Shadow and Bone star Jessie Mei Li has addressed inevitable comparisons between the new Netflix original drama series and Game of Thrones.
It's understandable why the two shows would be compared – they are both sweeping fantasy epics based on popular book series by renowned authors (Grisha by Leigh Bardugo for the former and A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin for the latter).
Yet, Jessie Mei Li – who plays the fateful mapmaker Alina Starkov – has told Digital Spy that any similarities between Shadow and Bone and Game of Thrones are only on a surface level.
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"It's interesting because that has been thrown around a little bit," she told us. "I love Game of Thrones, but I feel it couldn't be more different from Game of Thrones in terms of tone and what it's saying. It isn't set remotely in the same kind of time either. This is way more sort of 1800s steampunk industrial revolution stuff than it is swords and dragons.
"But the comparison being made is also very cool if it means that people like it. When asked what I would compare it to, you kind of have to draw from lots of different places.
"If anything, the thing that comes to mind for me is Star Wars, because of the fact that it's a genre film. It has fun adventure and romance and a bit of softer violence, but nothing that's too... families can watch it as well. That's more of the comparison that I would make."
Jessie Mei Li drew a more direct comparison between the Netflix series and Star Wars by teasing Shadow and Bone's exploration of the corrupting influence of power.
"I think that's always interesting when we have a protagonist [in Alina] who is drawn to that sort of – again, it's very Star Wars – but drawn to the dark side, and whether or not they go there, how that affects their relationships and things," she teased.
Read more about Shadow and Bone in our exclusive interview with Jessie Mei Li right here.
Shadow and Bone is now playing worldwide on Netflix.
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Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
