Fantasy shows are a huge television genre now. In my mind, fantasy TV shows sort of went through a revival period when the HBO hit, Game of Thrones, came out and ended up being one of the biggest shows on TV. Now, more and more fantasy shows have been released and attracted fans from all over the world.
I’m talking about The Witcher, which is getting Season 3, The Wheel of Time, or even House of the Dragon, which is getting a Season 2 after its record-breaking first season. People love fantasy – which makes another season of Shadow and Bone even more highly anticipated.
After its successful first season, the drama is coming back, but when exactly will it drop? And who will star in it? What’s the story supposed to be? For all your questions about Shadow and Bone Season 2, here are five quick things that you should know.
Shadow And Bone Season 2 Will Release In 2023
While I know all of us wanted this season to be a part of the 2022 TV release schedule, Shadow and Bone will not be coming out this year. However, what we can be excited for is that it will be a part of the 2023 TV schedule. Confirmed by Deadline, the show is set to premiere on March 16, 2023, on Netflix.
It is a bit unfortunate that we have to wait for another season for so long, but this honestly lines up with a lot of fantasy dramas that we see now. The last season of Game of Thrones took two years to get out to the public. The third season of The Witcher will be released in summer 2023, according to Tudum, basically a year and half after the second season premiered. It’s quite usual for those behind fantasy series to take their time releasing seasons, because the worlds are so intricate and the effects need to be perfect, so I’ll wait – not happily, but I’ll wait.
Season 2 Will Also Have Eight Episodes
Like the first season, Shadow and Bone is confirmed to have eight episodes for its second season, according to Deadline. The streaming platform ordered eight, one-hour episodes, which was about how long the episodes were in the first season.
While I know that most of us would want as many episodes as possible, I think eight is a good amount with how much story could be told.
Season 2 Will Feature The Same Leads
Confirmed at Tudum, You can expect to see the same Shadow and Bone cast that we grew familiar with in Season 1. Jessi Mei Lei, who played lead character Alina Starkov, and Ben Barnes, who portrayed the Darkling/General Kirigan, are back and featured in the teaser shown down below.
Also confirmed to return is Kaz, played by Freddy Carter, Inej, played by Amita Susman, and Jesper, played by Kit Young, who were the group known as the Crows. Several other names that were confirmed to be returning were Danelle Galligan as Nina, and Calahan Skogman as Matthias.
There Will Also Be Several New Faces Added To The Cast
However, with any new season of a show, new characters tend to come around, and some stay for a while. Shadow and Bone will be hopping on that train with four new cast members to add into the Grishaverse.
Confirmed at Tudum, the new cast members are Patrick Gibson, Jack Wolfe, Anna Leong Brophy, and Lewis Tan, who will be playing Nikolai Lantsov, Wylan Hendricks, Tamar Kir-Bataar, and Tolya Yul-Bataar, respectively.
We already see a glimpse of these characters in action during the teaser, where we see Alina speaking to Nikolai, and Wylan with the Crows, so I’m super excited to see where they fit into the oncoming craziness of this world.
The stars have also appeared in a variety of movies and television shows. Gibson was in the cancelled-too-soon Netflix series, The OA, and The White Princess on Starz. Wolfe has appeared in The Witcher, Father Brown, Hetty Feather, and more. Leong-Brophy has had several appearances in shows like Last Tango in Halifax and Code 404. Lewis Tan was most recently in the 2021 Mortal Kombat film, and appeared in the TV series, Wu Assassins.
The Second Season Will Follow The Second Novel, And Have A New Original Story For The Crows
For those who don’t know, the first season followed many events from the first book, as well as moments from the Crows series of books that were combined into one big storyline for the whole Grishaverse.
According to Game Rant, Season 2 of the show will be much like the first, where it is expected to follow the second novel in the Shadow and Bone series, Siege and Storm, and feature an original storyline for the Crows. Later on, according to the Deadline article above, an official synopsis was released for Season 2.
In Season 2, Alina is effectively trying to figure out how to take down the Shadow Fold while on the run, but General Kirigan is back and looking to get revenge. Alina and Mal team up to find allies across the world to form their own army against General Kirigan’s, including creatures that could make her stronger. With the Crows, they constantly interact with enemies that could threaten their lives, but they soon end up colliding paths with Alina once again down the line.
If you forgot about what happened at the end of the first season, we saw Alina embrace her true powers and defeat Kirigan, but he later emerged from the Fold. While he has scars, he’s very much alive – and he's probably going to come directly for Alina.
What makes this tale even more captivating than other fantasy shows is that they’re combining the storylines of both the Shadow and Bone books and the Crows stories into one world, making it quite different from the novels. So Season 2 is surely going to bring in some interesting storylines that involve both parties and will have us hyped from beginning to end. Here’s hoping that several moments from the books are in Season 2.
Season 2 Has Wrapped Filming
While we don’t have a set premiere date just yet for Season 2 of Shadow and Bone, we can say that at least filming for the second season has wrapped!
In June 2022 in a message on the official Twitter page of the show, the cast of the series filmed a video for all fans to enjoy so that we could get ready for Season 2, celebrating the end of production and using three words to describe the upcoming episodes, as well as their characters, and other fun prompts.
From their answers, with words such as “heartbreak,” “love,” “badder,” and “epic,” used, I’m ready for this season to come already.
Watch The Teaser For Season 2 Of Shadow And Bone
At the Tudum event, a teaser for the show was released, which features both new and returning characters. If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check it out down below.
While we may know when the show is coming out now, I’m so impatient for the second season to get here. But, until then, I guess I’ll just have to settle with re-watching the first season over and over again. Can 2023 get here sooner?
