Shadowhunters Tragically Failed The Mortal Instruments A 2nd Time
Fantasy adaptations can be hit or miss, and there’s no shortage of movies and TV shows that are disappointing to diehard fans of their source material — but I’ll never get over Shadowhuntersfailing Cassandra Clare’s books a second time.
Clare’s Shadowhunter Chronicles bookswere huge additions to the YA fantasy space in the late 2000s and 2010s, and new ones are still coming out today. With The Mortal Instruments and its follow-up series accumulating such a large fan base, it’s no surprise Clare’s books were picked up for a television adaptation on Freeform.
Unfortunately, the Freeform series failed to do the source material justice, with Shadowhunters eventually being canceled after three seasons. The show’s problems started before then, however, and it wasn’t the first take on The Mortal Instruments to lead to disappointment.
Shadowhunters Was The Second Adaptation To Fail The Mortal Instruments Books
Three years before Shadowhunters debuted, City of Bones adapted The Mortal Instruments for the big screen — and despite its promising cast and Clare’s established fan base, the film flopped at the box office. Per Box Office Mojo, it brought it $95 million on a budget of $60 million, leaving it with an unimpressive profit that didn’t yield a sequel.
Additionally, City of Bones didn’t receive a positive response from critics or general audiences, receiving a low 13% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and just 58% from general reviewers. Several things went wrong with The Mortal Instruments movie, which had the misfortune of being compared to Twilight and diverged too significantly from the first book.
When it was revealed that Shadowhunters would give new life to the series on-screen, it felt like readers might finally get the adaptation they’d been waiting for. Sadly, this wasn’t the case, andShadowhunters also delivered a heavily criticized take on the source material leading up to its cancellation.
If you think one adaptation of a favorite book series is disappointing, just imagine how fans of Clare’s work felt after getting two. Shadowhunters had potential, too, but it made the same mistake as City of Bones and failed to be totally faithful to the books.
Shadowhunters Wasn’t A Bad Show, But It Wasn’t A Faithful Take On The Books
An image of Clary and Isabelle standing together in Shadowhunters
Shadowhunters took time to find its footing, but once it did, it wasn’t necessarily a bad series; it simply wasn’t a faithful take on the books it aimed to adapt. It didn’t take long for the show to veer away from Clare’s story, taking the characters in completely different directions than their book counterparts.
The world may have resembled Clare’s somewhat, but Shadowhunters’ special effects and visuals didn’t initially do that justice either. This made its lack of commitment to the source material even more frustrating, as did the odd writing choices that were meant to ramp up the drama but really just hurt the characters and plot.
It’s no wonder that both book fans and newcomers felt alienated from the series, as it didn’t have a full picture to offer either. The series’ drama might have been compelling to those unfamiliar with the books but seeking out a supernatural YA series, but nothing else set it apart. Meanwhile, readers might have overlooked some of the show’s flaws if it hadn’t gone so off track.
Cassandra Clare’s Books Deserve A Proper Chance On The Screen
A collage featuring the covers of all six of Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments books
It’s a shame that not one, but two, adaptations failed The Mortal Instruments — and the fact that the series probably won’t get a third chance on the screen makes it hard to forgive Shadowhunters for failing it. Clare’s books deserve higher-quality, faithful renderings, especially since what comes after The Mortal Instruments is far more compelling.
But given the response to both City of Bones and Shadowhunters, it doesn’t seem likely we’ll ever see The Infernal Devices or The Dark Artifices on the big or small screen. I’d like to believe otherwise, but studios likely won’t see an incentive to dig back into the saga after two attempts have already ended in disappointment.
Andy Wolk, Mick Garris, Mairzee Almas, Catriona McKenzie, Tawnia McKiernan, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Oz Scott, Mike Rohl, Kelly Makin, Ben Hernandez Bray, Joshua Butler, Jeremiah S. Chechik, James Marshall, J. Miller Tobin, Gregory Smith, Chris Grismer
Writers
Peter Binswanger, Allison Rymer, Darren Swimmer, Todd Slavkin
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