Vikings, same type of show but way way more consistent unlike Vikings which fell off a cliff quality wise

The last kingdom

The Expanse is utterly awesome. Dive in! Try the books, too - excellent stuff!

Dune: Prophecy Foundation Raised by Wolves (if you can find it, might have to t******) Mad Men The Leftovers Six Feet Under These are all "ensemble" cast shows, though not necessarily "adventure" shows, if that is important. Wonderful characters, relationships, and interactions.

All of them.

I don't know man I was disappointed with black sales (ha, I was going to correct this but it's kind of apt) because it was like pirates with accounting books. I mean if you like pirate-themed business shows, then yeah go for it. I never got past the first half of season 1 of Vikings because of all the r***. I'm just so sick of all the r*** in all the shows. It doesn't need to be there, yeah we know it happened a lot. You don't need to show it. People take a shit and piss several times a day, too, but they don't show that on tv. But somehow r*** is a necessity.

Black Sails achieves what GoT didnt: a good end to the story

All solid choices, though Vikings will get worse with each season down the line, the newest ones are probably the worst yet. The Expanse can be a bit level up even with GOT, when considering the complexity of that universe...

Watch The Last Kingdom or Spartacus.

I loved Vikings. The aesthetics, story, historical aspect, drama, fighting. Amazing stuff. I liked it from start to finish. Even though most of the people think that it went downhill after season 4-5, I enjoyed it to the end, because I loved the Ivar the boneless story.

If you want a good GOT alternative I would recommend Rome if you haven’t seen it. Same type of scope but it only ran for two seasons. Other than that the ones you mentioned I would rank: The Expanse Vikings Black Sails

black sails is great, highly recommend it. also going to throw Battlestar Galactica in the mix. it's also a great show

Deep Space Nine is GOT in space without b****. Political intrigue, galaxy spanning apocalyptic conflict with many different factions, religious conflict, spycraft, warrior cultures, top tier villains, massive character arcs across seasons, morally grey characters, a chosen one lead. 

The Expanse definitely reminded me of Game of Thrones in space, just in terms of like competing factions, interconnected narratives, grand themes, etc.

Vikings did for me. I love the expanse but that's in a different category. Vikings was wonderful and beautiful. I love that show. 

I mean if you haven’t seen A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms yet….

Have you considered Deadwood? Out of your choices, defo Black Sails.

The Expanse is truly awesome, worth the life hours it takes to watch.

Try the last kingdom too