‘Shadowhunters’ Season 3B preview EXCLUSIVE: Jade Hassouné on why the show will never truly end
With Freeform's hit 'Shadowhunters' coming to an end, both fans and cast members feel bittersweet about the series taking its final bow this Spring. MEAWW spoke with cast member and fan favorite Jade Hassouné, who plays the morally ambiguous Seelie Meliorn, about the resurgence of his character in 3B and how the 'Shadowhunters' legacy will live on. Even though fans have been smitten with Hassouné’s portrayal of Meliorn since the second he hit our small screens, he has always been somewhat of an outsider in the 'Shadowhunters' world. Hassouné expanded on this sentiment, explaining why Meliorn is different from other characters and the bigger picture that is really at play.
"Seelies are a race of beings that are not human, not demonic and not angelic... so they already don’t belong anywhere. They have their own dimension, they live forever, they watch all of the human drama play out over centuries and they have sort of a wider perspective of everything."
He added, "Because of that, right and wrong don't really apply when you see the bigger picture. I always play Meliorn from that place because it allows me to make certain decisions work."
Nonetheless, the character of Meliorn still has his own internal battles of deciphering what is right and what is wrong. In these final 12 episodes, all the creatures come out to play and Meliorn will have to decide once and for all whose side he really is on. Hassouné added to this, teasing what we can expect from both his character and the ending of the show as a whole.
"In the final episodes, we are going to see what ultimately Meliorn decides to do and what he values the most. Is it his place in the court of the survival of all species? It’s the end of the world so all the creatures come out to play and everybody is a part of the fight and involved somehow. There are going to be new connections between certain people, you are going to see some of your old, favorite interactions come back, there will be a lot of scenes in the Seelie court and a lot more storylines involving the Fairies. Because it was kind of cut short, it is going to build and explode in a huge way and that is the exciting part."
From the sound of it, the end of 'Shadowhunters' is going to be epic. That said, it is certainly a shame that the massive efforts of the show's fandom didn’t pay off.
What other show can you think of where the fans literally bought billboards to save the series and even had a jet fly over the Netflix headquarters in Los Angeles with a banner that said "Save Shadowhunters"? However, according to Hassouné, the fans efforts made a bigger impact than they even know.
"Everything the fans did to try to save 'Shadowhunters' did not go in vain at all. It created such an impact and connection between all of us that continues to grow stronger and stronger. And that gets confirmed with each award that we win, so nothing is ending really, it’s just adding on to what was already a part of the fandom."
Speaking of the fans, Hassouné believes that because of them, the show will live on forever. Since the show was based on a massively popular book series that already had a huge following, the show was just one extension of the story. While many are devastated about the "ending" of the series, Hassouné sees it differently.
"I don’t see it as an ending at all, I don’t even think it’s possible because really what exists is the fandom and their universe, which goes beyond the show. The story itself lived way before the show and it will continue on after the show. That lore and that story expand out on such a big timeline in terms of the past, present and future that there will be other versions of this story being told constantly."
Hassouné also gave us some good news in that the 'Shadowhunters' conventions that happen all around the world will continue. So even though we might not be getting new content on our small screens, fans can still continue to interact with their favorite actors from the show. Hassouné told us that, "The show and fandom will also continue in that we have just started traveling the world to connect with fans, and we are going to be continuing to do that. We will be traveling to meet fans for the third time this summer and it will just build from there because the conventions will continue."
Even though Hassouné is disappointed the series itself is coming to an end, he is ready to start a new era by focusing more on his music career. In fact, he sees this facet of his career as a way to continue the 'Shadowhunters' legacy and still maintain a close relationship with his fans. He even plans to involve fans in the making of artwork for his music.
"The fandom is actually a part of the reason why I am creating my music. It’s a whole entire world of a fandom that I love interacting with and we have this connection because of the show and it will continue on."
He added, "So instead of something ending, I want something to begin, so my whole concept of going into music is about all of that… a new era, honoring the past and looking towards the future. I am going to involve the fans in creating cover art for my music, singles, merch and stuff like that."
Make sure to catch Hassouné on the final season of 'Shadowhunters' which will premiere on Freeform on February 25!
