BWW News: Casting Announced For Leigh Bardugo's Upcoming Netflix Series SHADOW & BONE

One of 2020's most highly-anticipated Netflix premieres is Shadow & Bone, based on two New York Times best-selling book series set in Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse, Shadow & Bone and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. The first season will consist of eight episodes weaving together elements from the first book in each respective series, as well as some backstory.

This week, casting news was announced, and fans worldwide instantly started cheering the casting -- and have even already created fan art! Filming began this week, and more news surrounding the series will be released soon.

The series will star newcomers Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov and Kit Young as Jesper Fahey, Archie Reneaux as Mal Oretsev (Breaking in on the upcoming BBC One mini series Gold Digger), Ben Barnes as General Kirigan (The Chronicles of Narnia, Westworld), Freddy Carter as Kaz Brekker (Wonder Woman, Pennyworth), Amita Suman as Inej Ghafa (Doctor Who, The Outpost), and Kit Young as Jesper Fahey.

Sujaya Dasgupta as Zoya Nazyalensky (Press, Guilt), Danielle Galligan as Nina Zenik (Strangers in the Park, Game of Thrones), Daisy Head as Genya Safin (Underworld: Blood Wars, Fallen) , and Simon Sears (Ride Upon the Storm, Winter Brothers) as Ivan round out the list of casting announced so far.

Eric Heisserer (Bird Box, Arrival) serves as showrunner, with Lee Toland Krieger (The Vicious Kind, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) set to direct. Bardugo is also an executive producer of the series, as is 21 Laps, the studio that created Stranger Things.

Fans have been aflutter on social media hailing the casting, especially in choosing Ben Barnes to play General Kirigan, who will become the series villain, a favorite character from the series. There's already even fan art of him in the role, with one picture being "Liked" over a thousand times with almost 200 retweets at the time of this posting:

ABOUT SHADOW AND BONE:

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. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life-a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

ABOUT 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. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge
A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager
A runaway with a privileged past
A spy known as the Wraith
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction-if they don't kill each other first.