New York Comic Con Coverage 2015: Shadowhunters, Part 1

Fans of Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunters book series are eagerly awaiting the brand new TV series coming in January from Freeform (the network formally known as ABC Family). Luckily, we got to chat with some cast and crew at New York Comic Con. Based on how open and lovely they all were, we’re hoping that the show will be a lot better than the (terrible) movie version from a few years ago. Enjoy learning more about the cast and crew behind the new show: Shadowhunters.

 

Alberto Rosende (Simon Lewis) & Emeraude Toubia (Isabelle Lightwood)

Q: Tell us about how you guys have prepared to go into this first season, and if it really covers the first chunk of City of Bones. How much of a plot there is from the book?

Alberto Rosende: Personally, to prepare, I read all of the books as soon as I can. When I got the notice that I got the call back of the show, I picked up the first book. And by the time I was really testing, I was mid-way through the third book. So I really wanted to make sure I understood the world that Cassandra created and that I really understood what I think the books are about which is relationships. I really wanted to make sure that those relationships that she wrote so well well were really strong for Simon in the show.

Emeraude Toubia: The first season is going to be a little bit of all the books, not really just City of Bones. And it’s really nice because of the series we’re true to the character and Cassandra Clare created these amazing characters. We’re going to go to places that neither the book or the movie really went to. It’s going to be really fun and really exciting and Isabelle gets to be different characters. She’s not only the sexy badass she gets to play other roles and I can’t wait for the cast. And for the fans.

Q: What was one of your most fun scenes to shoot so far?

AR: The first ‘Sizzy’ [Simon & Isabelle] scene I thought was a lot of fun. Because Simon’s very good with girls. (note: sarcasm!)

ET: Isabelle doesn’t know how to cook and she cooks for Simon so…

AR: In the books that’s a thing. So then you have gorgeous Emeraude walking over and you have Simon kinda like (dumbfoundedly saying) “Girl.”

[ET to AR]: Can I say where? Where the first scene was done? No, right? [shrugs/shakes head] I guess I can’t.

ET: It was a very intimidating place where we have our first encounter.

AR: A place where Simon is not at all comfortable with.

ET: Where boys shouldn’t be in! You can take it from there… [laughter] You know I love Isabelle’s whip scenes. I do my own stunts and it’s so much fun having to actually use the whip.

AR: It’s lethal!

ET: You have to be very careful because it’s made out of leather and you could really hurt someone, and we’ve been trained. The cast is amazing. Some people like to run away when I do my whipping scenes.

AR: She starts whipping people! [laughter] No, you’re good at it! But that thing terrifies me.

ET: And I do it in 7 inch heels so…. I think I’m the best Shadowhunter out of everyone. Don’t tell that to the guys. [laughter] Actually, tell them that!

Q: Can you talk a little bit about the familial relationships. Is family going to feature prominently this season?

ET: Yeah it is. Families are going to be in there a lot. And Isabelle’s relationship with her mom in the series is different. It’s not how it’s written in the book because we wanna take it to other places. We don’t want everything to just be there [with no growth]. So we want to grow that relationship. So Isabelle’s relationship with her mom is different. But her relationship with her brother is the same. She loves him, she’s willing to die for him. It shows how selfless shadowhunters are. That they’re willing to risk their lives to save others. So I love that relationship between my brother—my little brother max…and my big brother, Alec! I love that family relationship.

AR: So, for Simon, it’s interesting. In the books, Simon’s mother doesn’t really come until the 4th book, and you don’t really find out about his sister until the 5th book. And it’s one of those things that it’s going to be really fun to explore that. But now they’re bringing it in right away. And when Simon starts going through those changes–that we all kind of know about–I’m interested to see how that going to affect him because he’s very much a family person. So it’s going to be cool.

Matthew Daddario (Alec Lightwood) & Harry Shum Jr. (Magnus Bane)

Q: Do you have a favorite scene that you shot over the course of Season 1? Is there one that you were like “yes that was the one I liked the most” or that excited or frightened you?

Matthew Daddario: There were some stunt scenes that were very fun, that sort of stick out. Because they require a lot of preparation…obviously there’s a lot of Physicality of it. But…man, you know. I don’t know.

Harry Shum Jr.: You guys had a lot of cool fight scenes.

MD: Yeah, there’s one really great scene that happens that I can’t say anything about it! [laughter] That’s sorta the problem [not being allowed to talk about certain things]…it’s really good.

Q: Can you tell us who it involves?

MD: I can’t!

HSJ: How this show is… the relationships are a huge part of like, ‘If this interaction happens then it kind of foreshadows what happens after that.’ So, like, when we…as much as we want to… it’s really difficult because…you know, you might notice that some things have shifted from the book, and it makes a huge difference. I mean, I think what was always fun for me was when the whole crew was there. The whole crew was shooting scenes together. Because a lot of times, I had scenes with him [pointing to MD], or I had scenes with Kat [Clary], but I never see Isaiah [Luke]…

MD: we can’t talk about that!

Q: So in doing the whole season that you guys have done so far, if you could be a different character, who would you be?

MD: I know who I’d be.

HSJ: Magnus!

MD: I’d be Magnus or Valentine for sure. Magnus is the, you know, that’s a lot of fun to work with. And Valentine he’s the same way. He’s evil as all hell and that’s fun. That’s real fun.

HSJ: Um, I would probably…You know, we see Camille. She’s a snark…even snarkier than Magnus because she has the power over him. And she’s so much fun because she’s a vampire and you know you kind of live a lavish life.

MD: She’s sadistic as well.

HSJ: Very sadistic.

MD: That’s kind of a trend. It goes between kind of this evil to kind this ‘Oh!”

HSJ: You can’t help but be attracted to that, but, also like, ‘I need to stay away.’ Which I assume a lot of people in relationships can relate to…

Q: Speaking of the book, had you read the books previously? Or did you land the role and then prep with the book?

MD: I had heard of the books previously because of the movie. I remember auditioning for the film. But I did not read the books until I was getting my callback for the show.

HSJ: Feverishly!

MD: ‘Oh god I gotta get through this!’

HSJ: It is the first time I’ve been a part of the book adaption. And you have these sources you can go back to. And, particularly, my character had The Bane Chronicles that I could look to if I needed to. I had something to tell me about a scene. And you know I have to make sure…for me, I got the role and then in two days I had to shoot. So I had to do as much cramming in as possible.

Dominic Sherwood (Jace Wayland) & Kat McNamara (Clary Fray)

Q: Who on the cast is most like the character they are playing?

Dominic Sherwood: Well they all change. All the characters change and they evolve within their own worlds so I think from like day one…Alberto.

Kat McNamara: Yeah, I was gonna say Alberto!

DS: He has traits similar to Simon. He’s much more popular, much cooler than Simon is, but I’d say he is the most similar at that point in Episode 1. Because, I mean, I don’t have any angel blood so I’m not that similar to Jace. [smiles] I don’t have any swords. I’ve never seen a demon before. I am not that similar to him.

KM: I must say, though, that everybody is extremely well cast. Because everybody–whether or not they did in the beginning–everybody has come to embody their characters. I see it in everyone as we’re hanging out. It makes it fun to read the books now. I see Dominic as Jace. I see Harry as Magnus and Matt as Alec and the rest as their characters.

Q: Did you prepare by reading the books, or had you read them before?

DS: Yes and no. I read the first one. I’ve actually done a young adult interpretation before. I did a movie called Vampire Academy. I did the same thing, I only read the first one. It’s completely different for everyone. Everyone behaves in a different way, and it’s about their process as an actor more than anything. But for me, I had to understand the world and to understand where jace was and what runes are and why we fight demons and what different kind of demons there were and what the swords are made out of and why we wear black leather. Because that was a big thing for me. I was like, ‘Why are soldiers fighting in leather?’. There couldn’t be anything worse to fight in, but it’s explained in the book. So for me that was important, but from kinda there on I don’t wanna know where Jace goes; I don’t wanna know where this world goes. I get that in the scripts. I read that for the first time in the scripts, and I don’t wanna confuse those two worlds in my head. I don’t wanna get to the end of Episode 13 and be like ‘Oh, that’s not how the book ended’, or ‘That’s not how that happened’. So, for me, it was much more important that I’m an actor and this stimulus comes directly from where it’s coming from. From ABC Family, from the writer’s room in LA, and that is my stimulus. But the books were…the first book was an amazing start for me because it was like my work had been done for me. This character has already been developed, and there are tweaks that Jace has. Jace is always playing with his stellae, he has a nervous tick, and that’s always in the show because it’s in the books. It isn’t necessarily in the scripts, but it’s written in the books.

KM: For me, I kinda took a different path. I dove right into the books and tried to read as many as I could while we were shooting. I ended up having to take a pause because scripts were coming in, and I was confusing the stories. But, for me, it’s nice to see where Clary goes so that I can have that information and inform where she is now. And it helps to see the end so I know what the arc will be.

 

Joseph McGinty “McG” Nichol (Director of the Pilot) & Cassandra Clare (Author)

Q: How close to the books will the series be, and what differences are there?

McG: Ed [the showrunner] has to create a show bible and break it out. One thing that is interesting is Cassandra’s the master of her universe when she sits down to write. She likes to go to places where she can get away from the noise and focus on her writing. With a director in a film the buck kind of stops with you. TV, though, is largely the medium of the showrunner. The showrunner has to parcel out over…we had 13 episodes…so Cassy can exert her influence. I can exert my influence. But, at the end of the day, the tip of the spear is the showrunner so we wanted to be very aggressive and apply pressure to Ed to ‘Stick to the books! Stick to the books!’. I’m getting this messaging from the fandom that ‘Hey man. This is what I think about, what was really important in the text’. I think he’s doing a really good job of making everyone happy in the end. We do mostly stick to the books. We do play a little bit with time. We put a little bit more energy in some characters. We talked a little bit more about Meliorn than what is put into the book series, but, again, I don’t think you can take it any higher than Game of Thrones: A Song of Fire and Ice. So, if you get caught up in the books you go ‘What are you doing!?’, but if you can just let go and watch it, you know, on Sunday nights, I think you’ll find it very satisfying. It’s tough. It’s tricky business, but we’re going to try our best.

Cassandra Clare: Also a television show is a very different structure. It’s a serial narrative rather than a book. So you have these 13 units that are stories within themselves that have a beginning, middle, and an end. Which is not something you have in a book. So you have to look at it and say what portion of this book makes a beginning, middle, and an end. What is there pacing-wise that we have to do? Is there anything we have to do to give this an ending? I dunno what’s going to happen, so it’s exciting. I managed to pry a little information out of them. You know I’m like “Magnus, Alec…right?”?! They’ll tell me a little bit, but I’m going to be surprised–just like you guys.

Isaiah Mustafa (Luke Garroway) & Ed Decter (Showrunner)

Q: So it’s a hit book series with special effects all on a television schedule. Do you feel a lot of pressure?

Ed Decter: It’s the best kind of pressure. I’ve worked on lots of TV shows, and I’ve never worked on anything like this. It’s the best kind of pressure. We have to honor Cassandra Clare’s work, but then we have to introduce the series to people who have absolutely never read the books and don’t know them at all. We’re hoping we’re giving some surprises and side trips that the fans have never seen and really introduce and really taking care to bring in new fans who have never experienced Cassandra Clare’s world before.

Q: How much of Luke’s history are we going to see this season?

Isaiah Mustafa: I think you’ll get a full dose of Luke’s history. In fact, I think you’ll learn things you never knew before. Like early on in his life. You’ll definitely see him go from a young man to the police captain that he is and maybe beyond.

ED: I will say this: if you are really interested in Luke’s history, watch Episode 6.

Q: How challenging was it to adapt the books into a series? And how intricate did you have to be in the world building of the show?

ED: It’s a really good question. It’s really tough to world create in television. You know you have budget concerns, you have scope concerns, but we have McG . Together we mapped out this world and how it was going to look. It’s the most exciting part about a television show: building the world. And then you have to build the world in a way that is kind of seductive and wants to draw you in and wants to draw the views in, and our hope is that many Halloween costumes would be Shadowhunters [laughter].

Q: So you’ve been painted as a mentor figure to the rest of the cast…Is that something you knew you were going to do, or did that just happen?

IM: I don’t know if anybody ever goes into being a mentor. Maybe they do. Just knowing that I was the oldest cast member, I felt that responsibility that I lead by example. I knew that I could lead by example.

ED: Our cast got a lot more ripped after seeing Isaiah working out! [laughter] So we have a super ripped cast now emulating Isaiah. And, by the way, Joss Whedon and I went to the same college and had the same film teacher. His influence is super important to ours. We are super fans of Buffy, but we don’t want to replicate Buffy. But, all the things that Joss has done have mapped out a course. We don’t want to step in Joss’s footprints, but he did so well in Buffy and how do we do our show and give the audience surprises that they didn’t get from the Buffy series.

Q: That’s great! So the females will be really strong.

ED: Kickass! Our female characters kick ass.

IM: Every single one of them.

ED: By the way, you would think…Isaiah was a track star and played pro football, so you’d think he’s the fastest runner on the cast, but it’s actually Clary. It is Kat McNamara, and she does it in nine inch heels.

IM: Like a deer!

ED: She’s faster than anyone on the cast.

Q: Did she train to do that?

ED: No! She’s just naturally fast. She’s just the fastet human being in the world. I’m not joking. I think she graduated college when she was 15 or 16. She’s just fast mentally and fast as a rabbit.