"Shadow and Bone" series in the works from Netflix

[Silvermoon]

I searched to see if there was a thread for this yet, didn't see one so figured I'd start one (and mods, if I happened to miss it, feel free to merge/get rid of mine if needed). I know there are at least a few other readers of these novels here so....


It was announced a while back that Netflix would adapt author Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse novels (the "Shadow and Bone" trilogy as well as the "Six of Crows" currently a duology - though I believe a 3rd has been announced) into a series that interweaves both storylines.

Book Synopsis for Shadow and Bone series:

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee. Alina Starkov has never been good at anything.

Book Synopsis for Six of Crows:

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

Back in October some of the principle cast was announced with...

• Ben Barnes: The Darkling/General Kirigan
• Freddy Carter: Kaz Brekker
• Jessie Mei Li: Alina Starkov
• Archie Renaux: Malyen Oretsev
• Amita Suman: Inej
• Kit Young: Jesper Fahey

There's also:

• Sugaya Dasgupta: Zoya
• Aanielle Galligan: Nina Zenik
• Daisy Head: Genya Safin
• Simon Sears: Ivan

Then mid December some additional casting was announced:

Shadow and Bone Expands Its Cast for the Netflix Adaptation

• Zoë Wanamaker: Baghra
• Kevin Eldon: The Apparat
• Julian Kostov: Fedyor
• Luke Pasqualino: David
• Jasmine Blackborow: Marie
• Gabrielle Brooks: Nadia
• Calahan Skogman: Matthias

Production is currently underway in Budapest. There is not yet a release date, though Netflix does have a page up so you can add it to your notify me/have it added to your watchlist when it is released: Shadow and Bone | Netflix Official Site


Personally, the thing I'm kind of 'iffy' with is that they're doing both Shadow and Bone AND Six of Crows together in one season. I know the Shadow and Bone books are shorter in length and so maybe they can get through that storyline quicker, but... I don't know.

I am excited to see Ben Barnes as the Darkling though. That should be fun.

 

[Marvolo]

Everything We Learned About Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, From Ben Barnes’ Collider Interview

• Barnes read most of the Grishaverse series prior to filming.
• The series was shot in Budapest, which Barnes described as “czar punk, like steampunk but with a Russian element to it.”
• The series will not only mix together “five different books,” but also “characters from different timelines.” Previously, the show was revealed to be a “50/50” split between the Grisha Trilogy (Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising) and the Six of Crows Duology (Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.
• Barnes explained the reasoning behind mixing the books together: “The reason that books are mixed together is because Shadow and Bone is a little bit more YA feeling, skews a little bit younger, and is more straight up fantasy. It feels a bit like Harry Potter and Anna Karenina, mixed together. But then, Six of Crows is more of a heist things that’s more of a Peaky Blinders and Ocean’s 11 world. So, the tone sits somewhere in the middle, and I think that’s potentially quite exciting.”
• Barnes described the Darkling as “probably the most powerful character” he’s ever played: “The general is the commander of an army and he’s also ancient, in terms of age. There’s a power and a steadiness to him, which is different from a lot of the characters that I’ve played. Also, I like to find the opposite, so I look for the childlike qualities in someone who’s ancient or the vulnerabilities in someone who’s powerful.”
• Barnes substituted lines from the books ” a couple times” during the shoot when lines in the script weren’t working.

 

[Silvermoon]

Announcement Teaser released:



granted, not much, but seeing Morozova's Stag gives me chills

 

[Persona]

I am pretty intrigued by this. The cast, aside from Barnes, is mostly unknown but the crew is fairly high quality.

For readers of the books, do you think them combining two different series in one season is gonna be rough or do you see why they're doing that?

 

[Silvermoon]

I can kind of see why they're doing that, I'm trying to hold off on judging it though until I see it because it's all going to come down to how it ends up flowing as a series. It could either be brilliant/work amazingly, be just an okay telling of the two series merged together, or could be an absolute trainwreck.

One thing I'm kind of interested in is how the view of the series differs between me (a reader of the books) and my coworker who has not yet read the books (though she's had them on her "to read" pile for a while now). After showing her the announcement trailer (and she once again bemoaned that she hasn't gotten around to reading the series) I suggested that it might not be a bad idea to wait until after the series is released on Netflix before reading (so that she doesn't enter into the Netflix series with preconceived notions that fans of the books tend to fall into of how the story "should" be.)

 

[Persona]

Yeah, I think I will watch the series first.

I looked up the episode titles and they're pretty cool episode titles, haha.

The writer of ARRIVAL is the show-runner, which I thought was kind of interesting. Too bad he couldn't get Villeneuve to direct the pilot!

 

[Silvermoon]

Some new content today... Spoiler tags mainly for length/size

Character Posters from the official Shadow & Bones twitter

Spoiler: Alina Starkov

Spoiler: General Kirigan/The Darkling

Spoiler: Mal Oretsev

Spoiler: Jesper Fahey

Spoiler: Inej Ghafa/The Wraith

Spoiler: Kaz Brekker

 

[Silvermoon]

And also stills from Entertainment Weekly: 'Shadow and Bone' exclusive: 7 photos from new Netflix fantasy series

Spoiler: Entertainment Weekly Stills

The Darkling

Alina

Alina & Mal

Mal

Jesper, Inej & Kaz

Inej

Nina & Matthias

 

[Silvermoon]

 

[Silvermoon]

Trailer!!!!

 

[Silvermoon]

Listening to the IGNFanFest, it sounds like (unless I'm misunderstanding) season 1 - while doing the Grishaverse side with the Darkling and all that adaptation of those particular set of books - will touch on more "prequel" type material for the Six of Crows side of the storyline. Which that makes a LOT more sense than trying to merge the 2 series of books together - which is what a lot of us thought when early reports came out that they were doing both the Grisha series and Six of Crows merged together. Season 1 can have prequel material for SoC, and then (say) season 2 (and/or 3) can focus more on fully adapting the Six of Crows series of books.

 

[#root]

I’ve only read Six of Crows so I don’t know how accurate this is to the rest of the books but it looks good. I like the cast especially the main lead actress. Hope the writing does it service .

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I saw the trailer. The lead is very cute. I'll give it a try.

 

[Marvolo]

This looks a lot better than I expected.

 

[Sithborg]

It has my interest.

 

[ComicChick]

Listening to the IGNFanFest, it sounds like (unless I'm misunderstanding) season 1 - while doing the Grishaverse side with the Darkling and all that adaptation of those particular set of books - will touch on more "prequel" type material for the Six of Crows side of the storyline. Which that makes a LOT more sense than trying to merge the 2 series of books together - which is what a lot of us thought when early reports came out that they were doing both the Grisha series and Six of Crows merged together. Season 1 can have prequel material for SoC, and then (say) season 2 (and/or 3) can focus more on fully adapting the Six of Crows series of books.

i thought they might do something like this to set up future seasons, or delve into Book 2 when a certain character

Spoiler

Sturmhond

shows up. i could see those events paralleling with Book 1 of Six of Crows, then season 3 could be more of Crooked Kingdom/the last Shadow and Bone book

 

[Persona]

Really good trailer. I will watch this.

 

[Albright]

wow, this looks expensive

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

This is looking good, will give this a watch.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Ouuuh, sand boat ! Nice.
Good visuals and costumes, as others pointed out, it looks expensive.
The lead is a map maker ? Sign me in.

 

[BaelaTargaryen]

 

[ComicChick]

I almost want to re read these before it comes out

 

[Silvermoon]

I almost want to re read these before it comes out

I've been debating that too, I think I'm going to wait until after the series drops/I watch it to do a reread.... that way I can go into the Netflix series somewhat fresh/more inclined to view it as it's own thing (I won't have book details so recently read at the forefront of my mind while watching that I'll be constantly comparing "well they changed this")

 

[ComicChick]

That’s what I’m leaning towards to but I’m also dying for my copy of Rule of Wolves to arrive

 

[Silvermoon]

Well that goes to show how much the past several months have sucked for me, I totally spaced that Rule of Wolves was coming out soon

edit: i have now preordered my copy.... I'll still probably wait to do a re-read though, I have other books sitting in my "too read" pile that I can use to fill the time