'Shadow and Bone' Season 2 Premiere Date Revealed

By Michael Hein

Shadow and Bone fans finally know when they can return to the Shadow Fold. The Netflix original series will return for its second season on Thursday, March 16 2023. The release date is the most exciting news fans have gotten in a year an a half.

Shadow and Bone premiered in April of 2021 and became a smash hit for Netflix, but updates on the next installment have been scarce. The show was officially renewed in June of 2021 shortly after the first season ended, but even its filming schedule was hard to track. Finally, in October of 2022 Netflix announced that Shadow and Bone Season 2 would premiere sometime in 2023. While that didn't narrow it down much, it certainly sparked fresh excitement in the franchise, and now fans can begin to prepare more precisely.

Shadow and Bone is an adaptation of fantasy novels by author Leigh Bardugo. It is set in a fantasy world referred to by fans as "the Grishaverse," where magic users called Grisha can manipulate certain elements or matter such as wind, fire, earth and so on. In the nation of Ravka, Grisha are conscripted into the army under the leadership of General Kirigan (Ben Barnes), the only known Grisha who can control the element of darkness itself, earning the nickname "the Darkling." The show centers around Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li), an orphan and a late-blooming Grisha who discovers the unique ability to control light, making her the "Sun Summoner."

Alina's story was told in Bardugo's series the Shadow and Bone trilogy, and Season 1 of the TV show covered the events of the first book. However, it also added in elements from another of Bardugo's series – the Six of Crows duology. This change makes it hard to predict what will come next in the TV show, especially as small changes tend to have larger and larger ripple effects as adaptations go on.

What we do know is that Season 2 will introduce a few new characters that are fan favorites in the books, including the highly-anticipated Wylan Hendriks. He will be played by Jack Wolfe, while Nikolai Lantsov will be played by Patrick Gibson. The other new additions are Lewis Tan as Tolya Yul-Bataar and Anna Leong Brophy as Tamar Kir Bataar, while Danielle Calligan and Calahan Skogman will move up from recurring to main cast members as Nina Zenik and Matthias Helvar, respectively.

Shadow and Bone Season 1 is streaming now on Netflix. Bardugo's books are available now in print, digital and audiobook formats. Shadow and Bone Season 2 premieres on Netflix on Thursday, March 16.

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