Warning: Spoilers for the Shadowhunters midseason finale ahead.

So, that just happened. Freeform's Shadowhunters, which follows a group of demon-fighting, tattooed hot people and their warlock/vampire/werewolf cohorts, ended the first half of season 3 with a bang. Literally. The show, based on Cassandra Clare's massively popular books diverged from the original material in multiple ways for the end of season 3A. Newly minted nephilim Clary (Katherine McNamara) is off to who knows where after Simon (Alberto Rosende) blasted Lilith's lair to smithereens. Meanwhile, Magnus (Harry Shum Jr.) has given up his warlock powers to Asmodeus (Jack Young) in order to save Jace (Dominic Sherwood) from Lilith's (Anna Hopkins) influence. Didn't see that coming, did you book fans?

Katherine McNamara stopped by ELLE.com to discuss Clary's escape from The Clave, where she ended up, and what's next for fan favorite pairings. Plus, watch her read some absurd fan theories above to hold you over until the start of 3B.

So you're dead now.

I’m dead. This is my announcement—I’m done with Shadowhunters and have been written off the show. [Laughs] No, no, no, not at all.

I’m assuming—are you in Edom?

I am not in Edom, but I am somewhere that you wouldn’t expect.

Also, Jace is back and Simon is still a Daylighter, but his mom thinks he's dead...

I read that scene and I was crying, because I just know how Albert is going to do it, and I could hear him doing it already. As someone who has read the books, it’s one of the most heartbreaking things that happens in the books as well. With the way that they’ve added Heidi’s character and created that story, it’s been brilliant but it’s also been so heart-wrenching. I can’t handle it. I also can’t handle when Alberto is emotional on camera, because he’s so moving. When our characters had to break up, I cried more on his coverage than on my own, because watching him break like that is so awful.

I loved that relationship, because Simon made Clary laugh.

Simon and Clary’s relationship, their friendship, is exactly Alberto's and my friendship. Since day one, we’ve always clicked and I think that’s why Simon and Clary on the show have become such a special fan favorite friendship. You get to see that warmth and that comfort, and we really made an effort to build that because our characters have been best friends their whole lives. But I don’t see him anymore, though. After our characters break up, we’re on different paths and never see him. That's why the finale was so fun—we actually got to have a little moment of that friendship re-established.

He was also the first one you called when you were dying on the car.

Yeah, when your boyfriend throws you off the roof, who are you gonna call? Simon.

Your ex-boyfriend/best friend.

My ex-boyfriend. Clary, I think, is the definition of “it’s complicated” when it comes to relationships—or maybe “it’s complicated plus,” I don’t know. There’s so much going on.

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Okay, so can you clarify two things for me? First, the timeline. Magnus says he's been dating Alec (Matthew Daddario) for two months. That means Simon got very serious with Clary and Maia (Alisha Wainwright) in that time frame, too. And Clary with Simon and Jace. How?

When you’re facing life-or-death scenarios with these people and forced to put your life in their hands and forced to trust them, you build a bond that’s stronger than you would in everyday life because the stakes are so high and emotions are running at such a high level. It’s very interesting to think about the chronological timeline of the show because over the course of the entire series it’s only been about 80 days. Clary’s birthday happens in late August, according to the books, and episode 18 of season 3 is our Halloween episode, so that gives you kind of a scope…that’s when it really hit home for me.

And now that Jace is no longer the Owl, but he still took Magnus' elixir, does he love Clary again?

I think what happens in episode 10 when Magnus does his thing and brings Jace back, it’s like a complete reset. The potion did impact Jace completely, which is why he threw Clary off the roof, but Magnus was able to reverse that as part as well. So Magnus is just the magical cure-all.



Not anymore.

I know. If the fans' reaction is anything like mine when I first read the script, it’s going to be quite...passionate.

This is another big deviation from the book.

Huge, but I think it’s a really interesting one, to be honest, because you have this all-powerful being who is suddenly stripped down to nothing and then he’s forced to grow and go, "Well, what can I be now? How do I live without this?"



So what's your favorite relationship on the show?

I mean, I love Malec. Who doesn’t love Malec? You kind of have to.

How do you think Magnus losing his powers will affect his and Alec's relationship?

Well that remains to be seen, doesn’t it? Because who will he be without his powers?

One relationship I think is massively underrated, which you have seen a little of this season, is Clary and Alec. I’ve always loved their friendship, because they want the same things. They both love Jace and they both want to do the right thing, but they go about it in such different ways because of how they were raised. I feel at this point they’ve earned respect for each other and they’ve learned how to have a camaraderie despite their differences. I think neither one would admit it but they do care about each other, so I always want to see that friendship develop—it’s interesting to me.



From left to right: Izzy (Emeraude Toubia), Alec (Matthew Daddario), Magnus (Harry Shum Jr.), Clary (Katherine McNamara, and Simon (Alberto Rosende). Freeform

Alberto has done a lot of singing on the show, but you had your song "Ember" in the finale of season 2. Are you planning to commit more time to your music career?

When we’re shooting 20 episodes a season, it’s difficult to find the time between training and shooting and nights. Alberto has had an amazing ride with his character singing in the show, and it’s amazing, because he’s so talented. I’m the biggest Rock Solid Panda fan in existence.

I’ve got a bunch of songs on the docket that I just need to find time to finish and release. In every other aspect of my career, I play a character and it’s someone else’s words on the page that I view my experiences through. But with my music, it’s a chance to actually make a statement of my own and put a little bit of myself and a little piece of my own vulnerability out there.

Emily Tannenbaum Entertainment Editor Emily is the entertainment editor at Cosmopolitan, which is a nice way of saying she watches way too much TV and constantly wants to tell you about it.

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