Does Mal die in Shadow and Bone?

5 May 2021, 15:08

Does Mal die in Shadow and Bone season one?

**Warning: Major spoilers for Shadow and Bone season one and books ahead**

Shadow and Bone recently dropped on Netflix, and is proving a huge hit with viewers.

Read more: Where was Shadow and Bone filmed?

The series is based on the Shadow and Bone trilogy and Six of Crows duology written by Leigh Bardugo, and the series contains a number of the books' beloved characters.

Malyen 'Mal' Oretsev (played Archie Renaux) is the best friend of lead character Alina Starkov (played by Jessie Mei Li).

In episode one, Alina discovers she has the power to summon sunlight while trying to save Mal from the monsters during a mission in Shadow Fold, and she becomes the key to destroying the Fold.

Alina leaves behind her life - including Mal - to be trained for her mission, and many viewers may be wondering what Mal's fate is.

Does Mal die in Shadow and Bone?

Mal does not die at the end of season one, and he also doesn't die in the books.

At the end of the Grisha trilogy novels, Mal sacrifices himself to help Alina in her battle against the Darkling, but he is later brought back to life by his two Heartrender friends.

Therefore, Mal doesn't actually die in the story.

Archie Reneaux previously opened up about getting into character to play Mal in an interview with Wonderland magazine.

He said: "It was a lot of work. When we first got there in September, I spent a lot of time in the gym. We had a trainer called Gary who got me into the best shape that I’ve ever been in. I was eating, like, four of these boxes of meals that they would send me a day.

Shadow and Bone creators discuss new Netflix show

Archie added: "The food was quite boring – tabasco became like my best friend! But I got the results, I’m very proud of the results that I got. On top of that there was a lot of stunt training, and there was horse riding. It was a great experience, I got to learn so much new stuff."

And speaking about his experience on filming the show, he added: "Sometimes there would have been a really long week and then you’d just be outside in the elements. But even then, I don’t think it’s too bad.

"I loved every minute of it."

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