‘Shadow and Bone’ expands its universe
The darkness is coming in “Shadow and Bone” Season 2. Well, unless Alina Starkov can stop it.
The second installment of Netflix’s fantasy series arrives Thursday, and things are not going well for our heroes when things kick off.
Season 1 of “Shadow,” based on two book series by Leigh Bardugo, introduced audiences to the “Grishaverse”: a multicultural world of warring nations where some people known as Grisha are endowed with magical powers. Alina (Jessie Mei Lin) is a rare “sun summoner,” with the ability to conjure light and perhaps save her nation from a dangerous and mystical region of darkness known as the Shadow Fold. But that’s only if she can fend off the villainous General Kirigan (Ben Barnes) and ally with the Crows, a misfit gang of criminals who were paid to kidnap her.
The new episodes bring new characters that readers will be familiar with and new challenges for Alina, her best friend and crush Mal (Archie Renaux), as well as Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter) and his fellow Crows. Read on for everything you need to know about “Shadow” Season 2.
What happened in ‘Shadow and Bone’ Season 1?
In Season 1, Alina discovers her dormant powers and is swept off to the capital of her country, Ravka (a Russia-like nation), by the powerful General Kirigan to be trained to destroy the Shadow Fold, which splits Ravka in two. By the end of the season, Alina discovers Kirigan’s unsavory intentions for her powers. He tries to use the bones of a sacred stag to control her, but she takes their power for herself. After a confrontation in the Fold, Alina and her allies believe they’ve defeated Kirigan, also called the Darkling. But in the last moments of the finale, we see him emerge from the Fold, scarred and more powerful than ever, with an army of horrible monsters at his command.
Meanwhile, the Crows, led by Kaz, try to kidnap Alina for a ransom offered by a wealthy merchant in their home city of Ketterdam (a lot like Amsterdam) but end up helping her escape the Darkling. And powerful Grisha Nina (Danielle Galligan) is kidnapped by Grisha hunters known as Drüskelle. After a shipwreck, she and her jailer, Matthias (Calahan Skogman) are stranded and become unlikely lovers. When Matthias is in danger of being killed by other Grisha, Nina makes up a tall tale that gets Matthias arrested (and safely whisked away from the murderous Grisha) and sent to Ketterdam. She follows him there, but his trust in her is broken.
When Season 2 begins, Alina and Mal have fled to the country of Novyi Zem while Kaz, the Crows, Nina and Matthias are back in Ketterdam. But no one has escaped danger.
What is ‘Shadow and Bone’ Season 2 about?
On the run, Alina and Mal search for two more animals whose bones could amplify her powers: the Sea Whip and the Firebird. She believes she can take down the Shadow Fold. What they don’t know is that Kirigan is on their trail with his ungodly shadow monsters. In Ketterdam, Kaz and the Crows have lost standing in the city and must fight to get their territory and respect back from other gangs. They cross paths with Wylan (Jack Wolfe), a small but fierce demolitions expert, and Sturmhond (Patrick Gibson), a famous pirate with an outsized interest in Alina.
And of course, there’s plenty of time for romance to bubble between Mal and Alina along the way.
What books is ‘Shadow and Bone’ Season 2 based on?
“Shadow” creators Eric Heisserer and Daegan Fryklind told Entertainment Weekly in December that Season 2 will cover material from several of Bardugo’s books, including “Siege and Storm,” the second book in Alina’s story, and “Ruin and Rising,” the final chapter in that trilogy. There also will be material from “Six of Crows” and its sequel “Crooked Kingdom,” the volumes that center on Kaz, the Crows and Nina and Matthias.