This Trippy 3-Part Fantasy Epic on Prime Video Is Still One of the Best Ever Made

For fantasy fans, the news that Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time was cancelled after just three seasons was a bitter blow — and now, a whole year later, that loss still stings. The series had only begun to scratch the surface of Robert Jordan’s sprawling saga, and its abrupt end left audiences without one of the genre’s rare large-scale TV adaptations. If you’re still looking to scratch that itch and fill that sweeping fantasy void, though, there’s an underrated series that might just surprise you. It’s bloody, trippy, and bold enough to stand apart from the crowd — and it also boasts a 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

That show is Britannia. First debuting in 2018 on Sky Atlantic before later making its way to Prime Video, Britannia is unlike any other fantasy drama on television. It’s a sprawling epic that mixes brutal history with myth and mysticism, anchored by an ensemble of emotionally complex characters all searching for something — power, survival, faith, or redemption. The result is a series that feels both vast in scope and deeply personal, blending brutal battles with hallucinatory visions to create a fantasy world that’s as strange as it is compelling.

What Is ‘Britannia’ About?

On the surface, Britannia begins as a historical drama. Set in 43 A.D., it follows the Roman Empire’s invasion of the British Isles, but what could have been a straightforward war story quickly unravels into something stranger. The Celtic tribes, led by figures like Princess Kerra (Kelly Reilly), torn between family and survival, and Queen Antedia (Zoë Wanamaker), a ruthless rival with ambitions of her own, must decide whether to unite against the Romans. Across the battlefield looms General Aulus Plautius (David Morrissey), a calculating commander whose obsession with conquest hints at motives beyond simple empire-building.

At the heart of the series is Cait (Eleanor Worthington-Cox), a young girl who survives a Roman raid and reluctantly falls under the guidance of the Druids. Through her, audiences witness both the brutality of occupation and the disorienting pull of prophecy. While the world around her is gruesome and otherworldly, Cait’s arc is a coming-of-age story at its core, giving the series an emotional anchor as she struggles toward an uncertain destiny.

The Druids are what give Britannia its wild reputation. Characters like Veran, played with a spectacularly eerie and unrecognizable intensity by Mackenzie Crook, make their rituals feel like fever dreams. Unlike the rule-bound magic systems of shows like The Wheel of Time, the Druids’ power is chaotic and deliberately terrifying. The show never fully explains the source of their power, which only heightens their mystique and the surrounding danger.

Similar to shows like The Wheel of Time and even Game of Thrones, the series juggles sprawling factions and competing agendas, but it handles that scope in a uniquely surreal way. Created by brothers Jez Butterworth and Tom Butterworth, Britannia thrives precisely because it doesn’t try to be the next Game of Thrones. Instead, it embraces the strange, blending raw history with pagan mysticism and psychedelic horror to create a fantasy epic that’s as unsettling as it is compelling. And while its world is strange and unpredictable, what keeps it grounded is the ensemble cast, whose performances ensure the chaos always feels human.

Like ‘The Wheel of Time’, ‘Britannia’ is Led By a Stellar Ensemble Cast

As trippy and surreal as Britannia often becomes, its cast keeps the story firmly grounded. David Morrissey brings gravitas to General Aulus Plautius, never playing him as a one-note villain. Instead, he’s a manipulative strategist whose hunger for power is complicated by his unsettling connection to the Druids, making him both terrifying and strangely charismatic. Mackenzie Crook is equally unforgettable, channeling the show’s eerie energy and eventually taking on dual roles as two of its most disturbing Druids. And Kelly Reilly, before she became a household name in Yellowstone, delivers a fiery, vulnerable turn as Princess Kerra, embodying both the fierce determination of a leader and the emotional depth of someone caught between protecting her people and obeying her family.

Later seasons deepen the ensemble further with the addition of the incredible Sophie Okonedo, who Wheel of Time fans know as the Amyrlin Seat, Siuan Sanche. In Britannia, she channels that same commanding presence into Hemple, a high priestess with a hypnotic aura and a chilling hunger for power. Okonedo layers authority with nuance, enriching the show’s expanding mythology and raising the stakes with every scene she’s in. If you’re captivated by Okonedo’s performance in The Wheel of Time, her turn in Britannia is another must-see showcase of her talent.

Together, this ensemble prevents Britannia from feeling like just a surreal experiment. For all its surrealism, the show never loses sight of the fact that fantasy is at its best when it’s grounded in people struggling to survive extraordinary circumstances. That balance is what makes Britannia stand out, and why it deserves to be remembered as one of the boldest, most unconventional shows in modern fantasy television. If you’re a fan of The Wheel of Time, Game of Thrones, or any fantasy series that mixes high-stakes drama with supernatural intrigue, the three seasons of Britannia should be at the top of your watch list.

Britannia is now available to stream on Prime Video.