As far as Netflix goes, the streaming service arguably rose to fame following the success of several of its original shows. These include Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why, Orange is the New Black, and The Crown. Since then, the company has continuously provided new streaming content that everyone can enjoy episode after episode.
Netflix also introduced audiences to Fate: The Winx Saga, a series that centers on teens attending a boarding school for fairies. Adapted from an animated series that aired on Nickelodeon a decade earlier, the show focuses on magic, female friendship, and a search for identity. A lot of its themes can be found in other movies and TV series.
Nancy Drew (2019-)
Available to stream on HBO Max
If the idea of a group of young people solving fantastical mysteries is part of the appeal for the audience, Nancy Drew is a good companion series. The characters are a little older than the Alfea students, and their world is full of ghost stories rather than fairies.
Inspired by the Carolyn Keene novels named for the girl detective, the show takes place in a small seaside town in Maine. Friendship is forged between coworkers who are all suspects in a murder while Nancy uncovers secrets about her past, not unlike Bloom searching for secrets about her own.
RWBY (2012-)
Available to stream on Rooster Teeth
At first glance, the animated RWBY from Rooster Teeth might not seem like it has much in common with The Winx Saga. It does, however, center on a group of young women with extraordinary gifts who don’t always get along, and who each have their own secrets.
Over time, the show expands to include other teams as well, but Team RWBY remains the focus. Just as the fairies and specialists of Winx train to use their abilities offensively, those with Semblances in RWBY fight to protect their world from dangerous monsters. Both shows also develop their own interesting mythologies that are somewhat inspired by fairies or fairy tales.
Vampire Academy (2022-)
Available to stream on Peacock
When The Winx Saga’s second season premiered, Vampire Academy began streaming its first episodes as well. Though the two have very different characters, they have an awful lot in common.
Their boarding schools and provinces are divided among those with elemental powers and those who work to protect them. The difference is that in Vampire Academy, those people are vampires or have at least one vampire parent, while The Winx Saga characters are fairies. Both series involve the young characters unraveling mysteries about old magic no one talks about anymore, and both feature storylines involving royalty in their societies. They each put a different spin on very similar ideas.
Motherland: Fort Salem (2020-2022)
Available to stream on Hulu
Female bonding and magical soldiers are the name of the game in Motherland: Fort Salem. That’s because this series doesn’t take place in a fairy boarding school, but a dystopian society in which witches are drafted to fight for their government.
The relationships between the women at the center of the show, much like Winx, are what make the stories compelling beyond the magic and the mythology building.
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008)
Available to stream on Netflix
Like Winx, there is a definite focus on how the different elemental gifts make people different in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Unlike Winx, however, the Avatar can actually utilize all elemental gifts, which does make for an interesting contrast.
Though the characters in The Last Airbender are much younger than the Winx characters, they all have the same central goal: to save the world from someone whose power could destroy it. Each show boils down to a group of kids working together, inspiring confidence in adults, and saving the day. Netflix also has a live action version of the show on the way.
Bewitched (2005)
Available to stream on STARZ
This 2005 movie is based on a popular tv series. This time, Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman takes on the iconic role of Isabel Bigelow/Samantha which Elizabeth Montgomery had portrayed throughout eight seasons. Meanwhile, her love interest, Jack Wyatt/Darrin, is portrayed by comedian Will Ferrell.
Meanwhile, Shirley MacLaine plays Iris Smythson/Endora, who had been Samantha’s mother in the tv show. Despite some of the movie’s plot differences from the series, Bewitched can still be amusing to watch. Interestingly, Kidman’s costumes in the film are also comparable to Montgomery’s most iconic outfits as Samantha.
The Good Witch (2015-2021)
The Good Witch is a Hallmark show that started out as a series of movies, which readily showed off Cassie Nightingale’s (Catherine Bell) magical abilities. The series essentially follows Cassie’s life following the death of her husband, Jake Russell.
On the show, Cassie and her now-grown-up daughter Grace (Bailee Madison) attract the attention of new neighbors - Dr. Sam Radford (James Denton) and his son, Nick (Rhys Matthew Bond) – who move in right next to the Grey House. Needless to say, Dr. Radford and Cassie eventually fall for each other become Middleton’s newest ‘it’ couple.
Practical Magic (1998)
It has been over two decades since Practical Magic was released in 1998. Since then, the movie’s two lead stars, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman have become among Hollywood’s biggest stars. In fact, both women have gone on to win Oscars and they’ve also been keen to pursue television and film projects onscreen and from behind the scenes.
In the movie, Kidman and Bullock star as witch sisters who are dealing with a curse that may stop them from ever finding true love. Practical Magic may not have gotten rave reviews from critics, but the movie achieved some following, nonetheless.
The Order (2019-2020)
In The Order, a university student named Jack Morton joins a secret society and discovers magic and monsters in the process. Granted, the show is a little darker than Fate: The Winx Saga. Nonetheless, it deals with similar themes and of course, witchcraft. Unfortunately, Netflix decided to cancel the series after two seasons.
According to the show’s creator, Dennis Heaton, things could have taken a darker turn had The Order been renewed. He tweeted, “Jack was totally going to raise Alyssa from the dead, but she was going to come back wrong. Like, Pet Sematary wrong.”
Percy Jackson Movies (2010, 2013)
Available to stream on Disney Plus
Percy Jackson may be a demigod instead of a witch, but he certainly went through a similar phase in life as Bloom when she started attending Alfea. As fans may recall, Percy wasn’t aware of his abilities (or true identity) when he started attending Camp Half-Blood. He had to train, and he had to learn how to master them just like the fan favorite Winx Saga fairy.
After releasing two films, it seemed that Fox had forgotten all about its Percy Jackson franchise. Fortunately, news has emerged regarding plans for the franchise’s revival on Disney+. The series has the blessing of original book writer Rick Riordan as well.
The Magicians (2015-2020)
The Magicians is a Syfy fantasy show that revolves around a group of students that get recruited into mysterious Brakebills University where they make the frightening discovery that magic is real. Based on a series of novels of the same name by Lev Grossman, the series starts just as a graduate student named Quentin Coldwater arrives at the school which regularly train magicians.
And just like Bloom, Quentin also quickly makes some new friends, and together, they discover the most amazing (and dangerous) things in the magic world. The series splits its time between a fantasy world and the world where the main characters reside, and Quentin and his friends save both worlds more than once.
Fantastic Beasts Movies (2016, 2018, 2022)
The Fantastic Beasts are essentially a prequel to the highly successful Harry Potter movies, although its first two films were only released in recent years and its third in 2022. These movies delve further into the world that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling had magnificently created.
However, it is set around 65 years prior to the events of Harry Potter and the central character is a creature-loving wizard named Newt Scamander. In the franchise’s second film, fans would also come across a younger version of Professor Albus Dumbledore.
Legacies (2018-2022)
This CW drama is the latest spinoff of popular teen dramas The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. This time around, fans discover other young Mystic Falls residents who also possess supernatural abilities.
These include Klaus Mikaelson’s daughter, Hope, and Alaric Saltzman’s twin daughters, Josie and Lizzie. And as fans of the whole Vampire Diaries universe may expect, these girls had been attending The Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted.
Harry Potter Movies (2001-2011)
Perhaps, it’s no surprise that the Harry Potter films would be on this list. After all, Fate: The Winx Saga did make a reference to Harry Potter early on in the series. For anyone who hasn’t watched these movies yet, there are eight of them, starting with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which sees Harry begin his time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry shortly after discovering that he is a wizard.
Soon enough, the movie also introduces the audience to Harry’s friends for life, Ron and Hermione. The trio spend each movie solving mysteries, saving people’s lives, and fighting one of the greatest evils in the wizarding world.
Charmed Reboot (2018-2022)
CW made the decision to revive the Charmed universe in 2018 with a completely new cast that included Melonie Diaz, Sarah Jeffery, and Madeleine Mantock. Just like the older show (which featured Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano, Rose McGowan, and Shannen Doherty), these women also play three sisters who only discover that they are witches upon their mother’s death.
Also like the original series, the Power of Three found itself compromised when one of the main actresses left the series, creating a curveball for the show.
