Shadow And Bone Season 2: Release Date, Cast, And More For The Return Of Netflix's Fantasy Series

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"The Witcher," "The Sandman," "Warrior Nun" — Netflix has molded itself into one of the go-to spots for unique and captivating fantasy shows, even if the streamer doesn't always do right by them. (Yes, I'm still tetchy about "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance" being canceled.) That includes "Shadow and Bone," a series that wisely mixes and matches elements from different novels in author Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse, allowing it to better set itself apart from the many, many other YA fantasy properties out there about Chosen Ones saving the world from the forces of darkness.

Nearly two years after "Shadow and Bone" season 1 bowed on Netflix in April 2021 (read /Film's review here), the fantasy epic will return with its next batch of episodes. Naturally, the plot from the second entry in Bardugo's original novel trilogy, "Siege and Storm," will form the backbone of season 2, along with some additional elements from her "Six of Crows" duology. As with season 1, however, the show will be far from a beat-for-beat take on the stories in the author's source material, if only so as to keep all you Grishaverse readers out there (Grisha-heads?) on your toes.

Netflix has confirmed the entirety of "Shadow and Bone" season 2 will arrive on March 16, 2023. Like its predecessor, season 2 will have eight hour-long episodes, along with all the magical warfare, romantic drama, and law-breaking that fans have come to expect from the series. Between "Shadow and Bone" and the return of must-watch genre shows like "The Mandalorian" that same month (not to mention the next installment of "Yellowjackets"), March 2023 is shaping up to be quite the busy period for those who make it their mission to stay on top of all things streaming.

As for the odds of "Shadow and Bone" season 3 coming to pass? It's far too early to say with any certainty, least of all given the way Netflix has been axing shows left and right to offset its plummeting stocks in 2022. The streamer reported 55 million user households tuned in for season 1 when it previously renewed the series, but by now everyone knows better than to take the company's in-house metrics at face value. Still, unless the plan is to cause a riot by canceling "Shadow and Bone" with only one more mainline book to adapt, Netflix would do well to go ahead and start prepping that renewal press release.

In case you need your memory jogged: "Shadow and Bone" takes place in a fantastical war-torn universe populated by magic users known as Grisha. Among their ranks is one Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li), an orphan who, it turns out, is really the Sun Summoner, a legendary Grisha capable of destroying the Fold — the ancient, monster-populated shadow region dividing Alina's home nation of Ravka — by manipulating light. Opposing her is Alina's bad ex-boyfriend General Kirigan (Ben Barnes), who it turns out is actually the Darkling or Shadow Summoner, the powerful Grisha who created the Fold in the first place. (What is there to say? For an evil being who's hundreds of years old, he looks pretty darn good.)

Season 2 will kick off with Alina and her childhood friend/"maybe something more" Mal (Archie Renaux) on the run, unaware that Kirigan is still alive after his near-death in season 1 and hunting them with the aid of his newly-created Nichevo'ya (creatures from the Fold that can travel in daylight). Meanwhile, the show will pick back up with the lovable band of crooks known as the Crows (and, let's be real, arguably the best characters on the show) after their attempt to kidnap Alina went sideways. Left to answer to their not-so-kindly employer, the trio looks to gain some unexpected help from Nina (Danielle Galligan), the rogue Heartrender who just so happened to find her way onto the same boat as them at the end of season 1. Who says story conveniences are all bad?

Eric Heisserer, who developed "Shadow and Bone" for TV, and season 1 writer Daegan Fryklind are serving as co-showrunners on season 2, with Leigh Bardugo once again credited as an executive producer. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the author revealed she's staying "firmly" hands-off with season 2, stating that Heisserer and Fryklind have earned her trust after the way they successfully merged elements from her "Shadow and Bone" and "Six of Crows" novels last season. "And I think it's going to be very, very exciting for [the fans] to see the way that trust pays off in season 2," she added.

As for the cast, season 2 will once again star Jessie Mei Li (Alina Starkov), Ben Barnes (General Kirigan), Archie Renaux (Mal), and Danielle Galligan (Nina), as well as the Crows actors Freddy Carter (Kaz Brekker), Amita Suman (Inej Ghafa), and Kit Young (Jesper Fahey). Also back for more is Calahan Skogman as Nina's enemy-turned-love interest-turned-enemy once again Fjerdan Matthias (theirs is a complicated romance). Joining their ranks this season are Patrick Gibson ("The OA") as Nikolai Lantsov, a privateer who gives Alina and Mal a ride aboard his fleet of ships; Jack Wolfe ("The Witcher") as Wylan, an expert bomb-maker recruited by the Crows; and Lewis Tan ("Mortal Kombat") and Anna Leong Brophy ("Traces") as Tolya Yul-Bataar and Tamar Kir-Bataar, a pair of twin Heartrenders who work for Nikolai.