The newest season of Shadow and Bone drops tomorrow, and the audience is going to meet a whole slew of new characters from the books — many of them fan favourites. One character is Sturmhond, an infamous Ravkan privateer who is secretly prince Nikolai Lantsov of Ravka in disguise. Patrick Gibson, who plays Sturmhond/Nikolai, sat down with Gizmodo at a roundtable press junket and answered a few questions about his character’s arc in the new season, specifically how his relationship with Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) develops.
“I think [Nikolai and Alina] are almost equally matched in their wits and their tenacity and their vision for creating a better world,” said Gibson. He laughs, clarifying that he said “almost” because while the prince may be important, politically, Nikolai is not a Grisha and his power is fundamentally different from Alina’s. “I think they’re perfectly matched. And she’s somebody who, from the first time that they meet, he just immediately sees that she’s the perfect person for him to be an accessory to her cause.”
Gibson also stated that Nikolai decided to support Alina publicly because she was the right person, and was also “a force for good.” Catch Gibson and Li in the new season of Shadow and Bone as they renew their fight against General Kirigan and his shadow army of Nichevo’ya.
Shadow and Bone premieres March 15 on Netflix.