Shadow and Bone stars reveal what they want to see in season 2
Ben Barnes and Freddy Carter want to delve deeper into backstory, and also make some subtle changes to the book storylines.
Netflix fantasy series Shadow and Bone is officially coming back for a second season, with a return to Ravka and Ketterdam announced after the debut of the first series last year.
But what might fans expect from season two? While presumably based on author Leigh Bardugo’s second Grisha novel Siege and Storm (and spin-off Six of Crows), more specific details have been murky thus far.
Happily for viewers, though, series stars Freddy Carter and Ben Barnes have now dropped a few hints about what they’d like to see in the follow-up, specifically focusing on their characters Kaz Brekker and the Darkling (AKA General Kirigan) as they move forward into new storylines.
“First things first, I want to go backwards,” Carter told the crowd at an MCM London Comic-Con panel.
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“I think I really want to show Kaz's backstory, which is sad for me because I'll probably be a little old to do it. But I think that would be pretty cool. I think it's quite important for the show. I'd love to see that to go back and see where Kaz Brekker came from.”
“Yeah, that's one of my favourite parts from the book actually,” Barnes agreed. “Kaz's backstory is kind of wonderfully painful.”
Barnes, meanwhile, said he was hoping the series was able to make a shift from Bardugo’s novels for season two, bringing his character out of the shadows (no pun intended) compared to his on-page counterpart.
“For me, I think, in the books, the Darkling character becomes a little bit a little bit conceptual, he appears in Alina's dreams a lot,” he explained. “And he's perceived as a sort of threat of danger rather than an actual human being in terms of the character in the story.
“I’m excited to see how they can make him a human being and see what his agenda is.”
Specifically, Barnes said he was keen to see how the relationship would develop between the Darkling and his nemesis Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li), the series’ protagonist who turned against her former leader after the depths of his villainy was revealed.
“I'm also intrigued by the relationship with Alina,” Barnes said. “So I want to see how kind of conflicted that that relationship can become.
“Because I think after episode five in the first season, she no longer trusts him. So their chemistry is kind of diluted, and I would be very interested to see if they can turn the fire back up a bit.”
Currently, there’s no word on when Shadow and Bone season two will begin filming, so these questions remain unanswered – but clearly even fans of the books will have some surprises when the series does return.
Additional reporting by Jo Berry.
Shadow and Bone season one is streaming on Netflix. For more, check out our dedicated Fantasy page or our full TV Guide.
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
