Shadow and Bone: Kit Young Discusses the Grishaverse, Gunslinging, and Goats [Interview]

When it comes to bringing fictional characters from the page to life onscreen, no one understands that assignment better than Kit Young.

The actor earned high praise from fans of Leigh Bardugo’s books with his faithful portrayal of gambling sharpshooter, Jesper Fahey on Shadow and Bone. Young continues to win over viewers with his knowledge of the ever-expanding Grishaverse and his dedicated gun-slinging regimen.

I had the opportunity to speak with Young ahead of his Fan Expo Canada appearance about the momentous first season of Shadow and Bone, Jesper’s unique skill set, and the difficulties of working alongside a certain goat. (You can watch the full video of our interview below.)

Jesper’s sharpshooting showcases the flair and wit of the character. Those spinning revolvers go hand in hand with his identity and while daunting, Young knew it was imperative to get right.

“You can learn a skill and become quite good at it, but it’s very specific to get right for the camera in a way that makes it right for Jesper. As opposed to a cowboy, spy, or anyone that handles a gun and we have so much of that in all of our screen media. So to make it unique to this world and something that resembles the character, that was the tricky element.

“I think the thing about it was to keep going because for Jesper, they are kind of an extension of his arms and it’s just part of who he is,” he explained. “It wasn’t until I was on set and people were like, ‘Are you just casually spinning around a weapon while you’re having a coffee?’ and I was like, ‘Oh yeah sorry! It’s not a loaded gun.’ That’s when I think I’ve got this — I think this is what Jesper would do.”

When asked if he still practiced gun-slinging during hiatus, Young revealed it’s a skill he continues to work at. “Even now I still have them wherever I go. I’m on the phone with my mum and I’m just spinning guns, it’s very annoying,” he joked.

“I haven’t been told to keep it up but I just did in hopes a Season 2 would happen — It’s actually extremely addictive, like having something to fidget with. I’ve kept it up and I’m sure I’ll have to go through a bit of training to get back up to standard. You want Season 2 to be bigger and better, so I want to up my own game and I want Jesper to get better and better as it goes on.”

Watch the full interview with Kit Young:

Well-versed in the Grishaverse books, Young revealed he read them all in two weeks after landing the role. So when asked if there was a particular aspect from the books he wanted to explore in the future, the actor had a response locked and loaded.

“There’s a particular scene. Leigh [Bardugo] has since written books since she said this, but at the time she said her favorite scene to write is in the Crooked Kingdom and it’s a fight between Kaz and Jesper where their relationship comes to a particularly crucial moment.”

He added, “I know that Freddie and I would be very excited to go there because it’s so different from how we are as people. We would never, ever throw blows at one another. So, to do that would be really exciting and a very deep point for the characters.”

One cannot talk about Jesper without also discussing Milo. The emotional support goat became a scene-stealer thanks to his adorable meme potential and tender hug with Jesper. However, filming the iconic scene with a live goat was no easy feat.

“Strangely enough, incredibly hard. The goats — there were two — one of them was the screamer and one of them was the pooper. So it would take time to get that working but also, the goat doesn’t really know what’s going on. We’re in this small compartment and there’s real fire because it’s a train, so when I start getting guns out the goat is going to freak out.”

“There’s that shot that has kind of been made into a meme, where I’m properly hugging the goat, panicking. That shot is as long as it could happen because a split second later the goat head-butted me into a wall,” revealed Young.

Milo may not have been a fan of crossing the Fold with The Crows, but the animal did go on to reward the actor with a sweet parting moment.

“The goat is probably unaware of what an icon Milo now is. But the scene where I say goodbye to the goat and put the bullet around its neck was very tender in reality, and the goat did everything we needed it to. It was actually really sweet. It was just all the crisis stuff was understandably quite distressing.”

Aside from filming a new season of Shadow and Bone, Young has a ton of upcoming projects including The Beautiful Game, and The Origin, a “prehistoric horror movie — that’s very dark, very emotional, and is in a completely fictional made-up language.”

Young also stars in The School for Good and Evil. “It’s a huge fantasy, fairytale world where I get to be the villain, which is great. I’m kind of the Voldermort of this world. It’s fun to go full evil and be the most irredeemable person in the entire film,” he happily divulged.

For fans hoping to discuss the Grishaverse with one of The Crows, Young will make his Fan Expo Canada debut this month. It’s a first the actor says he’s excited to experience. “Not only have I not been to Fan Expo before, but I’ve never been to Canada before. I’m really, really excited. I’m going to get to see a bit of Toronto and also, come to this really cool event.”

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Check out all of our coverage of Fan Expo Canada here! FAN EXPO Canada: LIMITED EDITION takes place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre October 22-24.

Shadow and Bone is now streaming on Netflix. You can read our review of Season 1 here!

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