Which epic fantasy show will emerge triumphant in 2022?

Shadow and Bone on Netflix

Shadow and Bone is the new kid on the fantasy block. Not only is the series literally new — the first season came out this year — but even the books it’s based on are pretty new. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo came out in 2012, meaning it isn’t even a decade old. Next to The Witcher or The Wheel of Time, that’s fresh, and we haven’t even gotten to the final entrant on this list…

And Shadow and Bone feels newer. It has some of the YA flavoring that didn’t really get going in fantasy until Harry Potter blew up in the late ’90s. Set in a fantasy world modeled on czarist Russia, Shadow and Bone follows Alina Starkov, a soldier in the Ravkan military who ends up having extraordinary powers. Quickly tossed into the world of court politics, she has to reckon with matters far beyond her ken.

The Netflix show spices things up by splicing in the story from Bardugo’s later book Six of Crows, a smart move that expands the cast and gives the proceedings more push and pull. Alongside The Witcher, this show gives Netflix a terrific one-two fantasy punch.

The second season of Shadow and Bone will be filming through next year, so it may be too much to hope that we’ll see season 2 before the end of 2022. It’s definitely in the mix, though, and could do some real damage if it continues to find an audience.