Shadowhunters


Shadowhunters, also known as Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, is an American supernatural drama television series developed by Ed Decter, based on the novel series The Mortal Instruments written by Cassandra Clare. It premiered in North America on Freeform on January 12, 2016. Primarily filmed in Toronto, Canada, the series follows Clary Fray, who finds out on her eighteenth birthday that she comes from a long line of Shadowhunters, human-angel hybrids who hunt down devils and demons, and has to deal with the struggle of forbidden love.
Produced by Constantin Film, it serves as a reboot of the first Constantin Film adaptation of the novels, the 2013 film The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. The first season of Shadowhunters received mixed responses from critics. The pilot episode attracted the largest audience for Freeform in more than two years. The show received numerous award nominations, winning one GLAAD Award, six Teen Choice Awards and five People's Choice Awards.
In March 2016, the series was renewed for a second season of 20 episodes, which premiered on January 2, 2017. In August 2016, showrunner Ed Decter left the series over "creative differences". Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer were named as Decter's replacements. In April 2017, Freeform renewed the show for a third season of 20 episodes, which premiered on March 20, 2018. In June 2018, Freeform canceled the series after three seasons, but ordered two extra episodes to properly conclude the series' story; the second half of the third season premiered on February 25, 2019, with 12 episodes ordered. The two-part series finale aired on May 6, 2019.
WWW freeform.go.com/shows/sha...𝕏 ShadowhuntersTV

Plot

On her 18th birthday, Clary Fray is accepted into the Brooklyn Academy of Arts. That evening, while out celebrating with her best friend, Simon Lewis, Clary sees a group of suspicious people that nobody else can see. She follows them into the back room of the club, witnessing a fight. She interferes, grabbing a blade. Believing she has accidentally committed a murder, Clary is distraught and immediately rushes home. Her mother, Jocelyn Fray, then reveals invisible inkings on her own skin, similar to those worn by the group at the club. Knowing she will be attacked, Jocelyn fears for Clary's safety, asking their friend Dot to send her through a portal to Luke, her only father figure.
However, when she arrives, Clary believes Luke has betrayed her, leading to her returning to her apartment. When she arrives, she finds her mother missing, and a monstrous Dot asking her about a Mortal Cup. Clary is saved by a blond boy from the club, who seems to know more about herself than she does. She joins up with a group of Shadowhunters, half angel half human, to save her mother from the villainous Valentine Morgenstern, Clary's own father, and discovers powers she never knew she possessed. Clary is thrown into the world of demon hunting with the mysterious, narcissistic, and attractive Shadowhunters Jace, Isabelle and Alec and drags her loyal and geeky friend Simon along for the ride. Now living amongst the fair folk, warlocks, vampires, and werewolves, Clary begins a journey of self-discovery as she learns more about her past and what her future may hold.

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

Introduced in season one

  • Alan van Sprang as Valentine Morgenstern, a rogue Shadowhunter and the leader of the Circle
  • Maxim Roy as Jocelyn Fairchild, Clary's warm and protective mother and Valentine's ex-wife, who is a former member of the Circle
  • Vanessa Matsui as Dorothea Rollins, a younger warlock who is Jocelyn's assistant at the shop Jocelyn owns and a sister figure to Clary
  • Jon Cor as Hodge Starkweather, a former Circle member and the weapons trainer at the New York Institute
  • David Castro as Raphael Santiago, a catholic vampire who is Camille's former right-hand man and the former leader of the Brooklyn vampire clan
  • Jade Hassouné as Meliorn, a Seelie Knight loyal to the Seelie Queen and Isabelle's ex-lover
  • Kaitlyn Leeb as Camille Belcourt, the former leader of the Brooklyn vampire clan and Magnus' ex-girlfriend
  • Christina Cox as Elaine Lewis, Simon and Rebecca's widowed mother
  • Nicola Correia-Damude as Maryse Lightwood, the former head of the New York Institute and former member of the Circle
  • Paulino Nunes as Robert Lightwood, a former member of the Circle
  • Jack Fulton as Max Lightwood, Alec and Isabelle's precocious younger brother and Jace's adoptive brother who is eager to become a Shadowhunter
  • Holly Deveaux as Rebecca Lewis, Simon's older sister
  • Stephanie Bennett as Lydia Branwell, a member of the Clave who temporarily takes over the New York Institute
  • Raymond Ablack as Raj, a Shadowhunter who often enforces the orders of the head of the New York Institute
  • Mimi Kuzyk as Imogen Herondale, the former Inquisitor of the Clave
  • Joel Labelle as Alaric Rodriguez, a werewolf who is Luke's NYPD partner
  • Jordan Hudyma as Blackwell
  • Shailene Garnett as Maureen Brown, Clary and Simon's friend and Simon's bandmate
  • Stephen R. Hart as Brother Jeremiah, one of the Silent Brothers

Introduced in season two

  • Nick Sagar as Victor Aldertree, a Clave diplomat who takes over the Institute and leads the manhunt on Jace
  • Lisa Berry as Sister Cleophas Garroway, a former member of the Circle
  • Luke Gallo as Rufus
  • Will Tudor as Sebastian Verlac / Jonathan Morgenstern, Clary's older brother and the firstborn son of Jocelyn and Valentine who was injected with demon blood before his birth
  • Alexandra Ordolis as Olivia "Ollie" Wilson, a former NYPD officer, Luke's former partner and Sam's girlfriend
  • Tara Joshi as Samantha "Sam", Ollie's girlfriend
  • Lola Flanery and Sarah Hyland as the Seelie Queen, the ruler of the Seelie court who takes an interest in Simon's Daylighter status
  • Alyssa Capriotti as Lindsay, a nerdy Shadowhunter
  • Stephanie Belding as Iris Rouse, a warlock who has the ability to bring people back from the dead
  • Ariana Williams as Madzie, Iris's goddaughter who has a close bond with Alec and Magnus
  • Noah Danby as Russell, a tough member of Luke's pack
  • Joanne Jansen as Gretel, another member of Luke's pack and Maia's closest friend
  • Neven Pajkic as Taito, a member of Luke's pack and Gretel's godfather
  • Shannon Kook as Duncan, a Shadowhunter who is blackmailed by Jonathan
  • Chad Connell as Quinn, a member of Raphael's clan
  • Erica Deutschman as Eloise, a blonde member of Raphael's clan
  • Andreas Apergis as Malachi Dieudonné, the Consul of the Clave who secretly works for Valentine
  • Kevin Alves as Bartholomew "Bat" Velasquez, a mundane whom Russell Turns and becomes a member of the werewolf pack
  • Sophia Walker as Catarina Loss, a warlock who is a close friend of Magnus and becomes Madzie's guardian
  • Tessa Mossey as Heidi McKenzie, a mundane whom Simon meets at a bleeder den who is accidentally drained of blood by Quinn, another vampire
  • Josh Horvath as Joshua / ND Vampire, a member of the Brooklyn vampire clan and Raphael's bodyguard

Introduced in season three

  • Anna Hopkins as Lilith, a Greater Demon and the ruler of Edom
  • Javier Muñoz as Lorenzo Rey, the current High Warlock of Brooklyn who happens to be jealous of Magnus
  • Chai Hansen as Jordan Kyle, a mundane turned werewolf who is Maia's ex-boyfriend and the reason why Maia became a werewolf in the first place
  • Genevieve Kang as Morgan Young, a young woman who is briefly possessed by Lilith
  • Jonathan Ho as Brother Zachariach, a Silent Brother
  • James McGowan as Praetor Scott, a member of the Praetor Lupus who has Luke released from prison after he falsely took credit for his pack's massacre
  • Brooks Darnell as Charlie Cooper, a mundane doctor
  • Jack J. Yang as Asmodeus, a Greater Demon and Magnus' father
  • Steve Byers as Andrew Underhill, an openly gay Shadowhunter who is the Institute's head of security
  • Françoise Yip as Jia Penhallow, the current Consul of the Clave following Malachi's death and Aline's mother
  • Conrad Coates as Detective Dwyer, the NYPD's lieutenant and Luke's supervisor
  • Romaine Waite as Griffin, the new leader of the Brooklyn vampire clan following Raphael's banishment
  • Aimee Bessada as Elle, a member of Griffin's vampire clan
  • Pasha Ebrahimi as Cain, Abel's brother and the son of Adam and Eve
  • Katie Strain as Nora Kendall, a woman who dislikes Heidi
  • Luke Baines as Jonathan Morgenstern, the restored form of Clary's brother upon his resurrection. Will Tudor previously played Jonathan in the second season and briefly reprised the role in two episodes of the third season before the role was recast with Baines following the character's resurrection.
  • Kimberly-Sue Murray as the adult Seelie Queen
  • Kyana Teresa as Lanaia, a Seelie nymph who briefly serves Jonathan before turning on him
  • Jacky Lai as Aline Penhallow, Sebastian's cousin and Jia's daughter. Eileen Li previously played Aline through a guest role in the second season before the role was passed to Lai due to scheduling conflicts with the former actress.
  • Sydney Meyer as Helen Blackthorn, a Shadowhunter half Seelie who starts dating Aline

Production

Development

In 2010, Screen Gems announced that they were going into production on the film adaptation of City of Bones, the first book in The Mortal Instruments series, with hopes of starting a successful film franchise. Production on a film adaptation of the second book, City of Ashes, was due to start in September 2013, but was delayed to 2014, and eventually cancelled, after the first film failed to recoup its budget.
On October 12, 2014, at Mipcom, Constantin confirmed that The Mortal Instruments will return as a television series with Ed Decter as showrunner. Constantin Film and TV head Martin Moszkowicz told The Hollywood Reporter that, "It actually makes sense to do as a TV series. There was so much from the book that we had to leave out of the Mortal Instruments film. In the series we'll be able to go deeper and explore this world in greater detail and depth." The producers hope to adapt the entire book series if the TV adaptation proves successful. In February 2015, book series author Cassandra Clare announced via Twitter that the television series would be called Shadowhunters rather than The Mortal Instruments. In March 2015, ABC Family picked up Shadowhunters straight-to-series. The series was renewed for a second season in March 2016, consisting of 20 episodes, which premiered on January 2, 2017. In April 2017, it was announced that the series was renewed for a third season of 20 episodes. The first half of ten episodes premiered on March 20, 2018. On June 4, 2018, Freeform canceled the series after three seasons, but ordered two extra episodes to properly conclude the series' story; the second half of the third season premiered on February 25, 2019.
In August 2016, soon before filming on the second season was to begin, showrunner Ed Decter exited the series over "creative differences". Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer, who were former showrunners on Smallville, were announced as Decter's replacements in August 2016.

Casting

On Twitter, Cassandra Clare announced that she would not be part of casting decisions, and would not be expecting any of the original film cast to return. On April 20, 2015, ABC revealed Dominic Sherwood as the first member of the Shadowhunters cast. On May 1, 2015, it was announced that Emeraude Toubia would be taking the role of Isabelle Lightwood and Alberto Rosende would be joining the cast as Simon Lewis. On May 6, it was reported that Katherine McNamara landed the lead role of Clary Fray. Two days later, on May 8, Matthew Daddario and Isaiah Mustafa were cast as Alec Lightwood and Luke Garroway, respectively. Harry Shum Jr. and Alan van Sprang later joined the cast on May 15, as Magnus Bane and Valentine Morgenstern. On May 18, it was announced that Maxim Roy would be playing Jocelyn Fray.
On May 28, Jon Cor was announced to play Hodge Starkweather, a Shadowhunter and former member of the Circle. David Castro was reported to be portraying vampire Raphael Santiago on June 4. Shortly after, on June 9, Lisa Marcos announced she would be joining the cast as Captain Vargas, a new character created for the series by Ed Decter. On June 12, producer McG's official Twitter account stated that Kaitlyn Leeb had been cast to play the vampire, Camille Belcourt. On June 16, Jade Hassouné was reported to be portraying the faerie, Meliorn. On August 8, Stephanie Bennett was cast as the new character Lydia Branwell, a rule-following Shadowhunter. On September 2, 2016, Alisha Wainwright was announced to play Maia Roberts in the second season, and soon promoted to series regular beginning in the third season.

Filming

The series began filming in Mississauga, Canada on May 25, 2015. The fictional New York Police Department's 89 Precinct was filmed in the Science Wing at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

Music

Soundtrack

Shadowhunters was released on platforms including iTunes, Spotify and Apple Music on July 21, 2017, featuring six original songs from the show.
Ben Decter composed the instrumental music score for the first season. Trevor Morris and Jack Wall composed the instrumental music score for the second and third seasons. Their music was released as a soundtrack album in 2018. The opening theme song is "This Is The Hunt" performed by Ruelle, which was written for Shadowhunters by Maggie Eckford and Jeff Bowman. Other Ruelle songs have featured in the series.

Broadcast

The series premiered on January 12, 2016, in the U.S. on Freeform. The second episode, "The Descent into Hell Is Easy", was released online that same day, following the premiere of the first episode. In December 2015, Netflix acquired global rights to Shadowhunters, excluding the U.S., making the series available as an original series a day after the U.S. premiere, with the first episode having launched globally on January 13, 2016, and subsequent episodes having been released on a weekly basis.

Reception

Critical response

The debut season of Shadowhunters received mixed responses from critics. Metacritic gave it a 45 out of 100 rating, based on 9 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Rotten Tomatoes gave the series a 44% rating, based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 5.81/10. The site's consensus states, "Shadowhunters boasts visual thrills and a potential-rich premise, but they're not enough to overcome the show's self-serious silliness and dull, convoluted plots."
According to James Poniewozik of The New York Times, the series "has its assets, especially its popular source material. But it might become more fun if it learns to enjoy being the empowerment fantasy it really is."

Home media releases

No subtitles are available on the Region 2 DVD and the United Kingdom Blu-ray. The Region 4 DVD has closed captions, excluding season 3 part B. None of them includes extra features.