Is The Shannara Chronicles A Game-Changer?

Based on the bestselling fantasy series by Terry Brooks, The Shannara Chronicles is unlike anything you’ve ever seen on MTV. Premiering January 5, 2016, the show follows the journey of three heroes, Elf-Human hybrid Wil, Elvin Princess Amberle, and Human Rover Eretria, as they begin their quest to stop an evil Demon army from destroying the world.

The series stars Austin Butler (The Carrie Diaries) as Wil Ohmsford, Poppy Drayton (When Call the Heart) as Amberle Elessedil, John Rhys-Davis (Lord of the Rings) as Eventine Elessedil, Manu Bennett (Spartacus) as Allanon, and Ivana Baquero (Pan’s Labyrinth) as Eretria.

If you’ve seen the trailers released at the San Diego and New York Comic Cons, you know MTV has set the bar high. “The visual effects on this show are nothing you’ve ever seen on television,” Executive Producer, Miles Millar, tells Pop Culturalist.com. “We wanted to push the boundaries of what is possible for visual effects on television.” From what we’ve seen, they’ve definitely accomplished that!

The highly anticipated fantasy series will support its out of this world visual effects with great storytelling. “Terry’s books are stories from start to end … they lend themselves to long-form storytelling,” says Al Gough, Executive Producer. Pilot Director, Jonathan Liebesman, adds, “What’s great about television is that the focus is always on the characters and the visual scope is second.”

The Shannara Chronicles finds MTV branching into the fantasy genre. Gough acknowledged that, “Other than Game of Thrones, there isn’t really any other show playing in the fantasy space,” and we couldn’t agree more. MTV has had great success branching into unfamiliar territory with the likes of Teen Wolf and we believe The Shannara Chronicles is the network’s next game-changer.