The Darkling is expanding his reach in Shadow and Bone Season 2 — the Shadow Fold is growing, as you can see in the first few minutes of the season. In fact, even the first few seconds hint at what’s to come as shadows envelop the show’s logo, just as the Fold itself can be seen washing over Alina (Jessie Mei Li) as General Kirigan (Ben Barnes) rises from the flames and calls her name in the opening scene.

Luckily, Alina’s safe — it’s just a nightmare, albeit a recurring one that’s been bothering her so much as of late that Mal (Archie Renaux) has begun to worry about what’s happening as the pair travel on a boat to Novyi Zem. After all, the fact that Alina’s having visions of the Fold growing, sometimes by a little, sometimes in a surge, can’t mean anything good. 

As the pair hop off their ship in Weddle Harbor — their first time on non-Ravkan soil, by the way —  Alina learns that her dreams aren’t just dreams. They’re actually happening. The Fold is expanding. And Mei Li hints Alina’s connection to Kirigan isn’t going anywhere anytime soon in Season 2. 

“Kirigan and Alina are often not in the same place. But they are connected through a sort of telepathic link,” Mei Li told Netflix. “So a lot of the scenes between Alina and Kirigan take place in dream space.” 

After Alina and Mal make it through the customs checkpoint thanks to their fake papers from Kaz (Freddy Carter), we get a glimpse at what Kaz and his Crows are up to. They’re back home in Ketterdam, where they head over to the Crow Club — only to find out their sign is gone, and it’s not the Crow Club anymore. Now it’s the Kaelish Prince, a name that can have only one origin: the Dime Lions. Something tells us the Crows won’t take news of their rival gang too well…

“The most wonderful thing about Season 2 is that we get to advance the story of these characters that we’d left in precarious positions at the end of Season 1. There’s a lot of potential for them this season,” co-showrunner and executive producer Eric Heisserer tells Tudum. “They have to face the consequences for their actions, and then they get to meet new people along the way. The Grishaverse also expands in this season, both in mythology and in characters.” 

Some of those new faces include fan-favorite book characters like Nikolai (Patrick Gibson), Tamar (Anna Leong Brophy) and her brother Tolya (Lewis Tan). “Everybody's definitely made sure to honor the material there and stay really close to the characters that we all love in the books,” Gibson tells Tudum. “But then it's just so lovely to see those little individual touches that really breathes life into them.” 

Watch the first seven-and-a-half minutes of Shadow and Bone Season 2 above, and tune in when it debuts March 16 on Netflix.

Additional reporting by Ariana Romero.