Three years ago, Screen Gems and Entertainment One’s The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones failed to ignite a newfound YA franchise in the way the studios had hoped. But in circling back to Cassandra Clare’s novel series and all the human-angel hybrids within, Freeform has crafted a new spin on the source material in the form of Shadowhunters.
With a first season now under its belt and a cult audience in tow, the network has renewed the sci-fi series for a second outing, ensuring that it will outlive its cinematic brethren after all.
Word comes by way of the Shadowhunters Facebook page, which recently featured a Q&A session with the core cast and crew. There, it was confirmed that Freeform will pick up Constantin Film and showrunner Ed Decter’s sci-fi drama, with the likes of Katherine McNamara, Dominic Sherwood and Alberto Rosende all primed to reprise their respective roles.
Indeed, when it debuted in January, Shadowhunters went on to become the second-best season premiere in Freeform’s history, pulling in 2.9 million total viewers, 1.6 million of which were among the coveted 18-49 demographic. Can the show carry that form on into season 2?
It may not have ripped up the rulebook, but the Shadowhunters premiere has been deemed successful enough to warrant another crack at Clare’s source material.