Shadow and Bone showrunner says a 'Six of Crows' character will show up if Season 2 gets greenlight

The first season of Netflix's Shadow and Bone serves as a dual adaptation, bringing to life two sets of characters from two different book series set within author Leigh Bardugo's bestselling fantasy world known as the "Grishaverse": Shadow and Bone, after which the series is named, and Six of Crows, a parallel duology that takes place alongside the original trilogy, but was published after. 

And as showrunner Eric Heisserer (Arrival) recently told Collider, the second season (should one occur) of the fantasy show will build on this, introducing a major player from Six of Crows: Wylan Van Eck. 

A member of Kaz Brekker's crew of thieves in the books, Wylan was noticeably absent on-screen in the show. That's presumably because his character's arc only begins later on, when the events of the book actually start to unfold, with Kaz gathering all his Crows to embark on yet another impossible heist, this one for Wylan's father Jan, with Kaz keeping the younger Van Eck as collateral. (Though he does become part of the crew.)

"I would love to talk about what we might get to see from Six of Crows in the second season," Heisserer said, noting that Shadow and Bone has yet to be renewed for another season. "I can tease this much that there will be a hundred percent more Wylan. We'd like to introduce him for sure."

However, as eagle-eyed eared fans of the books will recall, Kaz did mention knowing a demolitions expert (Wylan's specialty), so that relationship already exists and will come into play later. "If we want to go this far," Heisserer said, elaborating on that scene and how it might have played into events at the end of the first season, "Kaz at this point has likely hired a demo man by the name of Wylan that we won't meet in the first season in person, but could have very well have given him a sort of insurance policy phosphorus bomb to take with him. We liked that idea a lot... Assuming that we have a Season 2, we could possibly tease that out later."

So far, in the first season of the show, the Crows — or at least Kaz, Inej, and Jesper — ventured far from their home turf of Ketterdam in order to carry out a heist. Heisserer said Season 2 would see them much closer to home, if not on the way to the events of Six of Crows, which take place alongside those in the Shadow and Bone series. 

"We would like to spend at least a little bit more time in Ketterdam," Heisserer said. "We kind of had to yoink our Crows away from that in Season 1 and throw them toward the Fold and beyond for their heist... I think at least part of next season should be a home game for our team."

The introduction of Wylan would be significant for fans. Not only would it mean that all the central characters of the duology would be in the series (even if it doesn't get to the events of Six of Crows right away), but it would also give fans a chance to see the romance unfold between Wylan and bisexual sharpshooter (and Milo the Goat's best friend) Jesper (played by Kit Young, above), which is pretty prominent within the books, with Jesper constantly flirting with Wylan. 

Netflix's Shadow and Bone stars newcomer Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkhov, an orphan mapmaker who discovers she's a Grisha with the rare ability to bend light and make it as bright as the sun. Dubbed the "Sun Summoner," it's up to Alina to figure out how to save her kingdom from the dark Shadow Fold that cuts it in two. Ben Barnes, Archie Renaux , Freddie Carter, Amita Suman, Danielle Galligan, and Calahan Skogman also star. 

Shadow and Bone is currently streaming on Netflix.