Shadow and Bone will lay siege (and storm) with season 2 renewal
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Netflix welcomed Shadow and Bone into the fold, and now the streaming giant wants to see more.
Season 2 of the sprawling fantasy series, based on Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse books, has officially been ordered at Netflix. The news dropped on Monday during Netflix's first Geeked Week event.
"I'm honored and thrilled to return to the Grishaverse and continue the stories of these endearing characters, particularly Milo," said showrunner Eric Heisserer, giving a special shoutout to the fan-favorite goat of season 1.
Set to reprise their roles for season 2 are Jessie Mei Li (Alina Starkov), Archie Renaux (Malyen Oretsev), Freddy Carter (Kaz Brekker), Amita Suman (Inej), Kit Young (Jesper Fahey), Ben Barnes (General Kirigan), Danielle Galligan (Nina Zenik), and Calahan Skogman (Matthias Helvar). Additional casting will be revealed at a later time.
"I've been writing in the Grishaverse for nearly 10 years now, so I'm thrilled we get to keep this adventure going," Bardugo said in a statement. "There are so many places we've barely gotten to visit and I can't wait to introduce our audience to more of the saints, soldiers, thugs, thieves, princes, and privateers who make this world so much fun to explore. It's going to be real magic to see our brilliant, talented cast expand."
Season 1, which premiered on the platform on April 23, adapted the events of Shadow and Bone, the first book in Bardugo's main trilogy, but also weaved in elements and characters from spin-off novel Six of Crows. This gives us some idea as to what season 2 might look like.
While these two books occurred at different moments in the Grishaverse timeline, the show's first eight episodes mashed both stories together to give a different kind of spin to the saga of Alina Starkov. A low-ranking mapmaker in the king of Ravka's First Army, Alina is revealed to be a Grisha, one of this world's magic users, during a dangerous trek across the Fold, a large expanse of impenetrable darkness filled with vicious volcra creatures that has marred the country for hundreds of years. But she's not just any Grisha. She's the Sun Summoner, a foretold saint with the power to summon sunlight and, if the prophesies are correct, banish the Fold.
Characters from Six of Crows — like Kaz Brekker, a rising star in the criminal underworld in the city of Ketterdam, and his Crows gang — hear about the Sun Summoner on the other side of the Fold and are promised a hefty bounty if they kidnap her.
COURTESY OF NETFLIX Jessie Mei Li's Alina Starkov in 'Shadow and Bone.'
Without spoiling too much from the finale, season 1's ending nicely sets up a second season to tackle the events of Siege and Storm, the second novel in the Shadow and Bone main trilogy, as well as the main events of Six of Crows.
Heisserer had previously said he originally pitched a three-season idea to Netflix. He teased to EW, "I have stacks of material [for season 2]. I don't know if they'll ever see the light of day. We have a lot of big, grand plans. But one step at a time. Let's just see if season 1 lands the way we hope it does."
Spoiler alert, it landed. According to Nielsen, Netflix subscribers collectively watched just shy of 1.19 billion minutes of Shadow and Bone's first season from April 26 to May 2, landing it the top spot in Nielsen rankings for that week. According to Netflix, which tracks viewer streaming data differently, 55 million member households chose to watch the series in its first 28 days on the platform. The show was also said to have cracked Netflix's Top 10 most-watched lists in 93 countries around the world, and the No. 1 spots in 79 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Germany, Russia, Spain, South Africa, and the U.S.
The season 2 renewal comes as the show's executive producer Shawn Levy gets a new multi-year deal with Netflix through his 21 Laps banner that includes a first-look deal for features and an extension on his current television overall deal.
"My 21 Laps colleagues and I are thrilled that audiences around the world can continue to explore the Grishaverse and revel in the epic, unique storytelling of Shadow and Bone," Levy said. "The fun of our jobs as producers is the collaboration with creative partners who inspire us. Leigh Bardugo and Eric Heisserer are two such partners; together they have created a world and pantheon of characters that fans all over the globe have embraced. We can't wait to take viewers on the wild ride that comes next…"
Related content:
