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Director McG comes aboard 'Shadowhunters' TV series

The director will helm at least one episode of the upcoming ABC Family series. 'Shadowhunters' is based on the 'Mortal Instruments' series by Cassandra Clare.

The 'Mortal Instruments' series is the basis for an upcoming ABC Family TV series.
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

The upcoming ABC Family TV adaptation of the “Mortal Instruments” young adult book series has found a director for at least one of its episodes. 

According to Entertainment Weekly, director McG, who is also an executive producer for the series and has previously been behind such movies as “3 Days to Kill,” “This Means War,” and Charlie’s Angels,” will direct at least the first episode of the TV series. The show is titled “Shadowhunters” after the occupation of its characters. (In author Cassandra Clare’s world, Shadowhunters battle otherwordly beings.)

McG may direct more than one installment of the series, according to EW. 

“I read the books and found them to be interesting stories,” McG told EW. “I liked Cassandra Clare’s voice, and I was engaged… We’re just trying to bring the cinematic experience to the television form one hour at a time, one week at a time. And we’re absolutely passionate about honoring the fans and delivering on the promise of the book series.”

The “Mortal Instruments” series centers on Clary Fray, a teenager who discovers she has the ability to be a Shadowhunter. The final book in the “Instruments” series was released in 2014. Clare’s other work includes other book series set in the same universe like the “Infernal Devices” series. 

A movie based on the first book in “Instruments,” titled “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,” was released in 2013 but did not do well at the box office. It starred actress Lily Collins as Clary and Jamie Campbell-Bower as Clary’s love interest Jace. Associated Press writer Jake Coyle called the film “mediocre… all the current tropes of teenage fantasy here careen into one another… the plot is astonishingly overcooked… [but] it’s not brooding or abundantly self-serious… the handful of comic, self-deprecating moments in the film… gives ‘City of Bones’ a pleasant cheeriness that it would have done well to pursue further.”

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