Shadow and Bone stole the hearts of audiences as soon as it started streaming on Netflix. Fans loved a particular character: Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov. The character spoke volumes with her silence, and Jessie did utmost justice to the role. So when you are playing a role that is as popular as Alina’s, you do have a lot to talk about your experience while doing so.

Let us see what the actress had to say while playing the Sun Summoner.

Jessie Mei Li as Alina in Shadow and Bone

It is hard to believe, but Shadow and Bone is already a year old. The show first started streaming back on 23rd April 2021. It became an instant hit among the fans of the book. Now that the show is a year old, Netflix has celebrated it in style. They first shared an unreleased deleted scene starring Jessie. And now they have re-shared an interview with the star talking about her experience right from bagging the role to playing it.

While talking about the role and why she decided to do it, Jessie said that she loved the way Alina is written. She says, “on the surface, perhaps your typical hero’s journey protagonist — but there’s so much woven in there.”

Alina also says that, in a way, she and Alina are very similar. She says just like Alina, she too has felt like an outsider, especially in schools. Growing up in a white-dominated area, she recalls being called “my Chinese friend Jessie.” 

For every actor getting cast into a big project is always a moment of joy. When asked how Jessie spent her moment of joy when she got selected. She said, “I swore an awful lot for about five minutes.”

Getting a role in Shadow and Bone was a great opportunity for Jessie. So while expressing her thoughts about being a part of such a high-profile production by Netflix, she says that even though the whole show has a huge budget, with a lot of cast and crew running around, there was a lot of passion. She describes being on the show as “the best experience.”

Are you a fan of the show? Stream the first season of Shadow and Bone only on Netflix.