Shadow and Bone Season 2 will premiere next month, which means we are getting tons of new info and first looks to get fans excited for the new season. Not only do we have a release date, but there's a teaser and full-length trailer previewing what the next chapter will look like for the Netflix Grishaverse, and spoiler alert: it looks terrifying.
Shadow and Bone Season 1 blended the first book in Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse fantasy trilogy, Shadow and Bone, with the introduction of characters from the Six of Crows duology. While the first season focused mainly on Alina (Jessie Mei Li) discovering her light powers and going toe-to-toe with The Darkling (Ben Barnes), it also gave us backstory about the Six of Crows gang, including Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter), Jesper Fahey (Kit Young), and Inej Ghafa (Amita Suman), and embedded them in Alina's journey (in the book world, the Six of Crows books take place after the events of the Shadow and Bone trilogy).
In the season finale, the Crows parted ways with Alina and made their way back to the gambling capital of Ketterdam, where fate put them in the path of a Grisha — someone skilled in "the small science," which seems a lot like magic but isn't — named Nina (Danielle Galligan), who needs help with a Grisha hunter, Matthias (Calahan Skogman), whom she accidentally got arrested for human trafficking.
Shadow and Bone Season 2 should continue a similar blend of both the original Grishaverse trilogy and stories from the Six of Crows sequels. TV Guide is keeping track of all the upcoming announcements about Shadow and Bone Season 2. Here's what we know so far.
The teaser trailer for Shadow & Bone Season 2, which premiered at TUDUM last fall, confirmed The Darkling was returning, but the full-length trailer revealed at IGN Fan Fest in February revealed he will be more terrifying than ever. The former general is determined to plunge the entire country of Ravka into darkness and get revenge against Alina, who dashed his dreams of being an eternal power couple when she refused to help him expand The Fold in Season 1. Now, The Darkling is aided by nichevo'ya, "an unkillable Army made of shadow," per Kaz Brekker, and it will be up to Alina, the Crows, and all of their friends to stop The Darkling from taking over their entire world.
Sounds horrifying, but there were some bright spots in the trailer. There's some great swashbuckling Nikolai (Patrick Gibson) action and a very quick peek at Wylan (Jack Wolfe) blowing some stuff up. The latter doesn't have any scenes with Jesper in the trailer, but our Wesper hearts are still optimistic that Season 2 will heal our longing on that front.
Shadow and Bone Season 2 release date
Drumroll please... Shadow and Bone is coming back Thursday, Mar. 16, 2023.
The Season 2 full-length trailer was revealed during the IGN Fan Fest on Feb. 17.
Shadow and Bone Season 2 first look
The first look at Shadow & Bone Season 2 was revealed during Netflix's TUDUM on Sept. 24. A teaser trailer revealed Nikolai (Patrick Gibson) in action amongst quick glimpses of all the major players -- Mal, Mathias, the Crows, and yes, The Darkling, who emerges from the shadows to ask, "Are you willing to sacrifice that which is most precious to you?"
Shadow and Bone Season 2 cast
Season 2 is adding four new cast members and promoting a few Season 1 favorites to series regulars. Here is the breakdown.
Jack Wolfe as Wylan Hendriks: Book readers will notice a bit of a name change here, but the name Wylan is too unique to be anyone other than the engineering wunderkind that Kaz employs in Six of Crows to help with demolition during an important heist job. Without giving too much away, he becomes a beloved member of the crew and has deep ties to the Ketterdam governing body. Kaboom!
Patrick Gibson as Nikolai Lantsov: Nikolai Lantsov is the prodigal son of the Ravkan kingdom. Uninterested in politics, he's convinced the royal family that he's traveling and going to school when instead he's developed far more interesting hobbies. He will play a pivotal role in Alina's uprising against The Darkling, but we would never spoil how these two cross paths.
Anna Leong Brophy as Tamar Kir-Bataar: Tamar is a Grisha who Alina meets in Season 2 and who will join on the journey in taking down The Darkling and trying to reunify Ravka.
Lewis Tan as Tolya Yul-Bataar: Tolya is Tamar's brother and is also a talented Grisha who will join Alina's cause. Tolya and Tamar often work in tandem over the course of the Shadow and Bone novels. You may recognize Tan from his starring role in Mortal Kombat.
Daisy Head, who plays the tailor (a Grisha who can manipulate someone's looks) Genya, has been promoted to series regular along with Danielle Galligan (Nina) and Calahan Skogman (Matthias). They will join returning Season 1 series regulars Jessie Mei Li, Ben Barnes, Archie Renaux (Mal), Freddy Carter, Kit Young, and Amita Suman in the new episodes.
If you need a refresher on what happened in Season 1, check out TV Guide's breakdown with the cast and executive producers. We go over all of the major events and what the series adaptation could mean going forward in the series.
Behind-the-scenes
Eric Heisserer and Daegan Fryklind are executive producers, writers, and co-showrunners for Season 2. Author Leigh Bardugo will again be an executive producer on the season as well.
Season 2 has already set the directors for all eight episodes: Bola Ogun (Episodes 1 & 2), Laura Belsey (Episodes 3 & 4), Karen Gaviola (Episodes 5 & 6), and Mairzee Almas (Episodes 7 & 8)
Where to watch Shadow and Bone
Shadow and Bone Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
