5 period dramas to help you forget the pain Game of Thrones inflicted

Vikings have gone down in the history books as being some of the most bloody, fearsome people to ever exist in antiquity — an identity that Michael Hirst captures for this History channel original. This series follows the life and times of Ragnar Lothbrok, a legendary Nordic king who led gruesome raids against France and England during his time. Expect heaps of bravado underscored by pockets of devious plotting with this five-season epic. It’ll keep you on the edge for sure.

This BBC historical crime drama has garnered quite a cult following since its release in 2013, and it’s easy enough to see why. The show’s blueprint checks all the boxes when it comes to its genre: a stellar cast featuring the likes of Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Adrien Brody and more, a small-town-gangsters-make-big narrative trajectory, tortured heroes you can’t help but root for, and clever writing that interweaves major European and global events with the lives and times of the main characters.

All the political ins-and-outs that govern Game of Thrones, along with the hateable monarchs that rule take some cues, even loosely, from the British monarchy in the 15th- and 16th-century. Of these, Henry VIII was arguably the most notorious, which makes for a fantastic History channel remake of his life.
Aside from Jonathan Rhys Meyers pulling off a decent performance of the gluttonous monarch, there’s Natalie Dormer playing Anne Boleyn, so you get a little taste of what the British star offered before her major role as Margery Tyrell.
Don’t expect The Tudors to have the same acumen for storytelling that Game of Thrones did, but instead, embrace this show as a ribald rollercoaster of monarchs gone bad.

Time travel meets period drama meets political upheaval in the United Kingdom with Outlander, a series based on the Diana Gabaldon novel of the same name. Critics adore Outlander for how much of a rollercoaster the series unfolds to become, whilst being peppered with intriguing romance, a fair amount of graphic content (still more tasteful than Game of Thrones, in all honesty), and clever plot turns to keep viewers invested.

The thrills that Spartacus delivered throughout its three-year-run deserve to be remembered even after the death of its leading actor, Andy Whitefield. It’s all classic sword-and-sandal revelry with the season, as we follow Spartacus’ navigation through slavery and the gladiator battles that come with. There’s a ton of bloody moments that border on campy, but it’s well worth the watch if you enjoy gratuitous battles enacted in better lighting than Game of Thrones’ renditions.

Vikings have gone down in the history books as being some of the most bloody, fearsome people to ever exist in antiquity — an identity that Michael Hirst captures for this History channel original. This series follows the life and times of Ragnar Lothbrok, a legendary Nordic king who led gruesome raids against France and England during his time. Expect heaps of bravado underscored by pockets of devious plotting with this five-season epic. It’ll keep you on the edge for sure.