10 TV Shows That So Badly Wanted To Be Game Of Thrones
5. The Bastard Executioner
Another attempt to tap into the newfound vogue for getting medieval on everyone's asses, The Bastard Executioner was a story of vengeance, violence and, of course, political intrigue set in Wales in the aftermath of the 1294 rebellion against the English King Edward I.
Created for FX by Kurt Sutter, the man behind one of the network's biggest successes Sons Of Anarchy, The Bastard Executioner brought many of the cast and crew of Sutter's earlier hit (including his wife Katey Sagal) to a Game Of Thrones-style setting.
The series leant heavily on Sons Of Anarchy's themes of rebellion, betrayal and lots and lots of violence, but did so in service of a story about a Welsh knight who assumes the identity of a journeyman executioner to get his revenge on the people who ruined his life.
There's also some business with a ghost, because of the need to add a magical fantasy element even to a grittily violent historical drama.
Like most of the other entries on this list, The Bastard Executioner shares a cast member with the show it was trying to emulate. Surprisingly, for a series which bills itself as essentially "a bloodier, gorier Game Of Thrones", that cast member is Ed Sheeran, the scruffy ginger hitmaker getting in some practice for his role as a Lannister soldier by first playing a knight here.
Praised for its dark edge and brutal action, The Bastard Executioner nevertheless brought little more than the violence and gore from Game Of Thrones with none of the substance and story. It ran for one season in 2015 before being cancelled.