Danielle Galligan and Calahan Skogman Battled the Elements for 'Shadow and Bone' (EXCLUSIVE)

Grishaverse fans have been waiting a long time to see Leigh Bardugo's bestselling fantasy series, Shadow and Bone, finally get a small-screen adaptation. Season 1 of the book-series-turned-show has officially premiered on Netflix, and fans have been drooling over some of the series' landscapes and settings.

Actors Danielle Galligan and Calahan Skogman spoke exclusively with Distractify about some of their filming locations for the first season of Shadow and Bone.

Much of the first season was filmed on location in Budapest, Hungary. The location is very close to the geographical inspiration for the series, as Shadow and Bone takes place in a reimagined Russia. 

While most of the filming took place pre-pandemic, there were some additional scenes that were reportedly filmed in Vancouver. Filming had finished before the first COVID-19 lockdown, but the hold on the film industry also halted post-production, which delayed the premiere of the show.

The actors had to battle actual weather conditions while filming, so much of the rain, sand, and sleet that you see on the show is completely real. Of course, there were certain scenes where extra harsh conditions were needed, so the team also used facilities like water tankers for some of the ship sequences.

Danielle and Calahan agreed that one of the things that made their filming experience more authentic was having to battle the elements. They said that by spending hours in the rain and wind, they were able to better connect with their characters.

"I think [it] was somewhere around hour eight in the water tanker where Danielle and I shared some looks of 'Wow, we're still here,'" Calahan said. "We filmed in ships with the water coming, the boat rocking, outside in the freezing cold, Budapest, whatever it was."

"Because it was so trying on us physically as actors, it was a really good reminder what [Nina and Matthias] as characters had been through — you just multiplied whatever cold or pain or tiredness you were feeling by a thousand," Danielle told us. "It was a really good reminder of how horribly hard and difficult the journey they make is, and I think it was a good reminder as well [of] how difficult the journey of their relationship is. They're battling so much physically, but also they're battling so much in terms of their internal dogmas to try to get to the end of their relationship, which is love and understanding as empathy."

But despite the weather conditions that sometimes felt grueling to the pair, they said it made the experience that much more real — and both of them would gladly do it again.

"We don't mind, we'll spend 20 hours in a water tank if you let us," Calahan said. "We couldn't really honestly get enough of it."

You can now stream Season 1 of Shadow and Bone on Netflix.