Get to know Shadow and Bone’s Zoya, Nina, Genya and Matthias

While there is a lot of focus on Alina and General Kirigan or the Crows on Shadow and Bone, there are many other intriguing and well-developed characters that will appear on our screens. Sujaya Dasgupta, Danielle Galligan, Daisy Head and Calahan Skogman play four of those characters, who you’ll certainly find yourself torn about.

The four actors sat down to tease their characters and share the inspiration they gained for them. We talked about rivalries and just what it was like to bring Shadow and Bone to the small screen.

The characters of Zoya, Nina, Genya, and Matthias are connected to the palace storyline, to Ben Barnes’s General Kirigan’s storyline. But they’re more than just henchmen or soldiers. Like so many others, they’ve been deeply developed, and some of that will play out during the first season of Shadow and Bone.

The rivalry between Zoya and Alina on Shadow and Bone

We’re introduced to the world of Shadow and Bone through Alina, who discovers a power that makes her special. Not everyone is going to be friends with her, and one of her biggest rivalries will be with Sujaya Dasgupta’s Zoya.

Zoya is one of General Kirigan’s followers, and this is where the rivalry starts. Dasgupta explained, “[Zoya’s] been with General Kirigan for a long time and she’s been his best soldier. It comes a lot with her pride and her sense of, what can be perceived as, arrogance. That all plays a part in how she sees the situation develop between Kirigan and Alina.”

When Alina comes into the scene with these powers, it ends up being a “stab in the gut” for Zoya and Kirigan’s established relationship. Someone is now threatening that, and she can’t take that. Zoya is one of those characters who is ruled by her emotions.

The complexity of Nina

All the characters in the Shadow and Bone books are complex. They have layers that you get to see as the novels continue, and that’s something that will happen in the series. Nina, played by Danielle Galligan, is one of those characters.

What is it like playing a character with these layers? As an actor, Galligan knows what is coming, but that can’t be shown on the screen right away.

“I like to find an engine for people or for a character or scene,” Galligan shared her method into exploring Nina. “It’s like that thing that the audience won’t see, but it’s what is driving the character. In the book, there’s a chapter where Nina is trying to save her friend who has just been stabbed and she has an identity crisis. She goes back to being the young lost girls…Zoya’s worries are echoing in her ears that she’s not good enough. For me, that has been the engine for Nina.”

Nina does go back to being the inner child who is an orphan and just looking for a home or a hug. That’s just the start, and everything else just grows from that point. Because of that, and with the narrative in both the books and show, it’s become easy to play the role.

Galligan also had praise for her co-star Calahan Skogman. The two share a lot of scenes together, and Galligan found it easy to react to his role within the scenes.

Genya’s emotional backstory without getting super into it

For some characters, there is a lot of emotional backstory, but there isn’t always the time to into it. If something doesn’t serve a scene then it shouldn’t be there just for the sake of being there. But that doesn’t stop the actors from knowing those backstories and wanting to show them.

Daisy Head has had to do that for Genya’s story. There is a lot happening behind the scenes or from Genya’s past that plays a role in her decisions now. We all have pasts and histories, after all, but it’s not always easy to be who we are.

“For me, it was just bringing a truth to her,” Head explained about her development for Genya, “Leigh [author of the novels] says that it’s about people who are told they don’t matter proving how much they do, and for me, that is such an important thing and it really highlights how it’s important to own one’s space in a world where it’s easy to feel defined by what you are and how you are perceived by others.”

Head focused on how everyone has a history, and that’s okay. At the same time, it’s about having the courage of being vulnerable and showing up without attaching to an outcome.

Matthias’s journey throughout Shadow and Bone

Without getting into all the details, Matthias has a huge journey throughout the series. Fans of the books will know that he starts off as a character full of hate, but that’s not where he ends up. It’s certainly a journey for an actor to allow all that to play out.

“He was raised a particular way and with a certain set of ideals,” Skogman shared about Matthias’s character growth, “[It’s] not so much the laws and the structure of what Matthias initially believes he has to follow is what makes him who he is, but it’s more so his higher ideals to honor, faith, love, and doing things the right way and being a good young man. I think that is what makes him accept, slowly, this crazy comet that is Nina into his life.”

Deep down, Matthias is not attached to the doctrine. He sees this twin soul in Nina and that helps him change. He’s able to keep the honor, but he’s also able to love, something that happens to us all.

Seeing the world come together for the first time

There are a lot of expectations from the fans of the books. There’s no doubt that this is one of the series in 2021 that’s been highly anticipated and has a lot of pressure on it. While there’s no way of getting everything just perfect for all, there is a lot of excitement about particular elements.

What has it been like for the actors to see this world come together for the first time after so much time in development?

“The way Eric [Heisserer] and Leigh [Bardugo] have combined these worlds is a remarkable feat, and it’s so exciting, and I can’t wait for the fans to see it” Head shared. “It’s such a unique opportunity for characters who may never have interacted and never have in the books yet to come together, and it just offers such a great insight into the world.”

There is a lot to add into the world after filming. Shadow and Bone is one of those shows that requires a huge amount of VFX. When you see the scenes without the VFX, it’s easy to wonder what it’s like for an actor to get into that scene without all the details. Then it’s easy to wonder what it’s like for the actors to see everything come together on screen.

“It’s an incredible experience. I’ve never been a part of something like this, so it was incredibly emotional,” Skogman admitted. “You created it on the day in your imagination, but seeing it on the screen is another experience.”

“It made me aware of the intense collaboration that had gone on,” Galligan added. “I remember thinking ‘I’m a very small cog in this massive machine’.”

Shadow and Bone is now streaming on Netflix.