It was already quite a surprise to fans that “Shadow and Bone” and “Six of Crows” were being merged, but now it’s even more of a surprise that The Vulcan Reporter has revealed that it looks like “Six of Crows” will be getting its own series.
The main cast is split into two groups, depending on which novel the characters are from. “Shadow and Bone” stars Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov, Ben Barnes as General Kirigan/The Darkling, and Archie Renaux as Malyen Oretsev. “Six of Crows” stars Freddy Carter as Kaz Brekker, Amita Suman as Inej Ghafa, and Kit Young as Jesper Fahey.
The next supporting cast includes Danielle Galligan, Nina Zenik, and Calahan Skogman as Matthias. As their duo is isolated from the main characters, they spend most of their time together, which incidentally is specifically their backstory in the book. These characters are also members of the “Six of Crows” team in the source material.
What makes us wonder a little bit is that there is still no sign about the sixth crow, Wylan Van Eck, which is interesting, because there are only five crows, but maybe Netflix has some surprises in store.
It is not yet known when the project will start, but it is thought that Eric Heisserer, the showrunner from the first season, will develop the series. He is known to have been inspired by the “Six of Crows”, the book he was reading when he fell in love with the world, and it was his idea to mix the two stories.
And what will the series be about?
Well, if we take inspiration from the novel it’s based on, we’re in for quite a convoluted burglary.
Spoiler Alert!
If the creators stick to the original, then the “Six of Crows” spin-off series will be an adaptation of the first book of the duology, the main plot thread of which is that the Crows have to break into a prison in Fjerda and get a prisoner out. Our characters are notorious gangsters, and it’s no coincidence that fans say the book is like the written version of the “Now You See Me” movie.
Kaz Brekker is the new daredevil of the Ketterdam crime world, and despite his young age – 17 – he’s already made quite a name for himself. He’s smart, determined, and will stop at almost nothing.
This time, he’s given a new assignment: to kidnap someone from a high-security cell in a high-security prison in Fjerda – a mission that’s pretty much impossible. But the price is very high, and Kaz knows no such thing, so he recruits a team – partly from his own ranks and partly from outside.
Inej is one of Kaz‘s crew, and thanks to her acrobatic background, she is a master of the sneak – climbing pretty much any building unnoticed. We already knew this from the series, but we knew less, or only suspected, that Kaz had rescued her from the courtesans.
Jesper is also a member of Kaz‘s team, a sharpshooter – but in return, he is rather abrupt and irresponsible, and addicted to gambling. He’s half Kaz‘s man Wylan, who’s good at bombing. Nina, a Grisha, and a Heartrender, trained in Ravka, but still has work to do in Ketterdam, and until she gets it done, she doesn’t want to return home.
Somewhat out of the team, and forced to join the mission strictly out of self-interest, Matthias, a Fjerdan Grisha hunter, whose every desire is to return to his homeland after his prison time and kill Nina, with whom he has a history. As well as being strong, he knows the customs of Fjerda and the prison itself, which they must enter.
Without spoiling the whole plot, I would add that Bardugo handles the burglar angle very well. It’s not like the when team walks unobtrusively into a heavily guarded prison that is otherwise impossible to get into and magically walks out, but it is full of twists and turns. But it’s also noteworthy how the Crows brainstorm, plan, execute what they have planned if they fail, they do the whole procedure again, and even so, they are always one step ahead of the others.
I should also note here that while the world of “Shadow and Bone” is not exactly devoid of violence, some scenes in “Six Crows” – most notably Kaz‘s – are unusually gory for a YA novel (Kaz essentially slashes someone’s face with an oyster knife and plucks out their eyeball). Netflix probably won’t include this in the upcoming spin-off, but it could conceivably be included in the 16+ rating.
In any case, since the streets of Ketterdam are set in Óbuda, Hungary, we can most likely hope that the Crows will return to Hungary.
