As Shadowhunters draws its second season to a close tonight with “Beside Still Water“, let’s go over what we learned from the cast and creators at San Diego Comic Con a few weeks back and see how far we’ve come since then.
There’s a lot that’s changed since we last spoke to the creators about the show. At the time, we asked them about the censorship of the show because we’d received a lot of questions and concerns from fans about how the first Magnus and Alec love scene was handled.
Although Todd Slavkin said that they were working on it and that Freeform had no hand in censoring the content, I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t exactly trust the show to ultimately prioritize same sex relationships the same way they did with their heterosexual relationships. However, I was proved wrong in “Awake, Arise, or Forever Be Fallen” as we got a glimpse back into that specific scene in question, and also a deeper dive into Magnus and Alec’s relationship that offered more for viewers to chew on.
And although Sebastian’s fate is still up in the air, it sounds like we’ll be seeing Wil Tudor return back to the screen, if not as a regular then as a recurring role at least, according to Todd Slavkin.
As far as Jace’s character goes, we’ve seen him go from a Weyland to a Lightwood to a Morgenstern to a Herondale within the span of two seasons. On top of his namesake, he’s gone from a Shadowhunter to a pariah to the head of the Institute. Dom Sherwood’s character has been riding a rollercoaster of change, but when we asked him how this affects Jace, the answer was simple. “Jace has always seen himself as a Lightwood,” Sherwood said. “Jace is a Lightwood in his head, he is a Lightwood.” Having been raised by Maryse and Robert alongside Alec, Izzy, and Max, it’s hard to imagine some shifts of identity erasing years of family bonding.
On top of Clary’s discovery of her family’s true origins and Sebastian becoming her brother, one of the things that I have always enjoyed was her interactions with Alec. They have some of the best scenes together. I asked Katherine McNamara about these scenes with the new leader of the Institute, and she was equally enthusiastic. “Alec, at first, did not trust Clary at all, but now he’s starting to trust her little bits of responsibility and that means the world to Clary. They’ve been through so many ups and downs between dealing with Jace and everything that happens with Jocelyn, ultimately it continues to grow, it continues to strengthen,” she explained. “They’re on the same team now.”
For Magnus, this second half of the season has been about him unearthing some of the darkness of his past and being forced to deal with it after his body swap with Valentine. Although Harry Shum Jr. was unsure about when we would see more of Magnus’ childhood and Magnus’ demon father, it seems to be in the books in the future. “Obviously, I think that’s a huge part of Magnus’ past and it’s something that he doesn’t ever talk about,” Shum said. And although Magnus has his share of tragedies, Shum, Matthew Daddario, and Isaiah Mustafa joked about Magnus’ past and the stories that he could tell. “I want to hear the party stories, that’s what I want to hear,” Shum added.
And despite the bumps along the road for Magnus and Alec, the fans of the ship have been passionately supporting both the pairing and the actors playing the characters. “It’s a tremendous honor to have that response because you can do something that you’re trying to right and there can be no response,” Daddario said, in regards to the fan reaction and support to Malec. “Because of that encouragement, we feel this responsibility is that honor. It’s turned into that honor. We really appreciate when people let us know, and also let us know when we do something wrong.”
Although book readers know all about Sizzy aka the ship in regards to Simon and Izzy, it’s clear that the road to Sizzy for the show is still in the works. Actors Alberto Rosende and Emeraude Toubia built up hype for Sarah Hyland’s appearance as the Seelie Queen in the final episodes of the season, and also discussed the topic of asexuality in regards to Raphael’s character. Rosende commented on the fan reaction to the show and how they take on connecting with their younger fans. “It’s an immense responsibility,” he said, “We want to perpetuate how we want the world to change.”
And seeing that Simon and Izzy have both had quite the season with some massive changes in their lives, we asked them what would be some advice the actors would give their characters. Rosende offered, “Just know that you’re always where you’re supposed to be, whether it feels like it or not,” while Toubia joked “I would probably tell Izzy to chill,” but then added, “She’s on a pretty good path right now, so just enjoy what’s in front of you.”
Sound off, Shadowhunters fans! What did you guys think of the finale and what questions do you have for the cast now that the second season has been tied off? Comment below!
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