Netflix's First Official Trailer For Shadow and Bone Promises the Journey of a Lifetime

Netflix has shared the first official trailer for its series based on Leigh Bardugo's bestselling Grishaverse fantasy novels, and if you had any reservations about the adaptation before, you'll be seeing the light now. Set in a war-torn world plagued by the Shadow Fold, an area of nearly impenetrable darkness that contains an array of horrors, the story follows a mapmaker who discovers she has a power that could be the key to setting her country free. In the trailer, Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) — our orphan mapmaker — reveals a dormant power that unleashes a piercing light when her friend Malyen (Archie Renaux) is attacked during a journey across the Shadow Fold. Alina's taken to General Kirigan (Ben Barnes), who promises her that they're going to "change the world" and trains her to become a member of her kingdom's militia of magical soldiers, who are known as Grisha. "There are no others like us, and there never will be," Kirigan adds ominously.

Eric Heisserer, best known for his work on Arrival and Bird Box, created, wrote, and produced the series's eight-episode first season. The cast includes Freddy Carter as Kaz Brekker, Amita Suman as Inej Ghafa, and Kit Young as Jesper Fahey — members of the Six of Crows underworld gang. The series will adapt the entirety of Bardugo's trilogy, as well as its two spinoff novels, Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, which means we might be visiting the kingdom of Ravka a few more times in the future. Watch the trailer above, and check out photos from Shadow and Bone ahead before Netflix starts streaming the series on April 23.