On the weekend of October 17-18, Empire Conventions hosted their fifth and final A Storm of Crows and Shadows convention in Bagnolet, France and, after months of planning and saving up, I was lucky enough to attend. For anyone who’s unfamiliar with this convention, it is centered around the books of Leigh Bardugo and the resulting TV show: Shadow and Bone. The “Grishaverse,” as it’s referred to, is the literary and cinematic world which includes three book series (Shadow and Bone, Six of Crows, and King of Scars) as well as several spin-off books and the Netflix TV show which features characters from the first two series in the universe. As for the convention company, Empire started in 2015 and was founded by several friends in France in order to bring together actors from their favorite TV shows to create memorable fan experiences. A Storm of Crows and Shadows, otherwise known as ASOCAS, started in 2022 with nine members of the original show cast including all six “Crows,” Jessie Mei Li (Alina Starkov), Ben Barnes (General Kirigan), and Julian Kostov (Fedyor Kaminsky). But, after an announcement over the summer, Empire confirmed that the fifth edition of the convention would be the final one, allowing eight original cast members to reunite one last time in Paris: Freddy Carter (Kaz Brekker), Amita Suman (Inej Ghafa), Jack Wolfe (Wylan Van Eck), Calahan Skogman (Matthias Helvar), Paddy Gibson (Nikolai Lantsov), Sujaya Dasgupta (Zoya Nazyalensky), Daisy Head (Genya Safin), and Luca Pasqualino (David Kostyk).Â
For a die-hard fan of both the books and the show, the weekend was such a dream: two days filled to the brim with photo opportunities, autographs, Q&A panels, an exclusive game night, and pretty constant access to the actors. What surprised me, however, was the general attitude of the fans. As a theater fan, I’ve grown very accustomed to the “stage door” experience where, after productions, fans will wait outside the exit of the theater to meet actors as they leave. While the practice has been around for decades, within the past few years “stage dooring” has grown out of control with fans harassing actors for autographs and photos, breaking into backstage areas, and even following them home after the performance. Jessica Vosk—recent star of Beaches on Broadway—posted a video to her social media accounts a few months ago detailing one of these experiences where a fan had managed to sneak into her dressing room post-show. In the video, she begged her followers not to follow this behavior. And this isn’t limited to live theater. Actors and celebrities of all kinds have these stories, of fans who overstep the boundary of being a fan. Hudson Williams—of Heated Rivalry fame— recently spoke on this topic in his interview with The Assembly and clarified, as an actor, the results of fans creating parasocial relationships with their favorite artists. In the interview, he quotes showrunner Jacob Tierney saying: “Shane and Ilya are for the fans. Hudson and Connor are for themselves.”Â
However, at this year’s ASOCAS, the attitude was incredibly respectful towards both the actors as well as staff and fellow fans. Now, this was my first time attending a convention and when mentioning my surprise, many other attendees informed me that these relaxed interactions with celebrities are incredibly common at many conventions. I have to admit, I was shocked. In an age of social media where we are constantly connected to the people we admire, it tends to breed fans who believe they’re entitled to a celebrity’s time, energy, and personal life, and forget that the people they idealize are humans as well. But at ASOCAS, we were able to connect with each other and the actors without immense fear of danger. Of course, I can’t speak for the actors themselves, but over the course of the weekend, many of them spoke on how much the event meant to them as a time of celebration and reunion of castmates and fans. Over the two days, I met people from all over Europe (France, the UK, Italy, Finland, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands just off the top of my head!) as well as a few fellow Americans who were all just truly excited to be a part of the community we’ve grown around these books. I got to speak with fellow attendees, learn their stories, and find out why this universe meant so much to them and their identities, which was arguably just as interesting as getting to listen to the actors speak about their own experience with Bardugo’s universe.Â
But, if you’re a fan of the series yourself, what did you miss? Well, when I call it a dream for fans, it really was. Some of my highlights from the weekend included:
- Freddy Carter (Kaz) and Amita Suman (Inej) reading the iconic “I would come for you” scene from Crooked Kingdom
- Jack Wolfe (Wylan) assigning Hadestown songs to each “Crow”
- Calahan Skogman (Matthias) speaking about his journey becoming a fiction writer and the struggles he faced in pursuing a creative industry
- Patrick Gibson (Nikoli) admitting that he would have loved to put the blue ribbon scene from King of Scars on the screen
- The group all voting who would be the best and worst on Traitors
- And so many more moments of joy and graciousness from everyone involved!
ASOCAS 5 was a culmination of joy, passion, and excitement from the very beginning to the end and I was incredibly lucky to have taken part in it. Though this specific convention will not be taking place again, during the closing ceremony on Sunday, the owners of Empire stated that they plan to continue working with the actors to bring them back for future multi-fandom events. So, there is hope on the horizon for any Grishaverse fans that couldn’t make it out to Paris this year.