Netflix is raising the stakes with Shadow and Bone Season 2. General Kirigan (Ben Barnes), better known as The Darkling, looms large over Ravka as his power has grown immensely since his forces fell at the hands of the sun summoner Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) and company. Now, Netflix released the trailer for the upcoming season showing his return in full, and it spells certain destruction for the country unless Alina can bolster her powers. The footage sees her venturing out to find new sources of strength to oppose the Darkling while also teasing a dangerous new mission for the Crows.
While the previous teaser gave a brief glimpse of The Darkling's shadowy new friends, the trailer gives the full scale of his impervious army of darkness. It all kicks off with a wave of shadow sweeping over the land with Kirigan as the tip of the spear. The widespread devastation forces Alina's hand to protect Ravka from further chaos, though her powers are no match in their current state. With the help of some new allies, namely Patrick Gibson's suave privateer prince Nikolai Lantsov, Alina and Mal (Archie Renaux) seek the power of the remaining amplifiers to bring Alina up to Kirigan's level. It's a dangerous journey though as their soaring trips through the skies and seas are interrupted by shadowy demons and other opposing forces. The task of stopping Kirigan demands sacrifice from Alina, however, and a voice ominously warns that with magic, "you will not know what price it demands until it is too late."
The emphasis is mostly on Alina's story, but Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter) and the Crows are plunged into a nightmare all their own. The group of criminals gets plenty of action shots interspersed in the trailer with Jesper (Kit Young) getting to show off his sharpshooting. Their attention is turned toward rescuing Matthias (Calahan Skogman) after his imprisonment at the end of Season 1, though they, too, wind up facing down the shadowy hoard among other threats. At the end of it all, their latest job will place them on a collision course with the Sun Summoner herself.
Shadow and Bone Season 2 Aims to Greatly Expand the Scale of the Series
Season 2 is shaping up as a massive expansion to the on-screen Grishaverse with Eric Heisserer adapting another pair of Leigh Bardugo's YA novels - Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising. The new characters are a particular draw though. Gibson got to shine as Nikolai in the trailer, proving to be daring, dashing, and fierce in equal measures, but there are a number of fan favorites from the books that will arrive including Tolya (Lewis Tan), Tamar (Anna Leong Brophy), and Wylan (Jack Wolfe). Returning cast members like Amita Suman, Danielle Galligan, Sujaya Dasgupta, Daisy Head, and Luke Pasqualino are also expected to get more screen time in the upcoming season.
It's that expansion, both in terms of new and existing characters, that excites Renaux most with Season 2. During a previous interview with Collider regarding The Greatest Beer Run Ever, he teased
"I think what's gonna make Season 2 so great is we're building on the characters, but also introducing some great new characters. We've got Lewis Tan who's in Mortal Kombat … so, yeah, he's good. And then [Patrick] Gibson who's in The OA, and he's brilliant as Prince Nikolai. It's just gonna continue to grow and develop. I don't want to give too much away. I'm gonna get myself in trouble. But I’ll just say, it's gonna be good."
There's officially less than a month left until Shadow and Bone returns to Netflix on March 16. Check out the new trailer below.