Warning: This article contains spoilers for Shadow and Bone season 2 and the Six of Crows book series.
The tumultuous finale scenes in Hellgate prison immediately pose the question of what happens to Matthias after Shadow and Bone season 2. With season 1 endearing audiences to Nina and Matthias and their enemies-turned-lovers storyline, many were naturally devastated when the season closed out with his imprisonment in Kerch's Hellgate prison due to Nina's accusations of him being a slave trader. As this act was done to protect Matthias from being killed by Grisha, it set up an inherently tragic initial ending for the pair, and for Matthias' hopes of ever leaving the facility alive.
While Shadow and Bone season 2 does close out with Matthias still alive, it also crushes his initial chances of escape. The letter freeing him from jail is lost when Pekka Rollins has Nina kicked out of the Hellshow Matthias is in, and Matthias swiftly finds himself in the exact same situation he was at the start of the season - with the added negative of being in Rollins' crosshair. Mercifully, however, what happens to Matthias after Shadow and Bone season 2 is set to be far less confined for the former drüskelle.
Nina & The Crows Help Matthias Escape Hellgate
While the timeline of the show is different to the books, tying Matthias' story together with the Crows is still the logical move for the series' future. Though the Shadow and Bone season 2 finale shows the Crows' most recent attempt at freeing Matthias from prison failed, the crew are set to help Matthias escape in the future of the series. Indeed, with the ending so closely paralleling Matthias' book experience in Hellgate's shows - wherein he is placed against wolves and faces deep conflict because of the Fjerdens considering them sacred animals - it seems likely the show will also parallel how Nina and the Crows save Matthias in the books.
In Six Of Crows, Nina, Kaz, Jasper and Inej manage to rescue Matthias from Hellgate by disguising a member of the Dregs to look like him, and switching the two around. With Kaz successfully consolidating the power of the Crows over season 2, it seems possible this plot will repeat again, if only to prevent Matthias from spending two entire seasons in Hellgate. This is especially true given that this would allow the Crows spinoff and Shadow and Bone season 3 to incorporate Matthias more directly into other storylines.
Matthias Will Help The Crows In Shadow & Bone Season 3
After being freed from Hellgate in the books, Matthias assists his rescuers in their Ice Court heist to retrieve Bo Yul-Bayar, a Fabrikator who created a Grisha power-enhancing drug known as juda parem. Shadow and Bone season 2 appears to set up this plot going forward, as the show closes on Kaz explaining that the Crows are to set out to deal with said power-enhancing drug, which is shown to wreak havoc at Nikolai and Alina's coronation. This would provide an extra incentive to rescue Matthias other than it being Nina's wishes, as Matthias' knowledge of the drüskelle base would mean rescuing him before the mission is a must.
However, what is less clear is when exactly when Matthias will be rescued. The announcement of a Six of Crows spinoff that begins with the season 2 finale suggests that this may be where Matthias is sprung, as covering the entire jura parem story outside of Shadow and Bone could mean some viewers are confused if and when Shadow and Bone season 3 returns to the teased storyline being entirely resolved. That said, the time dedicated to Nina and Matthias' prolonged separation could also fall flat in the main show if season 3 opens to them simply being reunited, raising further questions as to how the two series will co-exist.
What is clear, however, is that the future of the story holds a lot of exciting potential. This is especially true for those who spent season 2 desperately hoping for Matthias' freedom, only to find their dreams crushed in suitably dramatic and heartbreaking fashion in the finale. Shadow and Bone season 3 is set to have a lot of exciting stories, and Matthias' is definitely one of them - whether he begins the season still stuck in Hellgate or not.