Hero of the kingdom 3 cauldron location11/9/2022 ![]() The best casting of all, though, belongs to the Crows, a trio of west Ravkan criminals whose story runs parallel to Alina's. Alina's friends at the Little Palace, Marie and Nadia, are so much bigger than their minor roles on the page thanks to the charm brought to them by Jasmine Blackborow and Gabrielle Brooks. Kevin Eldon plays the creepy Rasputin-like Apparat while Luke Pasqualino (who you might remember from Skins) is an awkward Materialki who shows comedy smarts even in his limited appearances. ![]() Daisy Head (Harlots) plays the palace beauty Genya, but she does more than just look pretty in the role - though she's Alina's friend and confidant, we get the sense that she's holding something back. Archie Renaux (Gold Digger), meanwhile, is his foil as the fiercely loyal and tender other part of Alina's love triangle, her friend Mal. Further, Barnes - who is the most well-known of the show's actors coming in, having played Logan on Westworld - is a pitch-perfect Kirigan, equal parts magnetic and thrillingly dangerous. And Li and Ben Barnes, who plays Kirigan, work well together ( Li jokingly calls her co-star "Benny B"), making us root for them even when we know better. Later in the series, Li's determined step forward to initiate a kiss with General Kirigan (a reversal of how the pivotal moment happens in the books) ultimately says far more about her character than anything she, well, actually says. Some of this is a simple question of rewriting - showrunner Eric Heisserer deserves a heap of credit all around too - but Li sells us on her character's complexity and contradictions. Netflix's Alina faces open hostility and discrimination in Ravka, including disbelief that she, as half-Shu, could be the Sun Summoner. The casting of Li isn't a diversity box-tick, though it adds much-needed complexity to the character. ![]() While in the books Alina is described as a brown-haired ethnic Ravkan, and often depicted in fan-art with Daenerys-like white-blonde hair, the showrunners re-imagined Alina's character as biracial, "half-Shu" - that being the China-inspired nation in the books (Li is half English and half Chinese). In the first episode, for example, Alina intentionally burns maps in a ploy to get herself recruited as the cartographer to accompany her childhood friend, Mal, on a mission through the Fold - agency that she doesn't have in the novels, where things more typically happen to her rather than due to her. She easily navigates between the poles of Alina's bewilderment at her circumstances and her selfishness and stubbornness. ![]() Despite what might seem like a lack of experience, there's no visible learning curve with her stepping into the demanding lead role of Alina Li brings an assuredness and confidence to her part that is a welcome growth from the much more passive character written in the books. Prior to Shadow and Bone, 25-year-old Li's biggest credit was starring in a 2019 stage adaptation of All About Eve alongside Gillian Anderson and Lily James (she will also appear in the forthcoming Edgar Wright film Last Night in Soho, but was cast after Shadow and Bone picked her out). As enemies close in on the weakened and divided nation, Alina, an orphan in the First Army, discovers by accident that she is the long-awaited "Sun Summoner," the one-of-a-kind magical "Grisha" who can manipulate light and potentially save the world.Įnter Jessie Mei Li. The story takes place in the Russia-inspired kingdom of Ravka, which is split in two by "the Fold," a dark and deadly strip of cursed land that cuts eastern Ravka off from its western sea. The two-time Emmy-award winner (who, no surprise, also worked on Outlander) didn't just track down the best-fitting actors for the highly-anticipated Grishaverse adaptation, but potentially uncovered a new generation of acting talent while she was at it.īased on author Leigh Bardugo's Grisha trilogy and Six of Crows duology, Netflix's Shadow and Bone would have been a particularly tricky show to cast in part because of its size there are at least six identifiable main characters in the show. In this case, casting director Suzanne Smith is our kingmaker. ![]() In honour of #shadowandbone airing - a picture of myself with the cast after our read through /qk5wqeGEmA ![]()
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