Well, just like most other events in the world, this year’s first and only Shadowhunters convention got pushed until next year. In an effort to please the fans though, Jalmics, the organizer of the event, roped together an At Home convention for this past weekend! I will say, despite the event not taking place in person, this experience was pretty sweet! As an avid fan of the show, I was particularly pumped about it.
A large majority of the cast took part in this event, with the likes of the leads Kat McNamara, Dom Sherwood, Matthew Daddario, and Emeraude Toubai. They were also joined by some fan favorites including Will Tudor, Luke Baines, and Alberto Rosande. Several others participated in the event, including several more actors, crew members, writers, and directors, along with one of the series’ executive producers, Todd Slavkin, who is a champion of the show’s successful fandom. It seemed like the organizers were able to get this all together in a relatively short amount of time, so kudos to all of them!
With all of the guests, there were several options to interact including one on one chats, a virtual autograph session, cozy chats which could include up to four people, and living room chats for up to 20 fans. Aside from the individual session options, there were also “Hangouts” in which fans got to spend some time with two or more of the actors in a small group of fans, and there were a good variety of panels available, which mixed both cast and crew members to discuss some interesting topics.
I personally didn’t not mess around with any of the individual sessions or hangouts, but instead chose a few panels to sit in and hopefully participate in. And while some of the panels had an additional cost to the pass, there were several “Bonus Panels” that were included in the basic pass price. These were awesome, too! Saturday was a bit slower of a schedule for me, based on what I wanted to view, but I did get to sit in on “The Beast Within” panel that showcased director, Josh Butler, along with actors Matthew Daddario and Jack Yang as they discussed that particular episode. In a stroke of luck, I was selected to ask the trio a question! It had been mentioned earlier in the discussion that the two actors hadn’t met before filming, so I asked them how they prepared to react to someone they’d never met in the scene. Both agreed that not meeting prior had its advantages as far as having a genuine reaction to a character rather than the actor as themselves. What a great panel! After that I sat in on a live auction which was quite entertaining to watch.
Today was a much busier day, with some bonus panels I didn’t get the chance to even watch! Luckily, pass holders will have access to these for the next week. But, I started off the day with the Fantastic Realms panel, where star Will Tudor, along with several crew members got to discuss hair and makeup, locations, and reactions to the fandom. Again, I was dealt some luck when I was chosen to ask a question! Instead of asking about their favorite location to film, I asked them the most difficult. Many of them agreed about the lake being the most difficult, and they said usually the most beautiful places are the most difficult to shoot. Interesting.
Next up was the Writing and Playing Wicked Women panel, which featured actresses Anna Hopkins and Tessa Mossey, along with writer Aisha Porter-Christie. Here they discussed the process of writing evil women, and how to act them out. It sounds like it was a blast to both write and perform, with the costumes playing a big part in how they got into character. Another bonus panel I attended was Setting the Stage – For the Perfect Spaghetti Supper , featuring actors Dom Sherwood, Alan Van Sprang, and production designer Doug McCullogh. There were a handful of concept drawings that were shown and discussed which was cool, and mainly Dom and Alan just razzed each other during this panel. Loved it.
A panel that I attended above and beyond the bonus ones, was featuring Dominic Sherwood. Here, fans essentially rapid-fired questions at him, and the topics were a wide variety. Once again, my lucky stars aligned and I was able to ask him if he could do another project with one of his cast mates, who would he choose and what would the plot/genre be? He rattled off space cowboys with Matthew Daddario, and that him and Alberto kicked ideas around all the time, but generally speaking he would love the opportunity to work with any of them again on anything. I’ll take whatever they can give someday! Finally, I got view the Team Evil Plus panel which featured Kat McNamara, Will Tudor, and Luke Baines. They talked a lot about what it takes to play someone evil, along with what they would have liked to have seen with their characters – a Johnathan meet-up (I concur)!
Overall, this was a very fun convention amidst a very boring time in quarantine, and I so appreciated the opportunity to be able to participate multiple times during the panel discussions. From what I could tell, everyone had a great time getting back together to talk about a show that had a huge impact on their lives, both cast and fans included. This was a nice tease for what’s to come next year, and I can’t rule out that won’t attend based on how fun this one was. Until next year Shadowfam!