‘The Mortal Instruments’ TV series update
Thanks to our friend Nadine at TMI Germany we have Martin Moszkowicz’ interview with the German newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung” where he talks about The Mortal Instruments being turned into a TV series.
What we already knew from The Hollywood Reporter:
- Ed Decter is the showrunner
- the series is currently under development and will begin production next year
- no broadcast partners are yet attached
What’s new:
- Constantin Film aims to spend 2.5 to 5 million Euros per episode ($3,000,000 to 6,300,000), which would probably also apply to The Mortal Instruments
- Ed Decter is the main author for the first (!) season
- Martin thinks that Amazon could be interested in the TV series. The episodes and books could be on the same page so that you could buy them with one simple click
This morning (German time) Martin also tweeted:
Like we’ve already said yesterday, it seems unlikely that our old cast will return 😦
What are your thoughts about the TV series? Sound off in the comments!
TMI Source 
Reblogged this on wordsweheart and commented:
I hope at the very least they keep Magnus and Simon. Also that they cast Raphie (: Changing the whole cast is a bit weird though, aren’t they starting where they ended, so with City of Ashes?
Likely starting over again. New and waayyy improved hopefully!
will lily Collins be in it ?
I really Loved the orignal cast….I do not want a change 😦
Same here
and here
yes!!!! the actors played the characters REALLY REALLY WELL.
KEEP THE OLD ACTORS
Not happy about cast change for TMI. I thought the cast was perfect. If it goes to Amazon or some place like that it will not allow alot of people like myself who don’t hsve or can afford to get those channels
Is Amazon a TV channel? I’m confused.
@Amalia: It is not a TV channel. Amazon would sell the DVD of the series, like they sell the books. Amazon.com
I am really exited for the release of the TV series and also very happy they are changing the cast, mainly Clary and Jace!
I agree! Although I liked Lily as Clary, I didn’t think she was the right person for the part and as for Jamie… I didn’t like him as Jace at all. Please don’t anyone kill me!! XD
I hope they do a revamp. start at the beginning and go deeper, WAY deeper in the shadowhunter universe.
i agree, they needed WAY more detaillittlemissrocks@h
The cast was great. 😞 not too happy about the change.
I love the cast. It won’t be the same if they were not in it. When they were already chosen to play those characters from the start. It would not feel right to have someone else play a characrer that you already grew to love.
I believe they should Stay with the original cast, I actually can’t think of anyone who can do as good a job then the original…. Exciting to know it coming as aseries they can go more in depth but stay with the original cast in my opinion .
I didn’t love the original cast, though a few of them were good and I will be sad to see Robbie go. I think a clean slate will be good be TMI and hope all goes well.
Loved the movie cast. There’s no way they’d all agree to do a tv show.
This would do well on The CW, ABC Family, or MTV (selfishly hoping not the latter since I no longer get the station). Could maybe work on FOX if they wanted to make something for a younger audience. They’ve established an audience for paranormal shows, but they always seem hesitant to pick up shows about young people (i think that was a big reason they passed on Delirium).
I think the best bet is The CW.
I do love the CW and heeappss of its shows. But they mentioned in the last article something like a “high-end drama” and if I remember right that considers channels like HBO or the one doing Outlander.
I would actually be hoping for a more…. epic/ dark/ less tv-ish hype, kind of channel that is about telling the incredible story really well and building the world not about making it as close to something else as possible and getting as much mainstream hype.
Not ABC Family the cancel everything!!!!!
Will be the same cast??
Do not know yet.
I really hope so.
What no one has ever mentioned is that the first (and I guess last) TMI film–City of Bones–earned more domestically than any of the other YA movies that came out that year. I thought the entire cast was perfect, but they aren’t going to want to tie themselves to a TV series. My imagination is quite vivid, so I’ll keep reading and make my own movies in my mind. That will avoid the bizarre plot changes to which directors and screen writers seem to be addicted.
This way though we could get the ‘go over and do it all again better’ that we wish for! And TV means no need to cut cut cut and condense everything.
They HAVE to keep Godfrey as Magnus and Robbie as Simon. Jamie as Jace was perfect for me as well! I am very pleased that they are turning TMI into a TV series. But they HAVE to keep these three in the cast. PLZZZZ…I mean no one other than Godfrey can be the glorious Magnus Bane! Robbie was Simon stepping out of the books and coming to life and Jamie had everything that Jace needed! I know a lot of people hated on him but given another chance he will even convince the skeptics!
I will pull hair out if Godfrey and Robbie don’t return 😦
Godfrey like IS Magnus now, he’s on the Bane Chronicles covers and everything! Surely they couldn’t get anyone new I agree.
I don’t think the actors were the problem with some of the characters at all, just scripts and design and screen time and such. A good re-styling of everything (such as jamie’s hair which is so nice normally and they made weird) could give the actor’s characters such a boost!
I was a huge fan of Roberts portrayal as Simon. Over anyone else in the film, he was Simon to me, beginning to end, even if the script in between was a bit messy. But overall, I liked everyone in the cast. Unfortunately, if the did wanna keep the cast, what is the likelihood of any of them wanting to do a television show? Especially Robbie, who has a tendency to move and groove and doesn’t like to stick to things for too long, so I don’t think he’d go for it… Because if he got sick of it, he wouldn’t be able to be killed off. And plus the hair commitment. xD Jamie also seems much more interested in his music these days, and Lily seems a bit busy with big productions.
Regardless of recasting, I will watch the pilot because I love TMI. I just hope they don’t get any ‘big names’ for the show. Usually they think big names will carry a show and focus less on a good deep plot rather than making everyone pretty PG13 scenes.
I totally agree! The bigger the names the less someone can easily see them as a character and not an actor. Fresh is good!
I loved the movie cast (especially Jamie and Godfrey) but would be very surprised if any of them would also be on the TV show. Hoping that whatever network they choose isn’t a traditional premium channel like HBO or Starz. I think ABC Family or Netflix would be my first choises.
But Godfrey loved Magnus didn’t he! I think he would be keen to get into it in america again!
Me too! I think the actors would be willing, the problem is though that someone said (I read it off some website, it could be completely wrong and I hope it is) that if they restart with the same cast it would be confusing. I don’t think it would be, because most people would be aware of this. Plus, if they advertise this better than they did the movie, than it would get a lot of new fans. I mean, I know Lily Collins would so want to do this. She loves Clary, and personally I don’t think another actress can do Clary like Lily can. I could be wrong, but it’s very hard for me to picture!
Here’s what I think. I’m done. I love TMI and if this means what I’m taking it to mean I will not be watching. For the following reasons: seems they’ll be starting where the left off with the movie and without the original cast, which it also seems we will probably not be getting, this is pointless. Also if I have to pay per episode (the whole one click thing and amazon wanting it) I can’t afford that. I could barely afford to go see the movie in theaters, that’s why I only saw it once, and to purchase the books ( the only way I could buy them all was I got a gift card for Christmas last year and used it to buy and preorder all 6 books while I could), I can’t afford to have to pay money per episode. Then tv screenwriters have this annoying habit no one seems to want to acknowledge, they keep saying how nice it’ll be to finally be able to have the stories told like in the books how muh the movie veered away from the book, yeah so do tv shows and they do it more than any movie ever would. Look at Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries. They’ve veered so far away from the book plots that those plots are unrecognizable!!!! You might as well say neither show is based on their book series, that they’re seperate entities because that’s hat they’ve become. So good luck with a tv series for TMI following the books to the letter because I doubt it’ll continue. It may happen for the first season to get everyone hooked but it’ll start to veer the second season, and we’re assuming that there will be more than one season the show will be at the mercy of the network that shows it and if they don’t like the numbers (just like the CW did with shows like the secret circle) they’ll cancel it. At least with the movies we can pretty much guarantee that they put them out. Percy Jackson’s second movie took what 5 yrs after the first, but they did eventually release it, once the show is cancelled that’s it no more. And finally looking at the numbers up there, the tv show PER EPISODE will cost just as much as making the movies!!!! I’m done if they are truly going with amazon and changing the cast. I can’t afford to pay for it and I like the cast as they are now. Plus they’ll be screwing over the actors from the first movie because, if I remember correctly, they were contracted for three movies.
well said!!!!
It could take on the Game of Thrones or Outlander kind of fantasy adaption in tv tone.
Actually according to the article Martin Moszkowicz posted CoA will be shot as an international tv-series. No word about re-doing CoB or a new cast. If that is legit or not I don’t know, but that’s what was said in this article.
I agree they have not said if they are recasting yet I know when COB came out as a movie both Jamie Campbell bower and lily Collin had signed on TMI franchise as 10 year contracts so that may mean they are returning and that would be amazing but don’t get your hopes up
I like the idea of a cast change and hope they start from the beginning, I figure that it will probably (definitely) veer from the books, but it still sounds like a cool idea.
Definitely not liking the idea of the show premiering on Amazon, because I don’t think I–and a lot of fans–could watch that.
And I’m still worried about the show getting cancelled…
And though I’m sad about the cast probably not returning, I just thought of another worrying thing: I can’t see this show getting and keeping an audience very well. Think about it. With a movie, you’ve all ready paid to see it, so if someone is shocked by the Jace and Clary plot twist and don’t like it, they’ll probably stay to see how the movie ends just because they all ready bought their ticket.
But a TV show? If someone sees that Jace and Clary are “siblings” and in love, they can turn the channel no problem at all and never give the series another chance.
Also… I feel like this could give the series a bad name, because people could just see that segment–something that will be dragged out for many episodes now instead of just a few few hour movies–and be disgusted by it and tear the series to shreds.
Parents could also keep younger fans from watching this…
Now that the series is going to be on TV, it’ll probably labeled a “soap opera” even more than it is now.
And I’m worried about them having the Clace sex scene early and stuff to appeal to the masses. IDK.
In any case, though I am excited/thankful for this, but… right now I seem to be mourning the loss of the first movie more than anything else (and part of me does just wish they’d made the CoA movie). I feel like Ron in The Prisoner of Azkiban right now: “You’re going to suffer, but you’ll be happy about it.”
No more of the line “Remember when I said I’d never seen an Angel? I lied,” or nicer Jace from the movie.
-sigh-
Though I know that a show could be a good thing, and have the potential to be even better and everything we want/need it to be. And I am glad Constantin’s giving the series another chance, of course.
But gosh, am I conflicted…
I really don`t want them to change the cast! :((((((
I did wonder if Aidan Turner was growing his Luke beard when I saw recent photos, so it might not be a recasting, or at least a *full* one. I really hope they don’t recast…
I hope not! That’s a positive clue though! Although, I don’t think they knew about this much earlier than us, so it’s possible he was preparing for the movie… which I still personally want a movie… just saying…
Hmm, still not sure how I feel about the news that was out since yesterday of it turning into a TV series. On the one hand I am glad we finally have some news and will see more of this amazing book series on the screen, although not the big film screens as we anticipated. On the other hand, I do like the idea of TMI as a TV series in the sense that it can start anew and therefore go more into the storyline that was so distraught in the City of Bones film, but I did grew attached to a lot of cast members so it will be sad to see them go. I wonder how the TV series will play out. If there is one thing, they do have enough material to make it a great show! Let’s see where this goes…
yeah goldmine of material! An entire lake lyn-full one could say.
i am so angry and upset and heartbroken and disappointed at this! i love TMI im a true fan just like others but this idea will completely ruin The Mortal Instruments series. And the fact they probably will change the cast im sorry but i can’t believe they think that is a good idea!! they already cast Clary and Jace and Alec and Simon and Izzy!! We already have our characters, and now there changing them, they may have gotten a few things wrong with the film but i loved it, and every single actor got there role spot on and brought our beloved characters alive. They are there characters just as much as there ours and Cassies! No one can beat them in my eyes and i’d hate to see any other actor playing them when there already taken and have been captured:( I just can’t imagine Jamie not being Jace, Lily not being Clary!! and they deffo won’t get chemistry like they had! I would give the show a chance if the cast stayed the same, but even then tv shows get cancelled all the time, if they dont believe they marketed the film right how ill they market the tv series right…..:”'( really upset
mmmm I think it needs a less commercial-y … blockbuster-y tone if you know what I mean.
I completely agree with you! Nowadays everything is just invested into spectacular looks, big action scenes and suspense and thus the quality gets compromised. That’s why a lot of promising projects end up half fulfilled and shallow! Which is sad really. I really hope they invest in the story and put out a good quality show!
Omg I totally feel you on a spiritual level!!! It seems like a good idea but they should at least continue the movies since they already started. If they recast I’m raising Hell. You are so right. The cast is perfect in every way, shape, and form and they really were the characters when I saw them on film. Everyone gets things wrong with movies but truthfully it wasn’t that bad. I pray they change their minds and just continue the movies with TMI and hopefully TID (with Joshua Brand as Will and Anthony Neely as Jem!!! 😀 ) 😥
I love this idea of it being a TV show , that way they can delve deeper into the lore of the books and take their time with detail such as adding in the parabatai touch since that is drastically important in both series ( especially TID) …The only thing I did not like is that if Amazon takes it then we’ll have to pay to watch it and that is, say ..hypothetically…$2 an episode x a max of 24 episodes = $48 and that could be rather steep for some people such as myself…..
The whole point of TV is to be free! If they will be so kind as to make it international, start a website that acts as a channel or something! I just thought of text to pay, would be a much simpler and quicker system that much more could use, I think more of us have phones than credit cards for online accounts.
Can you put it on Netflix? That would be lovely for this college kid who can’t afford any form of cable.
I hope they start over instead of starting from city of ashes. Because they said they had to leave a bunch of stuff out in the movie and some of that stuff is REALLY important and with the new cast I think they’d be better off starting over.
I think that’s what they were probably implying by saying it took such a veer from the story at the end of CoB film, that they have to start again ’cause ooops…. stuffed it up for CoA… and yes they did.
i love this and hopefully they will start from the beginning but i reallllllly want the original cast to stay!!!! They are perfect for this and i want them to stay!!!! If they recast I won’t be as interested and they should get people extremely similar to the original cast 😥
I want the same cast. Please don’t change it! I’d rather them continue with the movies to be honest. I loved the first one. I think a TV show will be good though, as long as they keep the same actors. Lily Collins is Clary. No one else can be her. And Jamie and Lily have that perfect connection. And Robert Sheehan has to be there. Along with Kevin and Jemima. And Godfrey. And Jonathan. And Lena. And Aiden. YOU CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT THEM!!! I am all for a TV series if they are in it!
I’m honestly not concerned with the cast situation. I hated JCB as Jace, I thought he was stiff and did not have the outward confidence of the true character. Lily was the perfect Clary, and with the recent boom of television right now, it wouldn’t be completely out of the realm of possibilities for her to commit to her own TV show. That being said, I could also see a bunch of new unknowns being cast for this. Since the books are SO rich with story and background, a TV series would be the perfect medium for telling those stories, but there you also run the risk of having the writers and producers taking their own liberties like they’ve done so much with The Walking Dead. Obviously there is bound to be a lot of information lost in translation from book to screen, but this could be the big, refreshing reboot that TMI needs after the awful movie. Ugh…I just don’t even like talking about it…Here’s to hoping the TV show will get greenlit and make up for the film failure!!!
I think its good its continuing….. BUT I liked the cast, and Jamie has done series before, he was a perfect have but will he want to go back to TV? And assuming they sell the rights in the UK……we have a bad history of not airing things that do well everywhere else, they get dropped….will UK broadcasters take a chance?
*jace stupid auto correct
This whole thing is seriously such a joke. TV shows a far, far less sophisticated form of adaption than a film. I think it is a personal insult to Cassie that they were so incompetent with making the first film that they are now downgrading to something as demeaning as a TV series. Changing the cast is just another slap in the face. I am incredibly angry at everyone who had a part in this. They had more potential to make millions off of a film franchise with these books than many of the others that we see today that have been successfully adapted e.g. Divergent. The problem did not come from the books or the fans but from the idiots at the production company who decided to hire a first time screen writer and less than satisfactory director for a film they planned to spend $60 million promoting. It is incredibly sad to not only see the lost potential but also see this series of books that I personally believe trumps many of these other series that are being adapted into films end up with such a dismal fate.
My only question is when and where are casting auditions ?
Actually kinda glad. I didn’t like the first one or the cast and it appears they are putting substantial money behind this TV series, it could end up pretty good… Probably short lived though because I just don’t think there is that big a fanbase…
I want the same cast for the TV show and I would love it if they start the show where the movie left off. I DO NOT want a redo of City of Bones. I don’t care how “bad” it was, I don’t want it redone. Keep the cast, get a channel/ TV network everyone mostly has, and start with City of Ashes.
I think it’s great that they’re continuing the filming even if its not with the same cast and its a television series. I want to watch the books come to life and I’d hate for it to just end with the movie, which I thought was great even if they did change it. I don’t care if they start from city of bones or not I just want to see all six books be brought to life.
Three words: Get. Molly. Quinn.
Well, besinde the whole casting situation (and I really hope they will keep the original cast) I have a feeling that they might stick with the books and won’t make huge changes because that was exactly the problem with the movie and they know that. Loads of people disliked the movie because of the changes that were made and I get that, although I also get that a few of these changes were made bacause they had to leave some things out. We can be lucky that Harald Zwart put a lot of stuff back into the movie. Magnus for example wasn’t even in the original script. And the first cut was about 3 1/2 hours long. Who knows what scenes they actually shot and had to leave out. We should hope for the best. Look at Game of Thrones, it also sticks very close to the books. Creating a complete new story and changing the cast would be a very stupid move.
Please, Please, Please Re-cast Magnus!!!! Adam Lambert would be perfect!!!! He has just the right amount of eccentricity and humor to nail that role.
I just thought of something else. I have a bad feeling that this show isn’t going to do well because everyone will be comparing it to Supernatural, which…
Is unfortunate, because I lost interest in Supernatural many seasons ago and TMI is far superior in my eyes (I mean, for one thing, it actually HAS a strong female presence in it), but what do you guys think?
Well, it may be good and may be bad news, depending on how the producers will handle it.
It’s great they didn’t give up on the TMI. It’s even greater that they hired a different guy to write the screenplay because the failure of the writer of the COB to effectively compress the story into the movie and find the balance between humour and serious dramatic moments was in my opinion the key to its humble performance. I also hope that they will find someone else to do the music editing, it really sucked at times in the COB.
Holes and misfits of the script for the COB could flaw all that comes after, many of them are just unrepairable, so in matters of where the tv series should start I am for the start from the very beginning.
Based on the budget I’ll say it will be more modest in the set props snd special effects department which would be a shame, really, for those fantastic settings, landscapes and fight scenes in the books.
I was quite happy with the film’s cast, so the news of possible recasting is confusing, but it may be that they’ll find even better actors, who knows? I wouldn’t mind different actors playing Valentine, Clary and Isabelle. As for the other characters – I will be quite upset if they are recast.
But maybe it would be the best to recast all roles. Because if they recast just a few, it will be harder for the fans to adapt to this, I think. A clean slate might be a better choice for all of us.
As for the probability that the cast of COB could sign up for a TMI tv series, I think it will depend on the season length. If it’s 10 episodes per season, it may be possible to get the most of the COB cast because this way they will still have time for other projects, but if they want 20-25 epsodes each season, it might be much more difficult to get the actors to commit to the project and much more possible that some of them will drop out sooner or later which is always a bad thing.
I personally think that 10 episodes would be just right to cover one book, more is too much, it could get slow and boring, dig into unnecessary and unimportant details and as a result lose the audience.
As for the channel to broadcast the series I agree with others that CW and Fox could be the right ones.
Reblogged this on The Random Book Blogger and commented:
Saw this from wordsweheart and I am so excited! I’ll probably write another post talking about this but for now, read this instead.
To be honest, I’m so happy they’re doing a TV Show. I didn’t like the movie at all.
First I was so excited about the movie, but after a while I recognized it was absolutely awful. The actors were good. But the screenplay.. ew.
And when they were talking about doing City of Ashes, I was like “How are they going to fix all this failures they did in the first movie?” (like with Simon who got bitten and Clary got the cup in the ending.. wth?)
I’m a fan of the books since 2010 and from the very beginning I thought they should do a TV show.
There’s just too much information in those books to pull it into 2 hours movies.
I think they should also start over again with the cast. Or most of it. I’m honest, I was one of the “Alex Pettyfer should get the role for Jace”. So I never really was into the Jamie-Fever. Sorry. I didn’t like him as Jace. I tried to, because he really tried to do this role justice. And Lily was a really cute Clary but now she doesn’t look anymore like her at all. I’d be glad if they keep Robert as Simon, because he was just perfect plus he’s a really good actor. So he’s the exception I’d like to keep in the cast. Maybe also Godfrey. I can’t really judge him for anything because his appearance was too short in the movie.. but from the looks he was the perfect Magnus.
Anyways, I think they should start all over again plus they have more room to do it right.
I’m excited about how all this is going to turn out and about the upcoming news. It’s like a deja-vu. 3 years ago they announced they’re doing the movie and started revealing the cast…
i’m excited about this, if they adapt it well a series is better than a film for this saga.
I think we’re not going to get the same cast because:
1) tv budget, they dont pay as much as they do in films
2) the age, most actors would be too old to be teens ( that already happened in the film…)
and 3) scheduling, most acotrs are alredy in another projects, so…
Anyway i think that if they restart they should do it fresh: with new UNKNOWN actors more teenage looking and better adapted in script terms…
I just hope this doesn’t end up in a TVD type of adaptation…the amazon thig doent bother me thoug you know most series end up in netflix or another webpages anyway so…lol
OMG when are auditions ????????????
They chose that cast because they were best at acting that character, so why change it? You will ruin the TMI Fandom and also if you chose a diffrent cast they won’t be as good as the original cast because they have already chosen the cast.
I loved the original cast, esp. Jamie as Jace!
you need to use lily collins and make sure her hair is colored better like in the BOOK and i liked jamie campell bower as Jace
I would not like it to be on Amazon because then you would have to buy the episodes and not all people would want to do that which would lead to less popularity