Shadow and Bone Boss Teases How the Six of Crows Characters Will Fit Into the Ravkan Civil War

Netflix is gearing up to bring the fantastical world of the Grishaverse to life in its new series Shadow and Bone, but there's one big question book fans can't stop asking. How exactly will Shadow and Bone's spinoff series, Six of Crows, factor in? When the show was first picked up, Netflix announced that the adaptation would portray the events of both book series, and they've cast all the major characters from the two separate stories. However, in the novels, the events of Six of Crows take place two years after the final book in the Shadow and Bone trilogy, which creates a bit of a timeline issue. 

Showrunner Eric Heisserer explained to TV Guide during a set visit in early 2020 how the two stories would come together. 

"It required building some story -- a prequel worth of story for some characters -- so that we don't break anything in Leigh Bardugo's timeline." said Heisserer. "It's interesting the way that Six of Crows is built in that you do get into backstories that are outside the current timeline. And so we touch on some of that for a few the characters and for others it's brand new."

A Six of Crows prequel? Um, yes please! As with most live-action adaptations, we're going to see some major changes from the source material, though Heisserer did make sure to mention how dedicated he is to preserving Leigh Bardugo's original vision. Most fans don't take kindly to deviations from the story they know and love, but there's one big change we think they'll make an exception for. While most of the characters from these two series never interacted in the books, Netflix's Shadow and Bone series will provide opportunities to let these two distinct stories collide.

Netflix's Shadow and Bone TV Series: Trailer, Cast, Release Date, and More

"The way they've done this show is they've made the Six of Crows characters fit in with the Shadow and Bone story with their own kind of prequel," said Sujaya Dasgupta, who plays Zoya, during the same visit. "But it's really clever how they've done it because you could almost read Shadow and Bone again and kind of nothing's changed even with the way that they've added in the characters. It's almost like you could think, 'Oh, but they were there at that time! Like maybe they were just behind that wall?' So it's really interesting the way they've managed to sort of sneak them in."

What's most exciting though is the potential for Six of Crows characters to interact with the heroes of Shadow and Bone. Heisserer was tight-lipped about whether the Six of Crows will eventually find themselves face to face with Alina (Jessie Mei Li) and her cohorts in Season 1, but it certainly sounds like the potential is there and could be as epic as fans have imagined since the cast was revealed.

"You think about -- is there a moment with a face-off between Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter) and the Darkling (Ben Barnes)? Do we have a f---ing Batman v Superman moment in this thing? And who's gonna walk away from that? I may know," he teased. "What would it be for Lina and Inej (Amita Suman) to meet? What it would mean for a woman who later names one of her knives after [Alina]? How does she get that knife? Why don't we talk about that?"

There's no shortage of hypothetical meet-ups we're absolutely dying to see, but we have to admit to being partial to the Darkling and Kaz option. Fans' heads might actually explode, but it would be totally worth it.

Shadow and Bone premieres Friday, April 23 on Netflix.

(Editor's Note: Lindsay MacDonald went on this set visit and wrote this article before departing TV Guide in November 2020. She is now a Netflix employee. The article has been edited for clarity.)