Netflix is no stranger to cancelling series, but one criminally axed fantasy show deserved a three-part spinoff — and this new 2026 release proves it. So many fantasy series meet early ends, as they require hefty budgets that are hard to pay off in viewership. That’s why only some of the projects that made up the post-Game of Thrones wave are still around. And there are certainly fantasy series from the last few years that deserved better, from Prime Video’s Wheel of Time adaptation to Netflix’s attempt at bringing the Grishaverse to the screen.
Unfortunately, the latter stings even more following a new 2026 release. Netflix’s Shadow and Bone may not be continuing on-screen, but Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse is still alive and well on the page — at least if the author’s newest release is anything to judge by. It’s a fun return to her world, but it makes the Netflix series’ cancellation after two seasons that much more disappointing. It proves it could’ve expanded beyond a third season and into a spinoff. That spinoff would’ve had a decent runway, too.
Six of Crows: A Darker Shore, Letters From Ketterdam is returning fans to Bardugo’s Grishaverse this summer. In fact, the new story is available as of June 30. It brings readers back to Ketterdam for an interactive adventure, which reveals what the Crows are up to after the events of Crooked Kingdom. In addition to catching us up with the series’ characters using their letters to one another, the book presents a new mystery for fans to solve. It sees two investigators looking into a massacre off the shore of Ketterdam, which Kaz and Inej are at the heart of. As a result, we get to see all their correspondence, along with any other documents related to the incident.
At just 64 pages, Letters From Ketterdam packs an emotional punch. Bardugo also hides fun surprises inside of it, including messages for the reader to decode. It’s a satisfying means of reuniting fans with the Crows, but it’s also a reminder that they never got their adventure on-screen. Although Kaz and his crew are worked into Alina’s story in Shadow and Bone Seasons 1 and 2, the Ice Court heist and its aftermath never unravel in that medium. In 2023, showrunner Eric Heisserer told Entertainment Weekly that he had plans to adapt the Six of Crows duology as a spinoff. They were nixed when Shadow and Bone was cancelled, however, and Letters From Ketterdam highlights what a loss that was.
With readers returning to Ketterdam in Bardugo’s new story, it’s proving that Six of Crows has the staying power needed for a years-long TV run. Additionally, the fan base is obviously there — something that makes the choice to cancel Shadow and Bone even more perplexing. Given the chance, Netflix’s fantasy series could’ve spawned an entire franchise. It had enough material for three seasons of its spinoff, and Six of Crows wasn’t the only story that could have branched off of it.
Six of Crows: A Darker Shore is a reminder of what could’ve been — and it suggests Netflix almost had a three-season series on its hands. With the events of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom to cover, the axed spinoff would certainly have taken two chapters to get through it all. However, the adventure described in Bardugo’s latest could have been tapped for a short TV season as well. It wouldn’t have the same interactive, epistolary appeal as the book, but it would have been a nice send-off for the characters. And as it goes beyond giving them closure, it would have given a third season a plot with some action and suspense to enjoy.
The central mystery of Bardugo’s latest ties into the main story nicely, too, so it would feel like a natural conclusion for the show. And the King of Scars duology offers additional content, driving home how large of a fantasy universe Netflix missed out on. It’s a shame, especially given how masterfully the first two seasons brought this world to life and how well cast the characters were. Perhaps we’ll get a complete adaptation of Bardugo’s work one day, but even then, it won’t be the same.
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