Will the Darkling return in season 2 of ‘Shadow and Bone’?

The premier season of Netflix’s Shadow and Bone went out with a bang, dazzling audiences with a dark but action-packed final episode that didn’t let up until its very final moments. The episode wrapped up the majority of the events from the first season, finally allowing Alina to face off against the Darkling and bringing the Crows, along with Alina, Mal, and Zoya, through the Fold (mostly) unscathed. 

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the final episode of Shadow and Bone season one.

In what initially appears to be his final moments, the Darkling stands off against first Alina, and later Mal, in the last episode of the first season. It’ll take far more than a few Volcra to finish off the near-immortal General Kirigan, however, a fact that Netflix hammers home in the final moments of the first season’s concluding episode.

Will the Darkling return in season two of ‘Shadow and Bone’?

The Darkling’s return in season two was shown as inevitable in the closing moments of Shadow and Bone season one. He seemingly falls to his own creations when a vicious Volcra descends upon him in the Fold, but Kirigan is not so easily bested. The closing scene from season one sees the powerful Grisha emerge from the Fold far from unscathed, but also far from deceased.

In an even more chilling development, Kirigan then turns his face to the towering wall of shadow and utters a single command: “Follow.” From the darkness, several twisted Volcra emerge, transforming before viewers’ eyes from the sharp, winged creatures that terrorize the Fold into bipedal, towering beasts in the shape of men. 

This reveals several key details, all of which are guaranteed to crop up in season two. Not only did the Darkling survive his attack at the hands of the Volcra, but he has also gained the ability to command the vicious beasts he created so long ago. To top it off, he’s found a way to separate them from the Fold, bringing them into the light of day for the very first time. What that will mean for Alina, Mal, and the other heroes of Netflix’s Grishaverse is yet to be determined, but it’s all but guaranteed to make season two even better than the first.