‘Shadowhunters’ NYCC Interview: Alberto Rosende, Harry Shum Jr. & Isaiah Mustafa

In Shadowhunter‘s first season, Simon Lewis found himself thrust into a world of supernatural beings and almost as quickly found himself as one of them. We saw his transformation into a vampire in the first season, but it sounds as if this second season will really be the year we get to really delve into Simon’s being a vampire.

“He’s trying to find a place again,” Alberto Rosende told us during a roundtable interview at NYCC. “He kind of found it with the vampires, but he was kicked off when they found out he was loyal to Clary and freeing Camille. Now again he has to re-find a place because with Aldertree coming into the Institute, Shadowhunters don’t want Downworlders there any more. So he has to rely on his friends in the Downworld to help him out.”

But facing a new reality where Downworlders aren’t welcome won’t be the only obstacle Simon faces this season. There’s also an internal struggle that is going to test Simon in season two.

“As much as he’s trying to find a place physically, within himself he’s trying to figure out, Now that this is kind of weird, who am I? How do I deal with being a vampire for real now? Before it was somethign he was able to push away because of what was going and learning so much. Now he’s left alone with it.So it’s him kind of trying to discover that strength or that beast.”

Perhaps the most buzzed about aspect of Shadowhunters is the relationship between Magnus and Alec, which fans got a glimpse of in the first season. It was a season that teased the attraction between the two and culminated with a huge, public kiss at a wedding. And it sounds like the magnitude of the moment has finally set in and will have Magnus and Alec asking some important questions.

“What just happened? What are getting ourselves into?” Harry Shum told us. “That’s the question they’re both asking because they come from two completely different worlds, there is this attraction, there is magnet kind of relation that they have together. Now they’re trying to figure out where they go from here.”

Fans can expect to see much more of the development in Magnus and Alec’s relationship in season two.

“We’re going to see their first date,” he added, “and we’re going to explore and ask each other real questions as opposed to just that surface where we saw a little bit in season one.”

Watch the full interview below where Rosende, Shum Jr., and Mustafa discuss Luke and Jocelyn’s relationship, Clary and Simon’s foray into romance, and more.

Shadowhunters season 2 premieres Monday, Jan. 2 at 8/7c on Freeform.