Shadow and Bone season 2 already written — and that could be good news for release date

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Grishaverse fans may not wait as long for Shadow and Bone season 2

Shadow and Bone season 2
(Image credit: David Appleby/Netflix)

The news of Shadow and Bone season 2's confirmation was widely anticipated, but put off for long enough that fans grew anxious with waiting. Fortunately, we've learned that Netflix didn't want to wait to get the ball rolling on the start of the work to prepare for a new season.

This news comes straight from the Twitter of show-runner Eric Heisserer, who posted word that the next season was already written. He notes that well before Netflix made it official, the big red streaming machine "sent us off to write the scripts with the hope that we'd get renewed and could hit the ground running."

If that sounds odd to you, it turns out it's just the way things work. Heisserer continues, "This is common practice, but it's just as common you do all that writing and don't get picked up." And fortunately for all involved, Shadow and Bone season 2 was confirmed at the start of Netflix Geeked Week (maybe the biggest announcement of the week so far).

But why is this so huge? Well, since Heisserer confirmed the new season was finished in a subsequent Tweet, we now know that the show is even closer to filming than it would normally be. 

Hence, it's more likely to be released earlier than it would have otherwise. Sure, the Shadow and Bone crew could just sit back and take this extra time for some well earned rest and relaxation, but it makes even more sense for Netflix to want to get the ball rolling on filming earlier. 

Why else would the company have asked for scripts to be written before it was ready to go public with the news of a second season? It would likely have to pay the writers for those scripts either way, and even though Netflix does have a history of spending a lot of money ($200 million for Jupiter's Legacy, which didn't get a second season), there has to be a greater reason than just "the love of spending."

Heisserer has already stated how he was ready for such a task, revealing there were "exhaustive" plans for Shadow and Bone season 2, something he'd been noodling around in his head for years.

Henry T. Casey
Henry T. Casey

Henry was a managing editor at Tom’s Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past seven years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.