The Song Planner

Fantasy TV Score

tagStarted 1995Peak 2011–2022Last big hit still active

Located in 1 route

Stage / Screen / Soundtrack → TV / Streaming Series Score

Scoring for episodic sword-and-sorcery, myth and magic, applying feature-scale symphonic and choral writing to the long-form canvas of television. The palette runs to full orchestra and choir, ethnic and period instruments for invented cultures, folk melodies, and a network of recurring leitmotifs that grow across seasons as a saga expands. Battle spectacle, courtly intrigue and enchantment each get distinct thematic material, and the strongest fantasy series build a hummable main title that becomes a franchise's aural crest.

History

Syndicated adventure — Joseph LoDuca's Xena: Warrior Princess (1995) — gave fantasy TV an early musical identity, but the genre's leap came with HBO's Game of Thrones (2011), whose Ramin Djawadi score built a sprawling leitmotif system and sold out arenas as a live concert. Prestige-fantasy budgets then drew film composers to the small screen: Bear McCreary's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Lorne Balfe's His Dark Materials, Abel Korzeniowski's gothic Penny Dreadful and the viral "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher" by Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli, cementing fantasy as a showcase for ambitious television scoring.

Defining artists

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Essential listening

  • Game of Thrones (Main Title)(2011) — Ramin DjawadiSpotifyYouTube
  • House of the Dragon (Main Title)(2022) — Ramin DjawadiSpotifyYouTube
  • The Rings of Power (Main Title)(2022) — Bear McCrearySpotifyYouTube
  • Xena: Warrior Princess Theme(1995) — Joseph LoDucaSpotifyYouTube
  • Toss a Coin to Your Witcher(2019) — Sonya Belousova and Giona OstinelliSpotifyYouTube
  • His Dark Materials (Main Title)(2019) — Lorne BalfeSpotifyYouTube
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Sources

  • Emmy Awards music categories
  • Variety and The Hollywood Reporter composer features
  • Jon Burlingame, TV's Biggest Hits (1996)