25 Best Fantasy TV Series, Ranked Worst to First

8. Once Upon a Time

While Grimm had a much more extensive cult following, it was its fellow 2011 fantasy TV series Once Upon a Time that ended up as the blockbuster mainstream success. Part of the reason was that Once Upon a Time was unique in presenting actual fairy tale characters into the real world, using a purely fantastical plot instead of the procedural mysteries of Grimm.

While Grimm used its basis on the Grimm Fairy Tales, Once Upon a Time was an ABC production, and since Disney owns that network, the series had liberties to use any character that was introduced in the many Disney animated and live-action fairy tale movies. This fantasy TV series took place in the town of Storybook, Maine, where the residents lived in oblivion to the fact that they were all actual fairy tale characters displaced from their homeworld.

The main character for most of the series is Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison), the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. Because she was transferred to the real world before the Evil Queen Regina cursed the fairy tale characters, she is the only one who can break the curse.

Once Upon a Time introduces the famed characters into the series in interesting ways, which are almost always against type for their movie representation. Included are Rumplestiltskin, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio, and even new characters like the Snow Queen from Frozen. Currently, in its seventh season, there have been over 140 episodes to date.