if you’ve been on book twitter any time in the past three days, you’d probably know that the Shadow and Bone cast announcement was just made.
people have been talking about it nonstop (uhh including me). AADSJFJFJDSF i just can’t believe they’re finally shooting the show!!!
basically, netflix and a team which includes people who’ve worked on Stranger Things, Arrival, etc are adapted Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy & Six of Crows duology, combining them into eight delicious episodes of a first season! all i gotta say is that the soundtrack better slap.
i personally haven’t been following updates in casting for the show that closely so far, but this was definitely a wake up call for me. it didn’t even really hit me that the grishaverse was so close to becoming a TV show until this announcement. Six of Crows & Crooked Kingdom will be my FOREVER FAVES always, but i’m also excited to see what the production team does with the Grisha Trilogy in their adaptation.
here is an article from Book Riot that includes some more details about the cast announcement!
jessie mei li as alina starkov.
starting off with the half-asian icon herself! i’m pretty sure the decision was made by the production team to make alina half-shu, and i am so happy about this because it means we get to see a half-asian actress in a major role! i am sure you guys have heard me talk before about how much i love seeing biracial and multiracial characters represented in film/books.
jessie is gorgeous, and i have high hopes for what she’s gonna do with alina’s character. (tbh half-shu alina in the books would have been sooo great.)
ben barnes as the darkling/general kirigan.
ok so everyone has been freaking out about ben barnes for the past couple days because of his role as Prince Caspian and the fact that leigh once fancasted him on tumblr as the darkling. if i’m being honest, he doesn’t stand out to me that much, but to each their own, i guess. maybe it’s also the fact that i don’t really care for the darkling as a character. *shrugs*
the name “general kirigan” might sound unfamiliar, but what leigh said is that the darkling goes by many names…mysterious.
i am more interested overall though in the casting of the women in the show!! and the dregs!! so!! moving on!!
archie renaux as mal oretsev.
i haven’t seen anyone talking about this casting decision, and unfortunately, i don’t have many thoughts myself about it. like the darkling, mal is not my favorite character (i thought he was manipulative and a douche), but it will be exciting nonetheless to see how he is portrayed in the show.
do you all have any thoughts about this casting decision? i’d love to know, as i haven’t completely formed an opinion yet myself.
freddy carter as kaz brekker.
i was sooo scared about who was going to be casted as kaz because i truly think that this could’ve gone wrong in so many ways. kaz is a very particular character in my mind (who also has a super specific look), but i’m happy to say that i’m satisfied with this casting choice.
personally, i was rooting for a half-asian kaz, and i have been (very quietly ) for a couple years now. it would’ve been so cool to see a hapa actor in that role and such a power move to have 2 half-asian actors in the show! bUT i do think freddy carter has some very kaz-like characteristics that will work well for the role. PLS JUST GET THE HAIRCUT RIGHT OK IT’S NOT THAT HARD.
the day the casting came out, i watched this video on twitter and was sOLD. i was like,,, “that’s kaz.” the facial expressions y’all!! at that point, i reallyyy decided that i was excited for the show. watch the video. please.
just look at his face in the promotional photo. u can’t tell me that’s not kaz.
some tweets that stood out to me about kaz’s casting:
amita suman as inej ghafa.
YES.
that’s it. that’s my conclusion. SOUTH ASIAN REPRESENTATION YES. very, very excited to see a brown girl represented on screen. inej is possibly my favorite out of the crows, so i had incredibly high hopes for this casting– hopes that were fulfilled!!
amita also posted some pictures from stunt-training on her instagram story, and it just made me so happy that these books are being adapted. i cannot believe how close we are to this show.
kit young as jesper fahey.
this is the casting choice i take the most issue with. jesper is described in the book as having dark skin, and i believe it is so important to the story to keep this representation accurate. it feels to me like the blatant white-washing of a character. while i do recognize that biracial people can look many different ways, this definitely includes having dark skin!!! not all biracial people have light skin!!
nonetheless, i’m still willing to see how kit young portrays the character and then maybe reconsider my verdict, but i am disappointed that another actor more consistent with the character description was not cast. i understand that casting choices are definitely not based completely on looks, but this feels like an odd & uncomfy choice to me.
so my conclusion is that i only care about my beautiful baby dregs and jessie mei li, my new fave. mal & the darkling? meh, not so much, but i’ll watch the show anyway JUST for the dregs alone.
next question: who was cast for nina, wylan, and matthias? ooo and nikolai? i heard some unofficial news that Danielle Galligan was cast as Nina and Daisy Head will be playing Genya Safin, but other than that, i have no clue! but it is kinda fun to be following this news as it comes out!
what were your reactions to the shadow and bone casting choices? anyone you’re particularly excited to see on screen?
-madeline
I think we all collectively freaked out when we got Ben Barnes, because it’s just been so long!! xD But yeah, I’m excited for Jessie too, she’s p e r f e c t. I never paid attention on characters description but she’s exactly how I imagined Alina looks like! Freddy and Amita is also perfect as Kaz and Inej! I imagined Kaz looking like Cillian Murphy and Freddy seemed pretty close to me!