Shadow and Bone, the Netflix TV show adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's best-selling fantasy novels, walks a fine line between honoring its source material and pulling together some outdated elements. It's a balancing act that other book-to-TV adaptations have struggled with. In the case of Shadow and Bone, however, it was imperative to review the important components of the story. It may be a fictional world where magic and monsters reside, but Shadow and Bone needed to better reflect our own diverse world, filled with people of different races, gender identities, and cultural backgrounds. Ahead of the series launch on April 23, TechRadar sat down with Bardugo and showrunner Eric Heisserer to discuss character diversity, fantasy TV show comparisons, and how the Marvel Cinematic Universe has influenced the action sequences of the series. series.
Achieve an inclusive fantasy world
(Image credit: Netflix) Based on Bardugo's Grisha trilogy and Six of Crows duology, Shadow and Bone tells two stories simultaneously in the same timeline. The first follows Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li), an orphan and cartographer who finds herself installed as the world's chosen savior. On a perilous journey through the Shadow Fold, a massive man-made wall of darkness dividing the world's largest continent and teeming with bloodthirsty beasts, Alina unleashes extraordinary power that could hold the key to liberating the kingdoms. of Ravka and Shu Han. . Heralded as the mythical Sun Summoner, a powerful Grisha warrior destined to destroy the Shadow Fold, Alina is taken away from her best friend Malyen (Archie Reynaux) to train under General Kirigan (Ben Barnes), a Grisha Shadow Summoner. Commander of Ravka's armies. Shadow and Bone charts a similar path to his self-titled book, which is the first entry in Bardugo's Grisha trilogy. But while Alina's story doesn't deviate too much from the novel, her cast of characters does, not from a personality perspective, but from a diversity one. “When Eric and I first sat down, the first thing I said to him was, 'Shadow and Bone is very straight and white,'” says Bardugo. “I echoed much of the fantasy that she had unconsciously grown up with. If you read the books, you will see that change. I began to reflect the world around me in a more authentic way. There's no reason our fantasy world shouldn't look like this, and that's what we wanted to see on the show. Key to this push for inclusivity was the casting of Mei Li as Alina. The character is portrayed as a white, blonde Ravkan citizen in the novels, but her ethnicity and background (Alina is half Shu and half Ravkan in the TV show) are modified in the Netflix adaptation to better reflect the world around us. “Jessie, being a Métis herself, has a lot of personal experiences that tie into the character we built for Alina,” adds Heisserer. “As part from Shu, Alina has this veil on from a young age because she looks like one of Ravka's enemies, but is fighting for her army. We wanted to focus on a heroine who had a hard time fitting in, who feeds into the central question of the show, which is, "Where do I belong?" "
Summon simultaneous scenarios
(Image credit: Netflix / David Appleby) While Bardugo's original trilogy, by his own admission, lacks diversity, his follow-up series, the Six of Crows duology, is more inclusive. Characters including Jesper Fahey (Kit Young) and Inej Ghafa (Amita Suman), members of the Dregs gang led by Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter) are representative of multiculturalism real and fantastic, and it is this trio that the season unfolds around. 1 of Shadow and Bone the second scenario is based on. After hearing about a large salary for completing a particular mission, the group moves forward to ensure they are selected for the mission. However, they soon realize that they might be in over their heads. Because? For they must leave the safety of Ketterdam, the island's main city of Kerch, and cross the fold of shadows to capture Alina and bring her back to her wealthy benefactor. Therefore, Shadow and Bone departs from the initial plot of the Six of Crows duology. The Netflix series tells their stories in parallel, but Six of Crows, the first book in the series, takes place after the events of the Grisha trilogy. In order to tell the two stories simultaneously, Heisserer and Bardugo collaborated on backstories for Kaz, Jesper, and Inej that would serve as a prequel to the duology and allow the Dregs to eventually cross paths with Alina on the TV show. Bardugo, however, says that such a proposal was not as intimidating as it might have initially seemed. “When we decided to put Six of Crows and Shadow and Bone together, it seemed very organic to us,” he says. “In the books, these stories end up on a collision course, so it doesn't sound contrived. We just had to play around with the timeline a bit. We wanted to give those other characters time and attention, which would make the world feel as inhabited as it is when you get to the duology. Shadow and Bone isn't the only Netflix production to have followed a multi-story format. The Witcher's live-action adaptation simultaneously told three stories in different timelines that, while initially confusing viewers, made sense when season 1 finale. So comparisons between the two series seem inevitable, but this is not a similarity that Heisserer is concerned about. “The comparison has always been the source material,” he says when asked about the show's correlations . “We had our plan and our roadmap, and we stuck to it. Nothing really appeals to me because it reminds me of something else, but more like something I've never seen before. "
It's a kind of magic
(Image credit: Netflix) Another way Shadow and Bone differs from The Witcher is the way it portrays magic. The Witcher's version is derived from the power of Chaos and is often referred to as 'the art' in Andrzej Sapkowski's novels. By contrast, Shadow and Bone, and the Grishaverse in general, approach the subject from a scientific perspective.
The Grisha, in the TV show and in the source material, are humans who practice little science, a process that allows them to manipulate matter at its basic level. This allows them to alter the composition of matter to control the elements, heal injuries, or, in the cases of Alina and General Kirigan, create light and shadow, respectively.
In the novels, such manipulation of the material is done through hand gestures. For the Netflix adaptation, the finger, a hand motion derived from a type of dance move, was used to showcase Grisha's unique ability. To authentically recreate such actions, the Shadow and Bone creative team watched a film that used gestures not dissimilar: the 2016 MCU film Doctor Strange.
“We have different orders from Grisha to activate different offensive powers,” Heisserer explains. “So we brought in a gesture specialist who had done a lot of work on Doctor Strange, and he came up with some inspiring ideas that we could use for our visual vocabulary. This, along with our choreographers and stunt coordinators, allowed us to bring a layered feel to many of the fights.
However, not all battles in the world of Bardugo pit Grisha against Grisha, so what fighting styles have been used for non-Small Science users to give them an advantage in any match other than Grisha against Grisha? ?
“For our people in Ketterdam, for example, our stunt leaders worked on what they had known as unarmed boxing, which you'll find in Amsterdam,” Heisserer explains. “It makes sure it looks and feels different, but also just as brutal. If you grow up as a fighter in a world of magic, you will have an advantage that isn't necessarily there. You know if you don't close the distance quickly, you'll be dead.
Grishaverse fans have been unequivocal in their excitement leading up to Shadow and Bone's arrival. Despite this apparent excitement, some fans may be unhappy with the changes to the plot, the aesthetics of the TV show's world, or the character choices. After all, fans of any book series will have a picture in their minds of how a fictional world appears. Having an actual visual representation of what something looks like in the Netflix adaptation, then, may not appeal to all fans.
For Bardugo, appeasing all the fans with the final look of Shadow and Bone is an impossible task. However, the Grishaverse creator believes that making the big decisions for the show early on has really helped bring his two romance series together, and he hopes fans will appreciate the amount of work that has gone into adapting and updating it. his original works.
“I didn't know exactly how we were going to do it,” admits Bardugo. “But once we got over a few hurdles, I knew we were in good hands. You can't write thinking about pleasing all the fans; I think this is the road to real mediocrity. I think scared artists make bad art, and instead we had a room of writers who felt empowered to make bold decisions. I think the show is much better for it.