The stunning show Shadowhunters has just announced its cancelation and heartbroken doesn’t even begin to cover how we’re feeling. This show… This show, with its diverse casting and representation. This show, with its wonderful LGBTQIA+ portrayal, from pride in being oneself to a healthy, strong relationship. This show, with its empowered and empowering women who are independent, solid friends, and not overlooked by anyone. This show, with family ties and love being a driving force for good. This show, with its brilliant cast who are kind and genuinely care about their characters and their fans. This show, with its talented and dedicated crew who love it just as much as anyone. This show, with its incredible fans who stand together – united, always. This show, that wins awards and has found its place as a respectable show in the fantasy genre.
Shadowhunters presents a broken world with grounded heroes fighting to save it. This show has saved so many of us with its characters and relationships – we can take away lessons of friendship, loyalty, compassion, empowerment, pride in oneself.
How is it that this show is cut off before its time?
The ‘why’ is a little more confusing. Shadowhunters has been a fan favorite from the start, generating a lot of publicity for Freeform and the fantasy genre in general. The lack of promotion for the third season was an odd choice for the network as they instead pushed a new show called Siren, inevitably impacting the live-viewings rating. However, much of the Shadowhunters fanbase is international – causing many to watch the show on Netflix in the days following its airing. The fans and cast are always consistent with their #ShadowhuntersChat tweets each week and are often at the top of the statistics for interactions each week. However, Netflix has come under new management, and they decided not to renew their international side of the deal, which is something shows like Shadowhunters rely on for funding. Following this, Freeform and Constantin Films made the decision to cancel the show altogether. This has been a shock for fans, cast, and crew.
The heart aching messages from leading cast members such as Katherine McNamara, our Clary; Matthew Daddario, our Alec; Harry Shum Jr., our Magnus; and Dominic Sherwood, our Jace, have left fragile fans in an uproar as everyone tries to come to terms with the abrupt ending.
In an attempt to heal the brokenhearted, Freeform has scheduled a two-hour finale to be filmed and aired after the 10 episodes already filmed for Season 3B, which has been labeled Shadowhunters: The Final Hunt. This finale event apparently encompasses the sixth and final book (3B covers the fourth and fifth) – and will be the send-off for fans. This seems like a pretty big task for just two hours, especially with any cliff-hangers we can assume were created for episode 3×20 (the 3B finale). It’s the ‘trying to mend something with Scotch tape’ analogy summed up. Despite them trying to give the fans, cast, and crew something, it will never do it justice due to time restraints.
This is not justice for the brilliant Mortal Instruments books the show is based on, nor the incredible show that has risen beyond them. It has truly found its place as a ground-breaking piece of fantasy work and is only getting better.
This show is far too important to end now. There are more stories to tell, more legends to discover. As a fandom, we have always been the driving force of the show. We have flocked, tweeted, tuned in, re-watched, rejoiced, reunited, supported, and loved every single aspect of the show – the cast, the crew, and each other. It has given many courage, others strength – saving so many within it – and we’re not going down without a fight.
The ever-loving, ever-loyal, ever-passionate fanbase has come out in an overwhelming wave of support as they try to repeal this decision. Within the past 24 hours, petitions have been set up with over 30,000 signatures and 1 million tweets using the hashtag #SaveShadowhunters has been trending worldwide ever since it was announced.
If you would like to join the fight, you essentially need to be loud. So get your smartphones out, take to social media, and get as much attention as you can!
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When on Twitter, use only two hashtags per tweet: #Shadowhunters #SaveShadowhunters, as any more than that gets your tweet classified as spam. You need to tag Freeform (@FreeformTV), Constantin (@ConstantinFilm), and Netflix (@Netflix – you can also use their international handles) to get additional attention.
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Be active on ALL social media – make noise on Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. Remember to always tag @FreeformTV and @Netflix.
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Reach out to Netflix customer support (https://help.netflix.com), and you can fill out a title request with Shadowhunters or scroll all the way down and either chat or call them to talk to a person about it (this will all be logged into their system).
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Call these numbers: Freeform – (818) 569-7500, Constantin Film – (310) 247-0300, Netflix – (480) 540-3700. Please remember to be kind, polite, and respectful, and clear about what you want.
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Send an email to the folks at Freeform to tell them how much the show means to you! https://www.disneyabcpress.com/freeform/contacts/
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Sign this petition, leave a message as to why the show is important to you and then share it with whoever you can! https://www.change.org/p/anyone-who-this-show-has-saved-save-shadowhunters
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Twitter retires hashtags after they have been trending, so we will need to refresh it. Keep an eye on our Twitter account for the next hashtag we are using! Right now, it is #PickUpShadowhunters for our next trending tweet. Help get it to trend worldwide!
Please remember to always be kind and polite to whoever you are talking to. Remember, the show isn’t over yet, there are 12 more episodes to come! Remember to never stop believing in yourself: this show is all about empowerment and standing as who you truly are and for what you believe in because love is love is love is love. We are with you, angels!
Shadowhunters is available for streaming via Freeform for U.S. residents and internationally on Netflix. Shadowhunters returns with Season 3B in Spring 2019.
