Netflix’s critically and commercially hit young adult fantasy series, Shadow and Bone is still cashing in on the success of its Season 1 release in 2021. The showrunners of the series, which has been adapted from the Israeli-American author Leigh Bardugo’s trilogy of the same name, are now reportedly working on expanding the arc and narrative of the Grishaverse. According to new reports, the creative team has already put in motion a story delving into the fan-favorite clan, the Crows, which will soon be proposed to Netflix as a spin-off series.
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Shadow and Bone Showrunner Reveals Plans For New Series
Given how the series has already woven the threads of the Crows (who were supposed to arrive much later) into Shadow and Bone, it is understandable why the showrunners would feel the need to broach newer territories as they move forward with the series.
The plot has already been progressing in leaps and bounds across the chapters of its literary counterpart. As such, the spin-off novel, Six of Crows, will find a much better and more in-depth representation on-screen with the now proposed Crows of Ketterdam spin-off series. Showrunner Eric Heisserer, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, has recently claimed:
“One of the reasons, not all of them, that I got the privilege of working with Daegan Fryklind as co-showrunner in Season 2 is that I was busy with the writers’ room for Six of Crows. We are ready to launch that as its own story. [The spin-off] would be its own little season of fun that our characters would get to be a part of.
There’s a lot of work that’s gone into the planning of this. The hope is then we get to act on that planning. But of course, it’s about how well Season 2 numbers do.”
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Although the spin-off has not been green-lit yet, Heisserer wishes to expand the two stories [Shadow and Bone and the yet untitled spin-off on the Crows of Ketterdam] in tandem, i.e. one’s plot developing and progressing parallel to the events taking place in the other.
In the meantime, Heisserer reveals that Shadow and Bone Season 2, which has already dropped on the streamer, delves deeper into the Grishaverse mythology – “We touch on a few others in Leigh [Bardugo]’s catalogs. I don’t think the fans are gonna see that one coming ‘cause it’s a pretty deep cut.” As is the rule, Shadow and Bone Season 2 taking off in numbers will then give Netflix enough cause to put capital into developing its subsequent spin-off.
How to Best Read the Grishaverse Novels in Order
Leigh Bardugo’s canon of work has been a phenomenon and a sensation since her first novel Shadow and Bone launched in 2012. In the decade since, she has published 12 books – the Shadow & Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, the King of Scars duology – which together constitute the Grishaverse, followed by a 4-book graphic novel and illustrated series navigating the world of magic and power in the Grishaverse. Her latest and first paranormal fantasy adult novel, The Ninth House, is a tale of “power, privilege, magic, and murder set among the secret societies of Yale University,” that takes place independent of the realm of the Darkling.
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The Grishaverse jets off with the story of Alina Starkov, an orphaned girl and a wielder of enormous power – a Sun Summoner – who is soon pulled into a realm of politics, romance, royalty, monsters, and deceit. Chronologically (and this is not the recommended order), the series is best approached as follows: Demon in the Wood, Language of Thorns, Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, Ruin and Rising, Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom, King of Scars, Rule of Wolves, The Lives of Saints, and The Severed Moon.
But to properly respect the Grishaverse and truly appreciate its expansive vision, in-depth lore, and unique mythology, it is best to read the novels in the order in which they were published.
Shadow and Bone Seasons 1 and 2 are currently streaming on Netflix.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
