Steel yourselves, Shadow and Bone fans. Jessie Mei Li, star of the epic fantasy adapted from Leigh Bardugo’s best-selling Grishaverse novels, has a warning about what’s in store for the hit series’ highly anticipated second season. Not that they’re sharing spoilers — Li knows better than that. “There were so many moments when we were reading the scripts, and I would just cry my eyes out,” they say.

Perhaps it’s not too surprising that Li would be so deeply moved by the experiences of their heroine Alina Starkov, a bi-racial orphan from a war-torn nation who learns that she alone has the power to banish an age-old darkness and literally remake the geography of her world. Li, who is of English and Chinese descent, first became aware of the character they would immortalize while working as a teaching assistant for children with special needs — their students were devoted fans of Bardugo’s books — and from their earliest auditions, Li felt a strong kinship to Alina. “She’s brave but also spends a lot of time being scared,” says the 27-year-old actor of their onscreen counterpart. “She’s powerful, but she’s also very gentle. She felt very whole.”

 Li’s innate understanding of Alina’s psychology allowed them to deliver a multifaceted breakthrough performance in the series’ first eight episodes, catapulting them into the global spotlight seemingly overnight. As the actor was preparing for the show’s second season, Li homed in on Alina’s inner tumult — the heroine’s power lies in her commitment to doing what’s right in spite of overwhelming odds, and her internal misgivings. “Season 1 of the show was about Alina coming to terms with her responsibilities as a savior, when all she ever wanted was to stay hidden away and safe,” Li says. “In Season 2, she has even more responsibilities, even more power. What’s really been exciting this season is that her power grows. She’s coming to terms with pain and love, and we start to see all these different sides to her, and all of the challenges that she faces.”