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Last year brought many challenges for Christian fantasy fans. From flops at the theaters now threatened by streaming slop, to creators making more events for Christian storytelling, to the continued growth of biblical fiction as the top genre of Christian-made entertainment—let’s survey the top ten fantasy-related headlines from last year.

Episode sponsors

1. Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen
2. The Case of the Heart Stone by Tulli Cole
3. Above the Circle of Earth by E. Stephen Burnett

Mission update

• New at Lorehaven: many features over the holidays!
• We announced our new book quest in the Lorehaven Guild: Taliesin
• Onscreen: ‘Stranger Things’ Season Five Gives Weight to Parents’ Fears, A. D. Sheehan
• Onscreen: ‘David’ Creators Answer all Your Questions About the Animated Hit Movie, Josh Shepherd
• Engage: Alleged ‘Rock and Roll’ Soundtrack Incites Suspicion of Netflix’s Narnia Movie, newcomer Sierra Simopoulos
• Sierra Simopoulos also reviewed Sons of Day and Night
• My own article: Why Christians Need Fantastical Stories
• Subscribe free to get updates and join the Lorehaven Guild
• Stop by the homepage for many upgrades, especially the Library.
• Soon: discover the Guild’s new wing, the Lorehaven Authorship.

10. Superheroes failed to save ailing cinema

• Marvel movies, despite their strengths, all flopped at the box office.
• Personally I did like Fantastic Four: First Steps, but didn’t love it.
• Lorehaven folks were generally positive about some hero movies.
• ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Labors to Save a Struggling MCU, Marian A. Jacobs
• The Antiheroes of Thunderbolts* Preach to Marvel Itself, Daniel Whyte IV
• ‘Superman’ (2025) Will Make You Believe a Man Can Be Earnest, Josiah DeGraaf
• However, audiences were tepid; none of these films broke even.
• The greatest foe of superheroes? Flippancy. Next: lack of family.
• MCU reached its apex with creators who at least feigned sincerity.
• DC’s nobledark tone was winning fans, until the studio freaked out.

9. Disney’s ‘Snow White’ remake bombed

• Sticking with cinemas, this one might be the year’s greatest fail.
• ‘Snow White’ (2025) Isn’t the Fairest of Adaptations, Parker J. Cole
• I didn’t see it. Few people did. More people saw YouTube roasts.
• This whole nonsense was an ugly reflection of three terrible trends ruining films: “woke” checkboxes, cynicism, and corporate gloss.

8. Fans abandoned legacy sci-fi franchises

• Once a Doctor Who hero, Russell T. Davies has ruined that series.
• Star Trek is adrift, desperately trying to hail imaginary “new fans.”
• Of course, Star Wars keeps failing to please its own alienated fans.
• The greatest culprit here: Godless, sex-obsessed progressivism.
• One can’t correct from this without visibly rejecting “woke” politics.

7. K-Pop Demon Hunters owned the summer

• We haven’t had a genuine pop-culture movie phenomenon in ages.
• Then along comes this little giant animated movie on Netflix.
• ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ Pits Singing Heroines vs. Monster Idols, Marian A. Jacobs
• Kids sang catchy songs. Adults found deeper themes to explore.
• YouTube reactions and covers on Instagram/TikTok exploded.
• For the first time, Netflix had a true four-quadrant hit on its hands.
• And dear Lord, may they learn only the right lessons from this, and not turn this into another streaming slop like so much other stuff.

6. ‘Woke’ stories stepped back, yet persisted

• 251. Could a Cultural ‘Vibe Shift’ Advance Christian-Made Fiction?
• Due to political events we won’t detail, that agenda is on the wane.
• At least the Sexualityism religion is seen as stale and unstable.
• Many are still trying to figure out what, if any, ideas will replace it.
• A. D. Sheehan had to critique Brandon Sanderson, a late arrival to the “woke” content scene: Brandon Sanderson’s New Fantasy ‘Wind and Truth’ Summons a Postmodern Cringestorm.
• Oddly enough, we keep seeing Christian parents posting about the random books they find, after which they ask “Is it woke?”
• Pro tip: yeah, it’s probably woke, especially with a cover like that.
• By now we surely have enough Christian-made novels to help?

5. Corporate slop threatens human stories

• 274. Why Shouldn’t AI-Generated Content Replace Human Stories?
• This is partly about AI-generated slop, but not always.
• Skeptical fans now refer to anything bad with “this looks AI.”
• Why? Because the problem goes deeper than technology amok.
• Long before AI, corporate studios began relying on algorithms.
• I believe that’s when these stories began feeling less, well, human.
• 272. Can We Save Cinema from Sloppy Stories?
• Instead of human hunches, stories get greenlit by metallic minds.
• Reference: the short-lived run of Robert Zemekis mocap movies.
• At first people express curiosity, but eventually they get bored.
• Prediction: this too shall pass. We’ll see a lot of forced “firsts,” like “the first fully AI-generated movie.” They may even succeed. But the novelty will quickly wear off as it did before Mars Needs Moms.
• Still, Christian creators must dig deeper to defend organic human stories with philosophies deeper than “AI destroys the Earth.”

4. Conservative TV is trying more fantasy

• We greatly anticipate the DailyWire+ show The Pendragon Cycle.
• Based on Stephen Lawhead’s novels, seven episodes drop Jan. 22.
• Christian showrunner Jeremy Boreing actually stepped down from being Daily Wire co-CEO, it seems, to ensure finishing this series.
• Political hot takes scarcely outlast the day. Great stories last long.
• Alas, there’s the constantly controversial Magician’s Nephew movie
• Marketing for this is dreadful, with publicly floated nonsense about an actress playing Aslan or the movie featuring “rock and roll.”
• 257. By Aslan’s Mane, is Netflix Really Casting a Lady as the Lion?
• Meanwhile, platforms like Angel (run by LDS members, yet with freedom for Christians) released The Wingfeather Saga season 2.
• We also saw a new angel-heroes show, Gabriel and the Guardians.
• ‘Gabriel and the Guardians’ Echoes a Golden Era of Saturday Morning Cartoons, Jenneth Leed
• Alas, any sci-fi-ish efforts seem restricted to dystopian dramas.
• We need higher budgets and risks to widen those genre limits.

3. Realm Makers unites Christian creators

• 265. How Can We Shine the Gospel at the Realm Makers Expo?
• 266. How Do You Assemble a New Expo for Christian Fandoms? | with Scott Minor
• Last year’s conference in Grand Rapids marked an experiment.
• Can this organization blend creator training with a public expo?
• Results were mixed-positive, mainly because of the venue choice.
• For me, a debut sci-fi novelist, results may have skewed better.
• Yet our primary audience must be Christian fans and families.
• A semi-major downtown is difficult for these folks to access.
• Next year’s new venue in St. Louis looks much more promising!
• And it sounds like the public Expo will be easier for fans to access.
• For Christian fantasy to grow, we must unite over common interest.
• Yet this unity must be based on love for the true Jesus, our Author.

2. Biblical fiction is the top Christian genre

• There’s no contest. Amish and historical fiction is dethroned.
• Christian fantasy (mostly romantasy) remains confined to books.
• Amazon’s ‘House of David’ Anoints an Intriguing Biblical Epic, Michael Allen
• ‘House of David’ Is Crowned King of Amazon Prime, Jenneth Leed

1. Fantasy for teen/YA women continues to rule the Christian-made fantastical worlds

• This might well be the repeat headline from previous years.
• Facts are facts. Teen girls and women outread everyone else.
• When they like fantasy, they prefer female heroes/relationships.
• Romantasy is the queen. And her handmaiden is royal drama.
• 249. What is ‘Romantasy’? | with Parker J. Cole
• And the new princess on the block? Time-travel romance, for sure.
• 263. What is Time-Travel Romance? | Every Hour Until Then with Gabrielle Meyer
• These books get the most attention on Instagram and elsewhere.
• Is it true that “men don’t read”? Not necessarily. Men do read.
• But they tend to read nonfiction about culture, theology, history.
• And for fantastical fiction, these readers have unique expectations.
• Christians here favor proven legacies, especially Lewis/Tolkien.
• One can’t complain about the reality. Instead, meet the standard.
• Frankly, that’s my hope for Above the Circle of Earth and beyond.
• Of course I support teen/YA female-focused fantasy stories!
• Yet that’s not my genre; it doesn’t help me, personally, grow in joy.
• Surely there are more readers who favor other kinds of stories, maybe deeper, maybe in underdog genres like sci-fi and horror.
• Christians must expect a true joyous sci-fi future under King Jesus.
• And we uniquely understand supernatural realities/horror today.
• But making new stories isn’t enough. We must cultivate readers.
• That’s our mission at Lorehaven with our new mission statement: Escape bad books. Find the best Christian fantasy and sci-fi!
• Watch this space for more about bad books, reader cultivation, and new resolutions to avoid scroll traps and level up your imagination.

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Top question for listeners

• What was your top fantasy story or least-liked story in 2025?

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