Netflix renews Shadow And Bone for season 2

Netflix decided to kick off their #GeekedWeek with a bang. This morning, they announced that their new fantasy show Shadow and Bone has been renewed for a season 2.

At this point, fans were kind of expecting it. The show has been incredibly successful: more than 55 million households streamed the series in the first 28 days since its release in April.

The official Shadow and Bone Twitter account posted a teaser featuring the show’s main cast announcing that some big news was coming:

Barely giving the fandom any time to prepare or recover, not 10 minutes later, Netflix Geeked began their live event with the Shadow and Bone season 2 announcement. Just like for season 1, we heard the news from actors like Jessie Mei Li (Alina Starkov), Kit Young (Jesper Fahey), Amita Suman (Inej Ghafa), Ben Barnes (General Kirigan), Freddy Carter (Kaz Brekker), Danielle Galligan (Nina Zenik), Calahan Skogman (Matthias Helvae) and Archie Renaux (Malyen Oretsev):

When will Shadow and Bone season 2 premiere?

Showrunner Eric Heisserer briefly broke his Twitter hiatus to congratulate the writers’ room and share the news with fans. He confirmed that Netflix had tasked them to write scripts for season 2 back in January, months before season 1 even came out, with the hope that the show would be well received. That’s common practice for big shows, but it’s no guarantee of actual renewal. But the show’s popularity did the trick this time.

Heisser implied in his tweet that the scripts for season 2 are finished. So when can we expect to see it?

It’s too early to say when season 2 will air. Even if the scripts are done, set preparation hasn’t started yet. And once that’s done, the show will take at the very least six months to film (that’s how long the main cast were on set for season 1), but I suspect it will be more. The necessary COVID-19 restrictions that need to be put in place will make everything more daunting and time-consuming, and second seasons tend to get higher budgets and more attention to detail than freshmen seasons.

A few things to look forward to in season 2

My guess is Shadow and Bone season 2 will not hit our screens until 2022. So while we patiently wait for news about production and filming, there are other matters we need to discuss: the casting for some important new characters that will be introduced in season 2. The production needs to tread lightly, because some of these are absolute fan-favorites: Prince Nikolai Lantsov, newcomer crow Wylan Van Eck, Heartrender twins Tamar and Tolya, privateer Sturmhond and young Kuwei (hopefully, if the show covers the events of Six of Crows).

In terms of plot, showrunner Heisserer had previously said his plan was to cover the events of the trilogy’s second book Siege and Storm and merge them with Six of Crows. We aren’t certain if that is still the case, but we can’t wait to find out. One thing is for sure: set against the backdrop of the Ravkan civil war, fans can expect a few more heists by the Crows. Will the writers somehow unite the Ice Court heist and the jurda parem storyline with Alina’s fight against the Darkling? I’m sure they could find a way to make it work.

Ready to get back to Ravka and Ketterdam? Can’t get enough of Shadow and Bone? If you haven’t already, you should delve deeper into the Grishaverse and read the novels that the show is based on, written by Leigh Bardugo. Start with the Shadow and Bone trilogy, continue with the Six of Crows duology, and then on to the final King of Scars duology.

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