The epic Game of Thrones may be over, but for many “winter is coming,” or has even already arrived.
Take some advice from House Stark and prepare against the cold. The best way to do so? Make sure you have plenty of indoor activities and entertainment planned for the long snowy months ahead. Think you’ve already run out of things to watch? That’s never true. If you were a big fan of the Warden of the North and his brood on Game of Thrones, entertain yourself and your own family Stark-style with some shows that will happily remind you of the Great House of the North.
10 Pick of the Litter
Remember the Stark house sigil, the direwolf? Remember that magical episode in Season 1 where the family finds six adorable direwolf puppies, one for each Stark child (Jon Snow included)? Well then, Pick of the Litter on Disney+ is the best show available.
On GoT, Father Ned Stark reminds his children that by taking the direwolf puppies home, they are responsible for training the pups themselves. Puppy training is what this new Disney show is about. It also follows six puppies who are training to grow up and becoming certified seeing-eye dogs for the blind. That’s quite the journey.
9 Snowpiercer
The show isn’t out yet (watch for it to drop on TNT in the spring of 2020) but it already boasts two Stark style elements: snow and the end of the world. Like the 2013 film, the Snowpiercer series follows the remaining survivors on earth who are only kept alive (despite the below-freezing temperatures across the planet) by living on a train that is forever in motion and circling the globe. Action and rebellion ensue. That certainly sounds like a Stark-esque story for viewers to jump into.
8 The Walking Dead
They may not be ice zombies, but The Walking Dead certainly does boast a lot of zombies and a lot of seasons. The AMC show also has its own series of graphic novels from which to adapt content, just as the first few seasons of Game of Thrones did. But why specifically is it a Stark show? The Walking Dead doesn’t follow those seeking power, but a group of survivors who only want safety and security in an uncertain world. They may not have to fight the cold as much as the Starks, but their goals certain align.
7 Bodyguard
The Stark family is a large one (six kids is certainly more than average). If you saw yourself drawn to House Stark because of the dashing and romantic eldest son, Robb Stark, then Bodyguard on Netflix is basically all Robb Stark all the time. Doomed by his success thwarting a terrorist attack, Robb — actually David Budd — earns his place as a bodyguard, to the British Home Secretary, Julia Montague. He may not get to be king, but star Richard Madden certainly gets more screentime in this series.
6 The Crown
More than any other great house (we’re looking at you, Lannisters) in Westeros and the Game of Thrones universe, the Starks were all about family. They spent a large portion of eight seasons fighting to fond their way back to one another. Family power and family dynamics were often on display when the Starks got to share the screen together. Netflix’s The Crown is also all about family and power dynamics, although they follow a much more realistic family, that being the House of Windsor, and the trials and tribulations of the real-life British royal family.
5 His Dark Materials
The new HBO fantasy series just aired its Season 1 on December 23. The show is not only based on critically acclaimed fantasy books (like its Stark starring predecessor), but it also focuses on a family that is not always honest about how they are related to one another.
Jon Snow questions his parentage from episode one in Game of Thrones, well Lyra Belacqua also has questions about where she comes from, and the answers she receives are almost as earth-shattering as those finally obtained by Jon. Also, like the Stark direwolves, the universe of His Dark Materials is also populated by fantastic “animal” sidekicks.
4 The Witcher
If you’re looking for another fantasy option, The Witcher recently dropped its entire first season over on Netflix. Like Game of Thrones and His Dark Materials, The Witcher is based on a bestselling fantasy book series. For those searching for a particular Stark connection, let us recall Jon Snow and his moral center. If the boy knew how to lie, everyone’s life might have been much easier. Like Jon, the titular Witcher, Geralt, has his own code about who and what he will consider a monster and thus dispatch. Whether his code is right or wrong is up to readers and viewers to decide.
3 Star Wars Rebels
The Star Wars cartoon series predates the most recent film by a number of years, premiering on The Disney Channel back in 2014. Simply put, the show follows a small cell of rebel fighters after the rise of the Empire.
While he was part of a shorter and more successful rebellion, Ned Stark was also a rebel fighter who wanted to help end the rule of a vicious tyrant. Despite the supposed fall of the Jedi Order, lightsabers are present in the series, though rare (very much like the Valyrian steel swords so rare and important in the land of Westeros).
2 Band of Brothers
Unlike most of the Great Houses of Westeros, Starks have manned the wall and been members of the Night’s Watch for generations. Game of Thrones viewers get to watch as Jon Snow bonds and builds his own family among the other warriors sent to the Wall.
Band of Brothers is the very real story of what it was and can be like to form bonds with those you fight beside, in this case during World War II. Jon, like his uncle Benjen Stark before him, fights and suffers with all the rest who would protect a nation.
1 V Wars
Having to fight against your best friend? A “disease” that turns people into vicious creatures prepared to harm the world? Sound familiar? Ian Somerhalder may not be fighting White Walkers, but he’s certainly fighting creatures in the same vein. When he finds himself fighting against former friends, it can have GoT fans recalling Jon having to abandon Robb, or Ned being failed by former friend Robert. Friendship was hard to find in the north and even harder to maintain. V Wars finds its characters in very much the same place.
