‘Shadowhunters’: EP McG Talks Bringing ‘Mortal Instruments’ Books to TV (original) (raw)

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Mortal Instruments failed to make a dent at the box office in 2013, but the executive producers behind the new TV adaptation of the best-selling young adult fantasy novels are hoping lightening will finally strike.

“We’re living in a golden age of television,” Shadowhunters executive producer McG said at the Television Critics Association summer press tour Wednesday.

McG pointed specifically to another successful book-to-TV adaptation, Game of Thrones, as a “north star” for the series to look to. “It takes a lot of hours to tell a story properly,” he said. “So fingers crossed on that. We still have a long way to go.”

Based on the first novel in author Cassandra Clare‘s six-part series, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones was produced for the big screen by Screen Gems and starred Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower. Although the movie was originally intended to be the first in an eventual film franchise, plans for a sequel were squashed the following year after the film grossed just $31 million domestically.

ABC Family ordered Shadowhunters straight-to-series in March and announced that McG would direct the pilot episode. Constantin Film will produce, and Ed Decter (Helix, Unforgettable, The Client List) is on board to serve as showrunner and executive producer.

The series follows Clary Fray (Katherine McNamara), who finds out on her 18th birthday that she comes from a long line of Shadowhunters — human/angel hybrids who hunt down demons. When her mother, Jocelyn, is kidnapped, Clary is thrown into the world of demon-hunting with mysterious Shadowhunter Jace (Dominic Sherwood) and her best friend, Simon (Alberto Rosende). Now living among faeries, warlocks, vampires and werewolves, Clary begins a journey of self-discovery as she learns more about her past and what her future may hold.

Shadowhunters is set to premiere in 2016 on ABC Family.

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