Last week Freeform announced that the third season would be the last for its angels vs. demons series ‘Shadowhunters’ and that the show would be capped with a two-hour finale to air in spring 2019. ‘Shadowhunters’ was an expensive show and didn’t garner the best ratings– in fact, as is the norm, ratings have steadily dwindled over time. But it, like many genre shows, has a passionate fan base and those fans have mobilized to try and save the show.
A Change.org petition has accumulated over 114,000 signatures as of this writing. The petition’s creator urged fans to not only sign it themselves but share it on social media:
Shadowhunters just got announced that its being canceled please please PLEASE if you have any love for this show sign this petition make it known retweet it share it on Facebook snap Instagram do whatever you have to do to make this petition known I will not rest until my show that saved me is saved. It saved me once now it’s time for me to save it please help me do that.
If you’d like to sign and share, you can visit the petition’s page here. Fans have also started a charity fundraising campaign to raise money for The Trevor Project, which provides assistance and counselling to LGBTQ youth.
“Currently fans are working hard on a #SaveShadowhunters campaign, but we thought it would be useful to channel some of our passion and frustration to raise awareness and also showcase the generosity of the Shadowhunters fandom. Let’s show off the power of our fandom to do good.”
So far, ‘Shadowhunters’ fans have raised over $10,000. If you would like to support this initiative, click here.
It’s important to note that ‘Shadowhunters” cancellation was strictly a financial decision. The series producers Constantin Film, had a partnership with Netflix in which Netflix provided some financing to the show. When that deal ended, Freeform alone could not afford to keep producing it. Programming and Development EVP Karey Burke stated “We went back and forth with them, but ultimately we just couldn’t make the economics work. We were very happy creatively with it.”
Fans are particularly sad to see a genre show with such a diverse cast go. Not only is the cast ethnically diverse, but has featured an ongoing same sex relationship between two male characters, Magnus and Alec. One fan is none other than ‘Star Trek: Discovery”s Wilson Cruz, who shared his sympathy on Twitter:
Sending much LOVE to #Malec and fans who love them. I join the chorus of people who hope someone is smart enough to pickup this @glaad award winning show – an awesome example of great storytelling with diverse characters and actors. #PickUpShadowhunters https://t.co/WY4ZIqZhpn
— Wilson Cruz (@wcruz73) June 6, 2018
Will these efforts help to either convince Freeform to reverse its decision or another network or service to pick it up? That remains to be seen and that is the sentiment shared by the series star Katherine McNamara while attending Oz Con this weekend:
“If the [hashtags] make a difference, amazing, if not, we’ve got 10 more amazing episodes and we’re going to shoot the most kick-ass finale you’ve ever seen.”
Are you a fan? If ‘Shadowhunters’ returns, where would you like to see it? Freeform? Netflix? Elsewhere?
