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Latest Fantasy News: ‘Shadow and Bone’ fans, fresh off shipping a problematic romance, react in outrage as Netflix gives a new fantasy the go-ahead

That plot sounds far too familiar.

Alina and Kirigan
Image via Shadow and Bone/Netflix

Netflix, once the premiere darling of the streaming world, has fallen from grace in recent years.

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The streaming service is still among the most popular on the market, but moods are starting to sour as the platform continues to make changes to its fees and sharing allowances. Its offerings have also seen a decline in recent years, as fan favorites — far too many of them fantasy — are canceled in droves, even as Netflix continues to pour money into less-popular and frankly unnecessary projects. 

The Warrior Nun fandom is certainly among the platform’s detractors. After nearly six months of campaigning, the effort to save the series is still going strong, despite no real progress in seeing the show get a renewal. They may soon be joined by the equally-eager Shadow and Bone fan base, which continues to await news of the show’s fate. Hopes for a third season — and a Six of Crows spin-off — were tested this week, after Netflix announced a fresh story, set in the world of The Witcher, that sounds far too familiar for comfort.

Rings of Power fans don’t have to worry about the show getting a renewal, since its already headed back for a second season, but its timeline is far less certain. The show could arrive anytime between 2024 and (god forbid) 2025, leaving fans with quite the wait ahead of them. Thankfully, minor tidbits about the show’s second season are just enough to keep interest alive.

#SaveWarriorNun celebrates five months and running

warrior nun
via Netflix

The campaign to save Netflix’s ill-fated Warrior Nun, which was canceled late last year, continues to demand attention online. Hashtags, billboards, and ongoing conversations refuse to leave the issue in the past, and fans are holding out hope that Netflix is paying attention. The campaign has officially been pushing for a renewal for more than five months now, and there’s no sign of it slowing any time soon. Unfortunately, there’s also no sign of a Netflix renewal, but if the campaign keeps going like this Netflix may have no choice but to listen. 

Shadow and Bone fans shift focus to ship a problematic romance

Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov and Ben Barnes as the Darkling in 'Shadow and Bone'
Photos via Netflix

The second season of Shadow and Bone saw a major dip in quality from season one, despite consistently solid performances from the show’s stars. An attempt to pull too many storylines together, and a lack of commitment to the story’s grittier elements, did the story dirty, however, and left little hope that the fantasy favorite will return for a third season. Fans have already been hard at work gaming Netflix’s viewership numbers in hopes of forcing a season three, but a subset of the fanbase has their sights set elsewhere. 

These viewers, apparently embracing the show’s shaky direction, are hoping to force Netflix completely off the rails. They want to see Alina and the Darkling (who, yes, died at the end of season two, but does technically come back in future Leigh Bardugo books) finally get their happy ending, but would it be happy? The two share a uniquely toxic relationship — with the Darkling stating his willingness to keep Alina as a prisoner until she learns to love him — but that’s not stopping deeply damaged viewers from thirsting after the destructive pairing. 

Netflix’s Witcher spin-off stokes ire among Shadow and Bone fans

shadow and bone show
Image via Netflix

Netflix is brazenly ignoring Shadow and Bone fans’ demands for news of season three, instead opting to announce a fresh fantasy currently in the works. The incoming series, yet another spin-off of The Witcher, follows a six-man group of teens who call themselves the Rats as they pull off the heist of their lives. Sound familiar? For those not in the know, the plot is almost identical to that in Six of Crows, a book set in Bardugo’s Grishaverse that fans were very much hoping to see get an adaptation. 

Netflix’s apparent side-stepping of questions about Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows, paired with the far too-familiar plot of The Witcher spin-off, certainly seems like bad news for hopeful Bardugo fans. Chances that the platform plans to make an attempt at the plot of Six of Crows seem much more slim now that it’s found a fitting replacement.

Rings of Power‘s Morfydd Clark teases viewers with season two accessories

Image via Prime Video

It might seem like small news, discussing a character’s choice of jewelry in a specific season of a show, but accessorizing carries consequences in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. At least with certain items of jewelry, as Rings of Power viewers are all too aware. With this in mind, a recent tease from Morfydd Clark is all the more tantalizing, as she cryptically contemplates the changes in store once Galadriel becomes acquainted with Nenya, her Ring of Power.