By Hope Hummel, staff writer
Readers everywhere are rejoicing: Cassandra Clare’s novel series The Mortal Instruments has become a television show. Having aired its first episode Jan. 12, 2016, Freeform has one- upped itself with this series.
This series follows Clary Fray, an art student from New York, played by Katherine MacNamara. When her mother gets kidnapped, Clary discovers that she is a Shadowhunter: a human who is born with angel blood. Jace Herondale, played by Dominic Sherwood, is a Shadowhunter who helps run the New York sanctuary, takes Clary under his wing and teaches her about what it means to be a Shadowhunter.
Her goal is to find the Mortal Cup, a cup capable of creating more Shadowhunters, which her mother hid before she was taken. She learns to fight demons with the help of Jace, along with his counterparts Isabelle and Alec, played by Emeraude Toubia and Matthew Daddario. They run into vampires, warlocks, werewolves, and just about anything else the imagination can come up with. The three Shadowhunters teach her how to create runes, symbols drawn onto the skin that grant supernaturalabilities such as stealth and healing. These symbols are drawn with a stele, which is something of a combination between a pen and a magic wand.
Within the first few episodes, viewers are introduced to the love triangle between Jace, Clary, and her best friend Simon, who is played by Alberto Rosende. Simon is a human, or as Jace calls him, a mundane, and believes he is far superior. However, Simon has been with Clary for years, giving them history. For viewers who have not read the novels, this is a very interesting dash of romance.
Shadowhunters is in its first season, and Executive Producer Ed Decter has said they will be sticking to Cassandra Clare’s novels. For the Hollywood Reporter, he said the show will be following the large plot lines from the books, but small things will be merged or tweaked for the sake of television.
Shadowhunters is on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Freeform.