After two seasons, Netflix has canceled the show Shadow and Bone. The show is based on Leigh Bardugo’s best-selling YA high fantasy book series, collectively known as the Grishaverse, which includes the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows and King of Scars duologies, and several other standalone. There were plans for a Six of Crows spin-off TV series, which has also been scrapped. The show has a massive fanbase, including 711k followers on the Shadow and Bone Instagram and the biggest fan account, @sixofcrowsdaily, having 91.8k followers. It made it to the top 10 on Netflix in at least 86 countries, reaching number one in 28 of them, and stayed in Netflix’s global top ten list for seven weeks. It also remained in the Nielsen top 10 for four weeks. In addition to this, the show has also earned an Emmy nomination for special effects.
Fans of the show have launched a petition to save both Shadow and Bone and the Six of Crows spinoff that garnered over 120,000 signatures in just four days. The petition has been shared by major media and entertainment accounts, such as Deuxmoi, Leigh Bardugo, and members of the cast (Calahan Skogman, Julian Kostov, Simon Sears) and crew of the show. The fanbase has also set up a Kickstarter to purchase a billboard in LA promoting our message which has already surpassed its initial goal. They are now seeking to double our goal to secure the prime spot of a billboard directly across the street from Netflix headquarters.
This series is very important to a multitude of people. It offers representation, which is sorely lacking in all media types, especially in the fantasy genre. The series features accurate, well-rounded portrayals of disabled characters, queer characters, and characters of color. The main character of the show, Alina Starkov, is a female POC. Wylan Hendriks, who was first introduced in the second season, is a disabled guy character. And Kaz Brekker is a prominent example of a disabled character, in recent major media, releases who is neither hindered nor defined by his disability. The show also offers positive representations of Black and Asian characters. Jesper Fahey is a bisexual Black man who embarks on a journey of self-acceptance that leads him from being ashamed of his own magical powers to learning how to embrace them. Inej Ghafa and Zoya Nazyalensky are strong South Asian women who rise above the odds and wield their own power, unrestrained by the world around them. These characters and their stories have quite literally changed and saved the lives of countless fans who were finally able to see themselves represented on screen.
Netflix has blamed their decision to cancel Shadow and Bone and scrap the Six of Crows spinoff on the writers’ strike, which has angered many people, fans and industry professionals alike. Christina Strain, one of the screenwriters of Shadow and Bone, explained in a tweet that Netflix commissioned a Six of Crows spin-off in 2021 and an entire first season was written. The writers had to wait from December 2021 until November 2023 to learn (from social media!) that Netflix wouldn’t produce the spin-off at all. The strike was supposed to help protect the work of writers and avoid the cancellation of shows whose scripts have already been finished and polished for their audience. The fact that this cancellation arrived only a few days after the end of the strike sparked outrage among screenwriters, as it seems Netflix has kept some of its pre-strike methods, despite the long battle fought within the industry. To make matters worse, Netflix now owns the rights to Shadow and Bone and is free to keep anyone from producing any further adaptations.
Moreover, Netflix changed its viewership metrics during the strike by expanding the measurement window from 28 days to 91 days. The second season of Shadow and Bone met the criteria for the 28-day window, but not for the 90-day window. Fans felt pressure to binge-watch the show at the very beginning, only for Netflix to disregard their investment by abruptly changing their measurement. It’s also important to underline that Eric Heisserer, the showrunner, was part of the negotiating committee during the strike while Daegan Fryklind, the co-showrunner, and some writers on the show, including Christina Strain and Erin Conley, were active supporters. It’s difficult to not look at Netflix’s decision as retribution for their involvement.