Shadow and Bone season 2's new casting hints at which books will get adapted

Netflix and the stars of Shadow and Bone are officially heading back into the Grishaverse.

Season 2 of the fantasy drama, which adapts the acclaimed books by author Leigh Bardugo, has started filming with some new faces joining the cast.

Mortal Kombat's Lewis Tan, The Witcher's Jack Wolfe, The OA's Patrick Gibson, and Traces' Anna Leong Brophy are the first new additions announced for the next chapter of Shadow and Bone, and the characters they'll portray offer clues as to which books are being adapted in the continuing saga.

Season 1 had largely adapted the events of Shadow and Bone, the first of Bardugo's novels, while remixing elements from Six of Crows, part of a duology set in the Grishaverse that she published.

Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li), a low-ranking mapmaker in the king of Ravka's army, is revealed to be a Sun Summoner, a rare Grisha (slang for magic user) with the power to conjure sunlight. Not only that, but she's believed to be the one prophesied to bring about the end of The Fold, a vast, treacherous plot of land that has splintered the country ever since it was plunged into darkness long ago by a Shadow Summoner known as the Darkling/General Kirigan (Ben Barnes).

While the two books take place at different time periods, Bardugo, an executive producer on the show, remixed aspects from both so they lined up for the series adaptation. It seems the same strategy will be used for season 2.

Gibson will now bring to life Nikolai Lantsov, a character first introduced in Siege and Storm, the second novel in the book series. We meet Nikolai in the source material as a privateer whose crew is hired to ferry Kirigan across dangerous waters in search of another mythic creature he hopes to make into an amplifier. Alina had taken the one he was hoping to use to magnify his power in season 1 before running off into hiding with Mal (Archie Renaux).

Tan will play Tolya Yul-Bataar, a Heartrender and member of Nikolai's crew. He's also the twin brother of Tamar Kir-Bataar, who will be played by Brophy. Tamar also joined up with Nikolai for a time, but she's a more prominent figure in another Grishaverse book, King of Scars, which is told from the perspective of Zoya.

Bardugo previously told EW she had expanded Zoya's role in season 1 with showrunner Eric Heisserer, to help lay the seeds for where the character ends up by King of Scars. Zoya is played by Sujaya Dasgupta on the show.

Season 2 is also on track to adapt the main events of Six of Crows. Wolfe will play Wylan Hendriks, a crucial character from that book, which sees Kaz, Inej, and Jesper crossing paths with Nina and an imprisoned Matthias. Wylan joins the Crows' crew as the demolitions expert.

Danielle Galligan and Calahan Skogman played Nina and Matthias in Shadow and Bone season 1, which saw Nina getting Matthias arrested and sent to an infamous prison to save him from being killed by Grisha. Galligan and Skogman have since been upped to series regulars, along with Daisy Head, who played Genya in the first season.

Daegan Fryklind also joins season 2 as a co-showrunner with Heisserer, while Bola Ogun, Laura Belsey, Karen Gaviola, and Mairzee Almas are set to direct two episodes each.

A premiere date hasn't been announced.

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