You
Okay, I have to admit I…didn’t quite see this one coming. I thought about the back half of season 4 of You, where the story becomes Really wild, would stay topped Netflix’s Top 10 list for a certain time. Instead, it only lasted a few days, not even a full week, and was supplanted by a show that I would say works surprisingly well.
That would be Shadow and Bone, a rare, high-budget YA-based fantasy series that was not canceled by Netflix after one season. Now Shadow and Bone is back for season 2, and not only that, but debuted in the top spot, knocking you down, which is truly surprising and impressive.
Shadow and Bone isn’t exactly one of Netflix’s highest-profile shows, and you’ve never seen it on any of its top viewership charts in its first year. But it’s a solid offering with corresponding critic and viewership scores at 88%, not that those have ever shown such prominence for Netflix.
Top 10
What’s surprising about Shadow and Bone is that season 2 exists, given all the similar YA-style shows that Netflix has canceled. Out of the blue, Netflix canceled:
- First murder
- Damn
- Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
- order
- Destiny: The Winx Saga
- The imperfect
- The bastard son and the devil himself
- warrior nun
All fantasy style YA productions. I would say none of them are as GOOD like Shadow and Bone (other than maybe Warrior Nun season 2), but it’s still a surprising move by Netflix, a rare investment in a show that certainly doesn’t feel cheap.
But of course, even that #1 debut doesn’t guarantee Shadow and Bone’s future for a Season 3. There are three Shadow and Bone books in total, and I guess that’s one book per season (I don’t haven’t read them). The smart thing to do, of course, would be to make sure that Shadow and Bone can wrap them all up and be a complete series rather than ending on an unfinished cliffhanger season 2. But given that this is Netflix we’re talking about, that’s far from a sure thing, given their past decisions.
Still, you couldn’t start stronger here. And while I have some questions about the performance of the second half of You season 4, I still think it remains likely that the show will be greenlit for a fifth season, which is supposed to be the last, if approved. We will have to wait and see the continuation of these two productions.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels Herokiller Series And The Earthborn Trilogy.