Many of them already were movies, weren't they?
Even series of movies what with all the sequels.
Game of Thrones was a great success, but that's largely because it's so different from everything else on television.
If there were suddenly two dozen new fantasy series on TV we'd all be ... well, I can't say it, but it wouldn't be pretty ...
Game of Thrones was a great success, but that's largely because it's so different from everything else on television. If there were suddenly two dozen new fantasy series on TV we'd all be ... well, I can't say it, but it wouldn't be pretty ... They took Bernard Corwell's books on the wars between the Saxons and the Danes during the times of Alfred the Great and made a TV series of them which you can see on Netflix called "The Last Kingdom". I think they had hoped to capitalize on the popularity of Game of Thrones (because it's a dark ages war setting but not magical) and Vikings (because the danes were vikings). But I think it missed the mark for three reasons (and I wanted it to succeed badly, I loved those books):
- It doesn't capture the Game of Thrones grandeur because it's not about a whole world at war, it's about one fictional warrior who does a series of great things that effect the course of history BUT the political intrigue is not there, and nor are the variety of characters and settings. It's far more linear. So it doesn't really evoke Game of Thrones in the end.
- They wanted to capture the "Vikings" feel but the show isn't actually about the vikings in it, it's about the saxon armies and so the vikings in it are seen occasionally and as mustache twirling badguys. In the books they were cruel and harsh but also would welcome you to a feast and tell stories and then send you back to your own army to face them in combat where they would work very hard to kill you (no offense, just business, see you in valhalla!) They tended to be just a bit more interesting, actual characters. Not in the show. So they didn't really capture the feel of "Vikings" either, though they did get the look of it.
- The main character in the books is a course pagan warrior but is also very shrewd and wins as much with his wits as with his sword and has a strong moral code of honor. however in the show he is a boastful hothead who doesn't look like a badass at all (poorly cast in my opinion) AND shows no real cleverness so he's very watered down. He's pretty one dimensional on screen. In the books he longed to join the Danes who he loved but instead was tied up in a web of oaths he was forced to give to various saxons for various reasons and his sense of honor would not let him break them. So he fought for the side he didn't like and (who see him as a barbarian) in order to defeat the people he loved, and how he struggles with that. On screen: hothead pretty boy who wants to go to war and get booty.
My point being, just picking some series of books and saying "this is just like Vikings meets Game of Thrones" won't work without really strong writing and interesting characters.