Tudum 2022: A Global Fan Event was every Netflix fan’s dream come true—a good twenty-four hours of teasers, trailers, first looks, and sketches on the big hitters that will arrive on Netflix in the second half of the year and in 2023.
And none of those teasers, trailers, first looks and sketches launched me into a full-on fangirling episode like the segment dedicated to Shadow and Bone—whose Season 2 I want a normal amount, I say, vibrating at a frequency that could shatter glass. So let’s recap everything we learned from Tudum 2022, to be as prepared as we can be for our return to the Grishaverse.
Release window
So, first things first—we finally have a release window for this oh-so-sospired Season 2. After the announcement at Netflix’s Geeked Week in May that production had wrapped, the cast of Shadow and Bone revealed during Tudum 2022 that Season 2 is coming in 2023. We don’t know exactly when, but considering it was announced now September, we can theorize that it will be in the first months of the new year—just what we need to get us through winter.
New characters
Tudum 2022 also introduced us to the four new cast members joining the Grisha gang, playing four characters that fans of the Grishaverse book series—consisting of a trilogy and two duologies, all written by author Leigh Bardugo, on which the show is based—had been desperately wanting to see ever since the adaptation was announced. It’s me, I am fans.
On the Ravkan side of things, we’ll soon get the chance to meet lethally charming and equally lethally dangerous twins Tamar Kir-Bataar and Tonya Yul-Bataar, played by Anna Leong Brophy and Lewis Tan respectively, as well as Nikolai “One of the Most Beloved Grishaverse Characters Ever” Lantsov, played by Patrick Gibson. In Ketterdam, our favourite crows get a new addition to the team in the form of Wylan Hendricks, played by Jake Wolfe—whom we saw proudly display a chemistry set in his video introduction. With a sharpshooter, a knife fighter and a Heartrender on the team, an explosive expert is just what the gang missed.
Without revealing too much for non-book readers, let’s just say Tamar, Tolya, Nikolai, and Wylan all have a key role to play in the events that swirl through the world of the Grishaverse, from Kerch to the Fold— especially considering how the show has merged the books’ timelines, when in the books all the stories happen within a few years from each other. We’re definitely in for some unique and meaningful meetings with characters both new and old.
Back in action
And speaking of old characters, all the people we’ve come to know and love—and love to hate—are of course returning for Season 2. Starting with our very own Sun Summoner, Alina Starkov, played by Jessie Mei Li, and Ben Barnes’s Darkling—both actors actually joined their four new castmates during Tudum 2022 to present the new season and share a couple of jokes.
Then we’ll be sure to get some more of Mal Oretsev, Alina’s childhood best friend and clear love interest, played by Archie Renaux, as he and Alina travel through Ravka to escape the Darkling and his armies after she left the Little Palace. And of course, the Barrel in Ketterdam will get no respite as the gang of the Crows is back in full swing—with Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter), Inej Ghafa (Amita Suman), Jesper Lehey (Kit Young), Nina Zenik (Danielle Galligan) and Matthias Helvar (Calahan Skogman) probably starting to get on the track of the storyline they follow in the first book of their duology, Six of Crows.
A first look
The Tudum 2022 Shadow and Bone segment ended with the cast introducing us to the very first Season 2 sneak peek, packed with every possible thrill imaginable—kisses, daring escapes, smirks from princes, knives, guns, deep-voiced questions about sacrifice. Everything that makes a show enjoyable, I’d say.
So, what are you anticipating the most for the Season 2 of Shadow and Bone? Are you counting down the days until we get a proper trailer and a precise release date?
When does Shadow and Bone Season 2 release?
As we might have expected from what was revealed during Tudum 2022, the second season of Shadow and Bone is hitting Netflix on March 16th, 2023. The announcement came via the show’s official Instagram page, and it was accompanied by a whole new series of photos that had me clawing the walls hissing— to put it mildly.
We see our glorious Sun Summoner Alina Starkov, played by Jessie Mei Li, flexing her powers, for starters, which is always a very welcome sight. In another picture, she and Archie Renaux’s Mal are staring out at something from the bridge of a ship— hopefully, not Ben Barnes’ Darkling looking full of revenge while sporting two new scars on his face.
We also got a nice fill of our favourite Crows, starting from an almost ensemble shot of the five of them overlooking Ketterdam — I have to assume it’s Ketterdam, considering the fog that surrounds them — and then three more snaps capturing Kaz and Inej, played respectively by Freddie Carter and Amita Suman; Calahan Skogman’s Matthias busy in what is clearly an underground fighting ring; and Kit Young’s Jesper with newcomer Wylan, played by Jack Wolfe.
There’s also a picture of two more newcomers to this second season, twins Tamar Kir-Bataar and Tonya Yul-Bataar, played by Lewis Tan and Anna Leong Brophy. And then, of course, there’s him. Patrick Gibson’s Nikolai Lantsov in all his teal-coat glory. I can’t say anything more, though, because it would all come out as a screech that could rival the volcra in the Fold. So see you all in March.
(image: Netflix)
