Epic books are nothing new, and epic movies are only slightly newer because cinema, as a medium, is more recent than literature. TV shows that satisfy as epics are newer still, with the rise of more cinematic and higher-budgeted television around the start of the 21st century being a significant factor in shows getting bigger.

There were also some TV shows made earlier that feel epic in other ways, even if the production values feel a little slimmer compared to the spectacle more modern shows offer. Also, epic is not being used as a stand-in for the word “good” or “great.” There are amazing shows that aren’t mentioned below, but those here, in one way or another, feel like epics in the conventional sense. They satisfy the traditional definition of the word “epic,” as in the epic genre.

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‘Boardwalk Empire’ (2010–2014)

Boardwalk Empire is a show that takes place during the Prohibition era and focuses on organized crime in Atlantic City during said era, but it branches out and touches upon some other things too. It’s a massive show in terms of its production value, which is sort of what HBO has become known for, so yes, there will be other HBO shows featured below. It’s all a bit inevitable with the topic at hand.

There’s also a huge number of characters in Boardwalk Empire, and it’s the historical setting and the immensity of that ensemble cast that makes it feel like more of an epic than something like The Sopranos, which is also a crime-related show with a fair few characters. The Sopranos is the better show for the record, but Boardwalk Empire just ticks more boxes if you’re looking for shows that feel like actual epics in the traditional sense.

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‘Deadwood’ (2004–2006)

While Deadwood is contained to one fairly small town (the titular one) for the most part, that town is shown growing and becoming more populated over the seasons, and numerous characters are balanced at once. There’s already a huge ensemble cast in the first season, and though a few people get killed off, characters are introduced at a faster rate than they’re written out.

In season 3, there might well be too many characters and narrative threads to keep track of. It got canceled before season 4 had a chance of bringing things together or concluding it all, but there was thankfully a 2019 movie that felt like a good send-off. Anyway, when Deadwood was at its best, it was great, and the recreation of a time and place – and having so many people living during that time in that place – proved more than enough to make it feel sufficiently epic.

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‘I, Claudius’ (1976)

It’s the oldest show here, which means there are some production-related limitations that need to be overlooked. However, they’re not as hard to overlook when the quality of the writing and acting is so strong. I, Claudius delivers on those fronts and then some. It feels like an epic because of how much time it covers, with the titular character recounting his entire life from when he was a small child until the very end.

That life was tumultuous since it was during the early Roman Empire. Claudius does end up Emperor but not before some other reigns are shown. It does what House of the Dragon did in its first season by being willing to jump forward any number of years between episodes but did that much better than House of the Dragon. If done today with more of a budget, I, Claudius might well have more spectacle, but for its time – and for what it does in terms of how it’s written – it’s nonetheless admirably epic.

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‘Rome’ (2005–2007)

The first season ofRome came out a year afterDeadwood, and can quite easily be viewed as an escalation in terms of production and ambition. Setting something in the 1870s and having it feel authentic is one thing butRome goes all the way back to the 1st century BC. So it fulfills that question of “What mightI, Claudius have looked like with HBO money?”

It’s not a perfect comparison becauseRome is about the end of the Roman Republic whileI Claudius, is all about the first few emperors of that latter period. If you want some chronology and to watch both shows it makes sense to watchRome, first even if it was made some decades later because there are a few things that line up and probably feel fitting (though not quite as many as there might’ve been hadRome, notsuffered the same fate asDeadwood, being canceled earlier than the creators had wanted).