living the fantasy

Meet the queer actor bringing gay romance to Netflix’s hit fantasy series ‘Shadow And Bone’

By · Updated on January 26, 2024

Fantasy has long been a genre adored by queer audiences because it often transports us to worlds where magic puts the power in our hands, and homophobia? We don’t know her.

And that’s precisely why we love the so-called “Grishaverse” novels from author Leigh Bardugo, which have made space for queer characters and storylines since her debut, Shadow And Bone, in 2012.

In ’21, Netflix brought Bardugo’s fantasy world to life with the series Shadow And Bone, which adapted her first novel, telling the story of orphan Alina Starkov, who comes to realize she has special powers—and a destiny far greater than she could’ve ever imagined.

Shadow And Bone‘s second season just hit the streamer this week, pulling its story from the book series’ second entry, Siege And Storm. With that comes the introduction of a new character, Wylan van Eck, played by rising queer star Jack Wolfe.

Notably, Wylan—and, spoilers ahead if you haven’t read the novel and want to go into the season completely cold—begins a relationship with Jesper Fahey (Kit Young), a member of the Crows street gang, who quickly became a fan favorite in season one. Needless to say, people have been ‘shipping these two since before the new season even premiered.

Jack Wolfe and Kit Youn crouch down next to each other while we're fantastical outfits.
Image Credit: ‘Shadow And Bone,’ Netflix

The role represents a major breakthrough for young actor Jack Wolfe, who previously appeared in guest roles in a handful of series like Netflix’s other big fantasy hit The Witcher, as well as the German musical adaptation The Magic Flute, which is now playing in select theaters.

Speaking with Attitude, the 27-year-old actor reveals he was nervous about stepping into a project with such a devoted fanbase, but says he couldn’t resist the opportunity to play a queer character who isn’t solely defined by their queerness.

“[Wylan] gets to have a lot of baggage and a lot of history,” shares Wolfe. “He gets to fall in love, he gets to be in dangerous situations on the precipice of so many huge, high stakes but he’s never once punished for the love he finds along the way. His baggage isn’t his queerness.”

He’s also grateful to bring more LGBTQ+ representation to such a widely seen television series, remarking that he didn’t see many characters like himself while growing up, in the fantasy genre or otherwise.

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Later in his conversation with Attitude, Wolfe shares his candid, “constantly chang[ing]” thoughts on straight actors playing queer roles, and why people should be careful and thoughtful when making assumptions about someone’s sexuality:

“As a young, queer person, who was aware of their identity, what it would have meant to me to have seen a gay character that I liked, and then found out the actor was gay too and had managed to get to that place…

As a gay child who felt alone, as so many of us did at the time, to have had more of those examples would have been wonderful, you know?

I also really care about people’s right to discover their sexuality or their identity. It can often become quite a binary conversation, where it’s like, someone isn’t queer enough to play something or isn’t outwardly queer enough to play something, and that can be dangerous too because I feel like we can’t know everybody’s true identity.

It’s dangerous to go looking for that sometimes, or to force people to say things they’re not quite ready to say. I want to fiercely protect people’s rights to learn that for themselves…. It’s wonderful to have actors who are happy and safe enough to be out and to say proudly that they’re queer but it doesn’t work for everyone that way.”

Even at a time of great progress for LGBTQ+ representation, it still feels radical to see an openly queer actor step into a queer role in a massive, epic fantasy series like Shadow And Bone that will be seen all over the globe, and we’re so grateful to have people like Wolfe out there speaking their truth.

Season two of Shadow And Bone is streaming now on Netflix. You can watch a series clip featuring Wolfe here, and then scroll down below for a few more of our favorite shots from his Instagram:

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